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90-546: The ballad exists in a number of folkloric variants, from many different countries, and has been remade in a variety of formats. For example, it was recorded commercially in 1939 as "The Gallis Pole" by folk singer Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter , and in 1970 as "Gallows Pole", an arrangement of the Fred Gerlach version, by English rock band Led Zeppelin , on the album Led Zeppelin III . There are many versions, all of which recount

180-488: A BBC tribute in 1999, which marked the 50th anniversary of Lead Belly's death, Van Morrison – while sitting alongside Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones – claimed that the British popular music scene of the 1960s wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Lead Belly's influence. "I'd put my money on that," he said. Wood concurred. Indian singer Bhupen Hazarika —who was, in general, influenced by spirituals during his days as

270-476: A Hungarian version called " Feher Anna ", collected by Béla Bartók in his study The Hungarian Folk Song, Anna's brother László is imprisoned for stealing horses. Anna sleeps with Judge Horváth to free him but is unsuccessful in sparing his life. She then regales the judge with 13 curses. "Cecilia" is one of the best known and more diffused songs in the Italian popular music. With no reference to any curse, it tells

360-506: A Lead Belly record with the song ' Cotton Fields ' on it. And that record changed my life right then and there. Transported me into a world I'd never known. It was like an explosion went off. Like I'd been walking in darkness and all of the sudden the darkness was illuminated. It was like somebody laid hands on me. I must have played that record a hundred times." Dylan also pays homage to him in " Song to Woody " on his self-titled debut album . Lead Belly recordings were instrumental in starting

450-453: A WPA project. Her version is notable for being the only recorded version that mentions the theft of a "golden key" as the reason for the protagonist's execution. Francis James Child called the English language version "defective and distorted", in that, in most cases, the narrative rationale had been lost and only the ransoming sequence remained. Numerous European variants explain the reason for

540-484: A briery bush, which prickles her heart. In versions carrying this theme, the typical refrain may add: O the prickly bush, the prickly bush, It pricked my heart full sore; If ever I get out of the prickly bush, I'll never get in any more. The following is one version of the melody and lyrics, as collected by Reed Smith in McDowell County, West Virginia in 1902, and published in 1925: Lucy Broadwood published

630-470: A fearsome scar the musician covered with a bandana). Lead Belly nearly killed his attacker at the time with his own knife. In 1925, he was pardoned and released after writing a song to Texas Governor Pat Morris Neff seeking his freedom, having served the minimum seven years of a 7-to-35-year sentence. He was credited with good behavior, which included entertaining the guards and fellow prisoners. He also appealed for mercy to Neff's known religious beliefs. It

720-553: A guitarist and occasional laborer. By 1903, Huddie was already a "musicianer", a singer and guitarist of some note. He performed to Shreveport audiences in St. Paul's Bottoms, a notorious red-light district . He began to develop his own style of music after exposure to the various musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottoms. This area

810-473: A management contract with Lead Belly, was not able to arrange concert dates. In March 1935, Lead Belly accompanied John Lomax on a previously scheduled two-week lecture tour of colleges and universities in the Northeast, culminating at Harvard . At the end of the month, John Lomax decided he could no longer work with Lead Belly. He gave him and Martha enough money to return by bus to Louisiana. He also gave Martha

900-401: A number of the song's variations have the condemned person asking whether the visitors have brought gold or paid the fee. In at least one version the reply is: "I haven't brought you gold / But I have paid your fee." The song is also known as "The Prickly Bush", or "The Prickilie Bush", a title derived from the oft-used refrain lamenting the maiden's situation by likening it to being caught in

990-547: A piano-like sound. Scholars have suggested much of his guitar playing was inspired equally by barrelhouse piano and the Mexican Bajo Sexto , a type of guitar that he encountered in Texas and Louisiana. Lead Belly's tunings are debated by both modern and contemporary musicians and blues enthusiasts alike, but it seems to be a down-tuned variant of standard tuning. Footage of his chording is scarce, so trying to decode his chords

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1080-494: A positive review, writing the track is "an excellent representation of Page’s acoustic prowess, as his simple guitar line is soon joined by 12-string and banjo." Lenz further wrote that Jones joins the fun as well, "as he adds some mandolin flourish to the mix." English folk group The Watersons recorded a version called "The Prickle-Holly Bush," with Martin Carthy singing lead, for their 1981 album Green Fields . They learned it from

1170-495: A regular on Lomax and Nicholas Ray 's groundbreaking CBS radio show Back Where I Come From , broadcast nationwide. He also performed in nightclubs with Josh White , becoming a fixture in New York City's surging folk music scene and befriending the likes of Sonny Terry , Brownie McGhee , Woody Guthrie , and Pete Seeger , all fellow performers on Back Where I Come From . In 1940, Lead Belly recorded for RCA Victor, one of

1260-601: A rich tradition of songs and stories. In 1925 the fifteen-year-old Sarah fell in love with Andrew Ogan, a twenty-year-old from Claiborne County, Tennessee , who had come to work in the Fox Ridge coal mine in Bell County, Kentucky . They eloped to Cumberland Gap to marry. They had four children, two of whom died of starvation during the Depression. Living conditions were bad in eastern Kentucky by 1931, and many miners responded to

1350-449: A ship for being black, but it was not the Titanic . Still, the song includes the lyric "Jack Johnson tried to get on board. The Captain, he says, 'I ain't haulin' no coal!' Fare thee, Titanic ! Fare thee well!" Ledbetter later noted he had to leave out this passage when playing in front of white audiences. Sarah Ogan Gunning Sarah Ogan Gunning (June 28, 1910 – November 14, 1983)

1440-450: A similar story but from the point of view of the condemned's daughter. Here, it is not the maiden who is to be hanged but her father, for stealing a stallion. The woman offers to buy her father's freedom from the judge, who responds: "Gold will never free your father/ the price my dear is you, instead". The maiden pays the judge's terrible price but wakes the next morning to find that her father has been hanged, anyway. Dylan's development of

1530-439: A similar story. A maiden (a young unmarried woman) or man is about to be hanged (in many variants, for unknown reasons) pleads with the hangman, or judge, to wait for the arrival of someone who may bribe him. Typically, the first person (or people) to arrive, who may include the condemned person's parent or sibling, has brought nothing and often has come to see them hanged. The last person to arrive, often their true love, has brought

1620-414: A similar structure in the 1697 classic fairy tale " Bluebeard " by Charles Perrault (translated into English in 1729). Lead Belly Huddie William Ledbetter ( / ˈ h j uː d i / HYOO -dee ; January 1888 or 1889 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly (not Leadbelly), was an American folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on

1710-433: A six-minute Alan Lomax interview. George Ezra developed his singing style from trying to sing like Lead Belly. "On the back of the record, it said his voice was so big, you had to turn your record player down," Ezra says. "I liked the idea of singing with a big voice, so I tried it, and I could." In 2015, in celebration of Lead Belly's 125th birthday, several events were held. The Kennedy Center , in collaboration with

1800-502: A standard guitar, increasing the tension on the instrument, which, given the added tension of the six extra strings, meant that a trapeze-style tailpiece was needed to help resist bridge lifting. It had slotted tuners and ladder bracing. Lead Belly played with finger picks much of the time, using a thumb pick to provide walking bass lines described as "tricky" and "inventive", and occasionally to strum. This technique, combined with low tunings and heavy strings, gives many of his recordings

1890-468: A story not very different from those of "Feher Anna" and "Seven Curses". Cecilia's husband has been condemned to be hanged, and she asks the captain how it is possible to spare his life. The captain promises to save her husband if Cecilia sleeps with him, but in the morning Cecilia sees from the window her man has been hanged. The song is also found in Northern Sami , titled Nieida Kajon sis , which tells

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1980-582: A story that strongly resembles the Lithuanian version. The maid asks her relatives (father, mother, brother, sister, and uncle) to ransom her with their best belongings or animals (horse, cow, sword, crown, and ship). Francis James Child describes additional examples from the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Russia, and Slovenia, several of which feature a man being ransomed by a woman. The theme of delaying one's execution while awaiting rescue by relatives appears with

2070-648: A student in the US—transcreated Lead Belly's singing of "We're in the Same Boat Brother" into the Assamese language as " Ami ekekhon nawore zatri " (আমি একেখন নাৱৰে যাত্ৰী). Later, he also released a Bengali language version as " Mora jatri eki toronir " (মোরা যাত্রী একই তরণীর). In 2001 English-Canadian blues singer Long John Baldry released his final studio album, Remembering Leadbelly . It contains cover versions of Lead Belly songs, and features

2160-597: A studio guitar player on Merrywood Drive in Laurel Canyon. Later he returned to New York City. In 1949, Lead Belly had a regular radio show, Folk Songs of America , broadcast on station WNYC in New York, on Henrietta Yurchenco 's show on Sunday nights. Later in the year he began his first European tour with a trip to France, but fell ill before its completion and was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig 's disease (a motor neuron disease). Lead Belly

2250-500: A summary trial for attempted homicide for stabbing a man in a fight. In 1939, Lead Belly served his final jail term for assault after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan . There are several conflicting stories about how Ledbetter acquired the nickname "Lead Belly", it probably happened while he was in prison. Some claim his fellow inmates called him "Lead Belly" as a play on his family name and his physical toughness. Others say he earned

2340-507: A version in 1955. The song seems far less prevalent in Ireland and Scotland. Several American versions have been recorded, particularly in the Appalachian region, where English folk songs had been preserved. Frank Proffitt of Pick Britches, North Carolina was recorded by W. Amos Abrams in c. 1939. Jean Ritchie of Viper , Kentucky sang a traditional version learnt from family members, which

2430-485: A version of the song in her influential book "English Country songs" (1893). In the early 1900s, Cecil Sharp collected many versions throughout England, from Yorkshire to Somerset , and his notes and transcriptions are available via the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website. Many audio recordings have been made by folk song collectors of traditional versions of the song. The English version of

2520-474: A wide range of genres, including gospel music , blues , and folk music , as well as a number of topics, including women, liquor, prison life, racism, cowboys, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt , Adolf Hitler , Jean Harlow , Jack Johnson , the Scottsboro Boys and Howard Hughes . Lead Belly was posthumously inducted into

2610-567: A younger man in Louisiana he had sung regularly at children's birthday parties in the black community). Black novelist Richard Wright wrote about him as a heroic figure in the Daily Worker , of which Wright was the Harlem editor. The two men became personal friends. In contrast to Wright, who was then a communist, commentators described Lead Belly as apolitical. He was known to support Wendell Willkie ,

2700-494: Is difficult. It is likely that he tuned his guitar strings relative to one another, so that the actual notes shifted as the strings wore. Such down-tuning was a common technique before the development of truss rods , and was intended to prevent the instrument's neck from warping. Lead Belly's playing style was popularized by Pete Seeger , who adopted the twelve-string guitar in the 1950s and released an instructional LP and book using Lead Belly as an exemplar of technique. In some of

2790-549: Is honored with a statue across from the Caddo Parish Courthouse, in Shreveport . Lead Belly's niece, activist Greshun De Bouse, founded National Huddie Ledbetter Day (August 1 annually), and received proclamations from the mayors of Oil City-where Lead Belly worked, LA and Shreveport, LA in 2023. Lead Belly was imprisoned multiple times beginning in 1915, when he was convicted of carrying a pistol, and sentenced to time on

The Maid Freed from the Gallows - Misplaced Pages Continue

2880-402: Is included on his 1962 album Twelve-String Guitar for Folkways Records . "Gallows Pole" begins as a simple acoustic guitar rhythm; mandolin is added in, then electric bass guitar shortly afterwards, and then banjo and drums simultaneously join in. The instrumentation builds up to a crescendo, increasing in tempo as the song progresses. The acoustic guitar chord progression (in standard tuning)

2970-485: Is most likely to have led to the nickname. Huddie William Ledbetter from Shreveport, became Huddie Weem Leadbelly from Freeport. Lead Belly styled himself "King of the Twelve-String Guitar", and despite his use of other instruments, such as the accordion, the most enduring image of Lead Belly as a performer is wielding his unusually large Stella twelve-string. This guitar had a slightly longer scale length than

3060-436: Is now referred to as Ledbetter Heights. Between 1915 and 1939, Ledbetter served several prison and jail terms in Louisiana for a variety of criminal charges. Notably, in 1918 under the name of Walter Boyd, he was convicted of murder in Texas and sentenced to 30 years in prison. After writing a song pleading for clemency Ledbetter was pardoned by Governor Pat Morris Neff in 1925. Thirty years after starting his music career, he

3150-550: Is simple with a riff based on variations of the open A chord and the chords D and G occurring in the verse. Page played banjo, six and 12 string acoustic guitar and electric guitar (a Gibson Les Paul ), while John Paul Jones played mandolin and bass. Page has stated that, similar to the song " Battle of Evermore " that was included on their fourth album , the song emerged spontaneously when he started experimenting with Jones' banjo, an instrument he had never before played. "I just picked it up and started moving my fingers around until

3240-424: Is uncertainty over his precise date and year of birth. The Lead Belly Foundation gives his birth date as January 20, 1889, his grave marker gives the year 1889, and his 1942 draft registration card states January 23, 1889. These records were made by census takers, and ages and dates were defined in terms of the census date. The 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and

3330-598: The 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. The books Blues: A Regional Experience by Eagle and LeBlanc and Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians by Tomko give January 23, 1888, while the Encyclopedia of the Blues gives January 20, 1888. His parents had cohabited for several years. They married on February 26, 1888, perhaps after his birth that year. When Huddie

3420-691: The Grammy Museum held Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster, a musical event featuring Robert Plant , Alison Krauss , and Buddy Miller with Viktor Krauss as headliners and Dom Flemons as host, with special appearances by Lucinda Williams , Alvin Youngblood Hart , Billy Hector , Valerie June , Shannon McNally , Josh White Jr. , and Dan Zanes , among others. Also in Washington, D.C., Bourgeois Town: Lead Belly in Washington DC by

3510-784: The Library of Congress project. They returned with new and better equipment in July 1934, recording hundreds of his songs. While in prison, Lead Belly may have first heard the traditional prison song " Midnight Special "; his versions became famous. On August 1, Ledbetter was released after having served nearly all of his minimum sentence. The Lomaxes had taken a record and a petition seeking his release to Louisiana Governor Oscar K. Allen at his urgent request. It included his signature song, " Goodnight Irene ". A prison official later wrote to John Lomax denying that Ledbetter's singing had anything to do with his release from prison. (State prison records confirm he

3600-505: The Library of Congress was held where Todd Harvey interviewed Lead Belly family members about their relative, his contributions to American culture and world music and an overview of the significant Lead Belly materials in the center's archive. In London, England, the Royal Albert Hall held Lead Belly Fest , a musical event featuring Van Morrison , Eric Burdon , Jools Holland , Billy Bragg , Paul Jones , and more. Influenced by

3690-715: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Though many releases credit him as "Leadbelly", he wrote his name as "Lead Belly". This is the spelling on his tombstone and is used by the Lead Belly Foundation. The younger of two children, Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter to Sallie Brown and Wesley Ledbetter on a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana . On his World War II draft registration card in 1942, he gave his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana ("Shreveport"). There

The Maid Freed from the Gallows - Misplaced Pages Continue

3780-513: The twelve-string guitar , and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of " In the Pines ", "Pick a Bale of Cotton ", " Goodnight, Irene ", " Midnight Special ", " Cotton Fields ", and " Boll Weevil ". Lead Belly usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin , harmonica, violin, and windjammer . In some of his recordings, he sang while clapping his hands or stomping his foot. Lead Belly's songs covered

3870-521: The 50 albums most influential in the formation of Nirvana's sound. It was included in NME 's "The 100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard list". Ram Jam , an American rock band, had a hit with the song " Black Betty " which they remade as a rock song in 1977. "Black Betty" was recorded by Lead Belly in 1939. Bob Dylan credits Lead Belly for getting him into folk music. In his Nobel Prize Lecture, Dylan said "somebody – somebody I'd never seen before – handed me

3960-551: The 67-year-old in his folk song collecting around the South. Son Alan Lomax was ill and did not accompany his father on this trip. In December 1934, Lead Belly participated in a "smoker" (group sing) at a Modern Language Association meeting at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania , where the senior Lomax had a prior lecture engagement. He was written up in the press as a convict who had sung his way out of prison. On New Year's Day, 1935,

4050-500: The British skiffle revival , which in turn produced several musicians prominent during the British Invasion . Lonnie Donegan 's recording of " Rock Island Line ", released as a single in late 1955, signaled the start of the skiffle craze. George Harrison of The Beatles was quoted as saying, "if there was no Lead Belly, there would have been no Lonnie Donegan; no Lonnie Donegan, no Beatles. Therefore no Lead Belly, no Beatles." In

4140-592: The Harrison County chain gang . He later escaped and found work in nearby Bowie County under the assumed name of Walter Boyd. In January 1918, he was imprisoned at the Imperial Farm (now Central Unit ) in Sugar Land, Texas , after being convicted of killing a relative, Will Stafford, in a fight over a woman. During his second prison term, Lead Belly was stabbed in the neck by another inmate. (The wound resulted in

4230-655: The Lead Belly version on their 1963 debut album Blues, Rags and Hollers , under the title "Hangman." Folk singer John Jacob Niles recorded the song at least twice: On March 25, 1940, as "The Maid Freed from the Gallows", re-issued on the compilation album My Precarious Life in the Public Domain , then in April 1960 in a more dramatic version as "The Hangman" on his album The Ballads of John Jacob Niles . Folksinger Odetta released

4320-580: The Lomaxes published about Lead Belly in the fall of 1936 proved a commercial failure. In January 1936, Lead Belly returned to New York on his own, without John Lomax, in an attempted comeback. He performed twice a day at Harlem's Apollo Theater during the Easter season. He developed a live dramatic recreation of the March of Time newsreel (itself a recreation), which was about his prison encounter with John Lomax, when he

4410-525: The Northern Counties where it had originally been contributed by Sabine Barring-Gould. The story focuses on the exploits of the fiancé who must recover a golden ball in order to save his love from the noose. The incident resembles The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was . Other fairy tales in the English language, telling the story more fully, always retell some variant on

4500-643: The University of Chicago in 1965. She was born Sarah Elizabeth Garland on June 28, 1910, in Bell County, Kentucky . Her father was coal miner Oliver Perry Garland and her mother Sarah Elizabeth Lucas Garland, his second wife. He had earlier married Deborah Robinson Garland who bore four children, including Mary Magdalene Garland, later better known as Aunt Molly Jackson . After Deborah's death, Oliver married Sarah Lucas, and had eleven more children, including Jim Garland and Sarah Ogan Gunning. The children grew up with little formal education but with strong family ties and

4590-408: The article as his manager). Other photos showed Lead Belly's hands playing the guitar (with the caption "these hands once killed a man"), Texas Governor Pat M. Neff , and the "ramshackle" Texas State Penitentiary. The article attributes both of his pardons to his singing his petitions to the governors, who were so moved that they pardoned him. The article closed by saying that Lead Belly "may well be on

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4680-533: The biggest record companies at the time. These sessions in California were held on June 15 and 17, with the Golden Gate Quartet accompanying some songs. The recordings resulted in the album, The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs , being issued by Victor Records . The album included sheets with extensive notes and song texts prepared by Alan Lomax. According to Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, "it

4770-519: The brink of a new and prosperous period." Lead Belly failed to stir the enthusiasm of Harlem audiences. Instead, he attained success playing at concerts and benefits for an audience of folk music aficionados. He developed his own style of singing and explaining his repertoire in the context of Southern black culture, having learned from his participation in Lomax's college lectures. He was especially successful with his repertoire of children's game songs (as

4860-439: The centrist Republican candidate for president, for whom he wrote a campaign song. Lead Belly also wrote the song " The Bourgeois Blues ", which has class-conscious and anti-racist lyrics. In 1939, Lead Belly was convicted and sentenced again to prison. Alan Lomax, then 24, took him under his wing and helped raise money for his legal expenses, dropping out of graduate school to do so. After gaining release, Lead Belly appeared as

4950-523: The chords sounded right, which is the same way I work on compositions when the guitar's in different tunings." It is also one of Page's favourite songs on Led Zeppelin III . Led Zeppelin performed the song a few times live during Led Zeppelin concerts in 1971. Page and Plant recorded a live acoustic version for their 1994 album. No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded . In a retrospective review of Led Zeppelin III (Deluxe Edition) , Kristofer Lenz of Consequence of Sound gave "Gallows Pole"

5040-634: The folksong revival, including Woody Guthrie , Pete Seeger , Burl Ives , Huddie Ledbetter , and Earl Robinson . But Andrew Ogan had TB, and when the illness worsened he moved back to Brush Creek in Knox County, Kentucky, where he died in August 1938. Sarah married Joseph Gunning, a skilled metal polisher, in August 1941. After the start of World War II they moved to work in the shipyard in Vancouver, Washington , where her brother Jim Garland had also found work. After

5130-438: The gallows pole?" "No, I didn't bring any silver, / no I didn't bring any gold. I just come to see you / hangin' from the gallows pole." It has been suggested that the reference to "gold" may not mean actual gold for a bribe, but may instead stand for the symbolic restoration of condemned person's honor, perhaps by proving their innocence, honesty, or fidelity, or the maiden's virginity. Such an interpretation would explain why

5220-519: The gallows, his true love comes riding, bearing a pardon from the Queen (or the King). It was first recorded by County Armagh singer Sarah Makem on The Folk Songs of Britain, Vol. 7: Fair Game and Foul (1961), and subsequently by Shirley Collins , Trees , The Bothy Band , Cara Dillon , Andy Irvine and Paul Brady , June Tabor , Peter Bellamy and Spiers & Boden . English band Led Zeppelin recorded

5310-518: The gold, silver, or some other valuable to save them. Although the traditional versions do not resolve the fate of the condemned one way or the other, it may be presumed that the bribe would succeed. Depending on the version, the condemned may curse all those who failed them. One such refrain goes: Hangman, hangman, hangman / slack your rope awhile. I think I see my father / ridin' many a mile. "Father, did you bring any silver? / father, did you bring any gold, Or did you come to see me / hangin' from

5400-505: The heroine's being hanged for losing an object of gold. Folksinger Huddie " Lead Belly " Ledbetter, who also popularized such songs as " Cotton Fields " and " Midnight Special ", first recorded "The Gallis Pole" in the 1930s accompanied by his own twelve-string guitar. His haunting, shrill tenor delivers the lyrical counterpoint, and his story is punctuated with spoken-word passages, as he "interrupts his song to discourse on its theme". Country blues trio Koerner, Ray & Glover covered

5490-487: The legacy of Lead Belly, and some modern rock audiences owe their familiarity with Lead Belly to Nirvana's performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (which Lead Belly called " In the Pines ") on a televised concert later released as MTV Unplugged in New York . Cobain refers to his attempt to convince David Geffen to purchase Lead Belly's guitar for him in an interval before the song is played. In his notebooks, Cobain listed Lead Belly's Last Session Vol. 1 as one of

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5580-498: The local New York City market. He later founded Folkways Records . Between 1941 and 1944, Lead Belly released three albums under the Asch Recordings label. During the first half of the 1940s, Lead Belly also recorded for the Library of Congress . Lead Belly frequently performed Southern Blues at concerts by Si-lan Chen . In 1944 he went to California, where he recorded strong sessions for Capitol Records . He lodged with

5670-502: The money her husband had earned during three months of performing, but in installments, on the pretext that Lead Belly would spend it all on drinking if he was given a lump sum. From Louisiana, Lead Belly successfully sued Lomax for both the full amount of his earnings and release from his management contract. The quarrel was bitter, with hard feelings on both sides. In the midst of the legal wrangling, Lead Belly wrote to Lomax proposing they team up again, but this did not happen. The book that

5760-643: The mountains, but the lyrics she wrote was considerably different from the original after the first verse. Living in Detroit, Sarah was overlooked in the early stages of the American folk revival in the 1950s. In August 1963 folklorist Archie Green visited Sarah in Detroit to follow up interviews he had done with her half-sister Aunt Molly Jackson. Green joined forces with Wayne State University faculty Ellen Stekert and Oscar Paskal to record Sarah in January and March 1964 in

5850-462: The name after being wounded in the stomach with buckshot . Another theory is that the name refers to his ability to drink moonshine , the homemade liquor that Southern farmers, black and white, made to supplement their incomes. Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy thought it came from a supposed tendency to lie about as if "with a stomach weighted down by lead" in the shade when the chain gang was supposed to be working. However, his strong local accent

5940-400: The name of the brother (Lazlo). It appeared on her third album, Judy Collins 3 , released in early 1964. Bob Dylan recorded a thematically similar "Seven Curses" in 1963, during the sessions for his The Times They Are A-Changin' album. Dylan first performed the song in April 1963 at his Town Hall concert, and would perform it again at his October 1963 Carnegie Hall show. The song tells

6030-828: The pair arrived in New York City, where Lomax was scheduled to meet with his publisher, Macmillan , about a new collection of folk songs. The newspapers were eager to write about the "singing convict". Time magazine made one of its first March of Time newsreels about him. Lead Belly attained fame — although not fortune. On January 23–25, 1935, Lead Belly had the first of several recording sessions with American Record Corporation (ARC). These sessions, combined with two others on February 5 and March 25, yielded 53 takes. Of those recordings, only six were ever released during Lead Belly's lifetime. ARC decided to simultaneously release these songs on six different labels they owned: Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Paramount. These recordings achieved little commercial success. Part of

6120-482: The ransom: the heroine has been captured by pirates. Of the texts he prints, one (95F) had "degenerated" into a children's game, while others had survived as part of a Northern English cante-fable , The Golden Ball (or Key). The most extensive version is not a song at all, but a fairy story titled "The Golden Ball", re-published by Joseph Jacobs in More English Fairy Tales, from Henderson's Folk-Lore of

6210-665: The reason for the poor sales may have been that ARC released only his blues songs rather than the folk songs for which he would later become better known. Lead Belly continued to struggle financially. Like many performers, what income he made during his career came from touring, not from record sales. In February 1935, he married his girlfriend, Martha Promise, who came North from Louisiana to join him. During February Ledbetter recorded his repertoire with Alan Lomax, who also recorded other African Americans. Lomax interviewed Ledbetter about his life for their forthcoming book, Negro Folk Songs As Sung by Lead Belly (1936). But his father, who had

6300-540: The recordings in which Lead Belly accompanied himself, he made an unusual type of grunt between his verses, sometimes described as "haah!" Songs such as "Looky Looky Yonder", " Take This Hammer ", "Linin' Track", and "Julie Ann Johnson" feature this unusual vocalization. In "Take This Hammer", Lead Belly explained: "Every time the men say, 'Haah,' the hammer falls. The hammer rings, and we swing, and we sing." The "haah" sound can also be heard in work chants sung by Southern railroad section workers, " gandy dancers ", in which it

6390-619: The retreat of the United Mine Workers by joining the communist-led National Miners Union (NMU). The ensuing violence and controversy pushed many NMU leaders and persons involved in union activity, including Ogan and her half-sister Aunt Molly Jackson, to leave the state. By 1935 the Garlands and the Ogans had moved to New York City, with assistance from New York University folklorist Mary Elizabeth Barnicle. In New York, they met many leaders of

6480-642: The singing of Bill Whiting, of Longcot, Oxfordshire . Some 50 versions have been reported in Finland, where it is well known as " Lunastettava neito ". It is titled " Den Bortsålda " in Sweden ( " Die Losgekaufte " in German). A Lithuanian version has the maid asking relatives to ransom her with their best animals or belongings (crown, house, crown, ring, sword, etc.). The maiden curses her relatives who refuse to give up their property and blesses her fiancé, who does ransom her. In

6570-485: The sinking of the Titanic in April 1912, Ledbetter wrote the song "The Titanic", his first composition on the twelve-string guitar, which later became his signature instrument. Initially played when performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893–1929) in and around Dallas , Texas, the song is about champion African-American boxer Jack Johnson 's being denied passage on the Titanic . Johnson had in fact been denied passage on

6660-536: The song as "Gallows Pole" for their album Led Zeppelin III in 1970. The album is a shift in style for the band towards acoustic material, influenced by a holiday Jimmy Page and Robert Plant took to the Bron-Yr-Aur cottage in the Welsh countryside. The liner notes include the songwriting credit "Traditional: Arranged by Page and Plant". Page adapted the song from a version by American folk musician Fred Gerlach , which

6750-422: The song came soon after his return from England where he met A.L. "Bert" Lloyd who has claimed credit for translating into English the above referenced Hungarian folksong. An Irish version of the song, entitled "Derry Gaol" or "The Streets of Derry" ( Roud number 896 ), has the young man marching through the streets of Derry "more like a commanding officer / Than a man to die upon the gallows tree". As he mounts

6840-438: The song tends to be called "The Prickle Holly Bush", several recordings of which were made around the middle of the twentieth century, particularly in the south of England. Folklorist Peter Kennedy recorded Walter Lucas of Sixpenny Handley , Dorset singing a version in 1951, and Sarah Ann Tuck of nearby Chideok singing a similar version the following year. Bob Copper recorded Fred Hewett of Mapledurwell , Hampshire , singing

6930-510: The song under the title "The Gallows Pole" on her third album At the Gate of Horn in 1957 and on her live album Odetta at Carnegie Hall , recorded on April 8, 1960. Judy Collins performed the song "Anathea" throughout 1963 (including a rendition at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival), credited to Neil Roth and Lydia Wood. It is thematically similar to the Hungarian "Feher Anna", even to the detail of

7020-656: The studios of WDET and the United Auto Workers Solidarity House. The Detroit sessions provided the selections for her album "Girl of Constant Sorrow," Folk-Legacy FSA-26, issued in 1965. She was encouraged to sing publicly in Professor Stekert's classes and at a conference featuring Walter Reuther and Michael Harrington in Detroit in 1964. She sang at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1964, and had her most extended performance at

7110-539: The war they moved to Detroit, Michigan . Through contacts she made while living in New York, Sarah Ogan had a dozen of her songs recorded by Alan Lomax in 1937, and Professor Barnicle recorded Sarah singing duets with her brother Jim Garland in 1938 for the Library of Congress. Woody Guthrie wrote a profile of Sarah for the New York Daily Worker in 1940, and expanded his sketch for his American Folksong . She

7200-600: Was "discovered" in Angola Penitentiary during a 1933 visit by folklorists John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax . They were recording varieties of local music in the South as a project to preserve traditional music for the Library of Congress. This was one of numerous cultural projects during the Great Depression. Deeply impressed by Ledbetter's vibrant tenor and extensive repertoire, the Lomaxes recorded him in 1933 on portable aluminum disc recording equipment for

7290-472: Was a testament to his persuasive powers, as Neff had run for governor on a pledge not to issue pardons (most Southern judicial systems had no provision for approving parole from prison). After meeting Lead Belly in 1924, Neff returned to the prison several times after he was incarcerated again. He brought guests to the prison on Sunday picnics to hear Ledbetter perform. In 1930, Ledbetter was sentenced to Louisiana State Penitentiary (nicknamed "Angola") after

7380-439: Was also mentioned in the popular A Treasury of American Song . One of the well-known songs she wrote around 1936, "I am a Girl of Constant Sorrow," appeared in a 1953 collection, and was recorded in the 1960s by Peggy Seeger and Barbara Dane among others. The song is a rewrite of " Man of Constant Sorrow " that she remembered from a hillbilly record (likely recorded by Emry Arthur in 1928) she had heard some years before in

7470-418: Was an American singer and songwriter from the coal mining country of eastern Kentucky , as were her older half-sister Aunt Molly Jackson and her brother Jim Garland . Although she made an appearance in the New York folk music scene of the 1930s, she was overshadowed by her older brother and half-sister. Rediscovered in the 1960s while living in Detroit, she played at folk festivals at Newport in 1964 and

7560-468: Was eligible for this due to good behavior.) But, both Ledbetter and the Lomaxes believed that the record they had taken to the governor had helped gain his release from prison. Ledbetter returned to a state in the midst of the Great Depression , and jobs were scarce. In September, needing regular work to satisfy parole, he asked John Lomax to take him on as a paid driver. For three months, he assisted

7650-586: Was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas . By the 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas , "Hudy Ledbetter" was living next door to his parents in a separate household with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is recorded as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. Ledbetter received his first instrument in Texas, an accordion , from his uncle Terrell. By his early twenties, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as

7740-529: Was one of the finest public presentations of Leadbelly's music: well recorded, well advertised, well documented. And the album justified its reputation as a landmark in African American folk music." Several of the recordings from these sessions were also issued as singles by Bluebird Records . In 1941, Lead Belly was introduced to Moses "Moe" Asch by mutual friends. Asch owned a recording studio and small record label, which mainly released folk records for

7830-399: Was recorded by Alan Lomax (1949) and Kenneth Goldstein (1961) and released on the album "The Best of Jean Ritchie" (1961) with a mountain dulcimer accompaniment. Sarah Ogan Gunning , another Kentuckian, sang a similar version to collector Mark Wilson in 1974. An unusual version sung by Mrs. Lena Bare Turbyfill of Elk Park, North Carolina was collected by Herbert Halpert in 1939 as part of

7920-421: Was still wearing uniform stripes. By this time he was no longer associated with Lomax. Life magazine ran a three-page article titled "Lead Belly: Bad Nigger Makes Good Minstrel" in its issue of April 19, 1937. It included a full-page, color (rare in those days) picture of him sitting on grain sacks playing his guitar and singing. Also included was a striking photograph of his wife Martha Promise (identified in

8010-765: Was the first American country blues musician to achieve success in Europe. His final concert was at the University of Texas at Austin in a tribute to his former mentor, John Lomax , who had died the previous year. Martha also performed at that concert, singing spirituals with Lead Belly. Lead Belly died later that year in New York City. He was buried in the Shiloh Baptist Church cemetery, in Mooringsport, Louisiana , 8 miles (13 km) west of Blanchard , in Caddo Parish. He

8100-480: Was used to coordinate work crews as they laid and maintained tracks. In 1976, a biopic titled Leadbelly was released, directed by Gordon Parks and featuring Roger E. Mosley as Lead Belly. In 1951, the Weavers ' recording of their arrangement of Lead Belly's "Irene", released as " Good Night, Irene ", was the first folk song to reach #1 on the U.S. charts, selling some two million copies. Kurt Cobain promoted

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