Huddie Leadbetter (Leadbelly)

The Real Story of Huddie Leadbetter 1889 - 1949

It was in the Louisiana State Penitentiary in July 1933 that Huddie met folklorist John Lomax and his son Alan who were touring the south for the Library of Congress, collecting unwritten ballads and folk songs using the newly available recording technology. The Lomaxes had discovered that Southern prisons were among the best places to collect work songs, ballads and spirituals and Leadbelly, as he now called himself, was a particular find.  Over the next few days the Lomaxes recorded hundreds of songs. When they returned in the summer of 1934 for more recordings Leadbelly told them of his pardon in Texas. As Alan Lomax tells it, "We agreed to make a record of his petition on the other side of one of his favorite ballads, 'Goodnight Irene'. I took the record to Governor Allen on July 1. On August 1 Leadbelly got his pardon. On September 1 I was sitting in a hotel in Texas when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and there was Leadbelly with his guitar, his knife, and a sugar bag packed with all his earthly belongings. He said, 'Boss, you got me out of jail and now I've come to be your man'" He was not a blues singer in the traditional sense; he also sang spirituals, pop, field and prison hollers, cowboy and childrens songs, dance tunes and folk ballads, and of course his own topical compositions. It has been said his repertoire was at least 500 songs.  That many of his songs carried a blues spirit can be traced back to his days with Blind Lemon Jefferson, but his greatest contribution to American music was in the folk field. Leadbelly classics such as "Goodnight Irene," "The Midnight Special," "Rock Island Line", "Cotton Fields," and "Bring Me a Little Water, Sylvie" all contain black folk elements that many prewar bluesmen shunned, at least in the recording studio. He never saw any commercial success during his lifetime. Not until after his death did a broader public come to know his songs and the amazing story of his life.  He has inflenced artists such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Brownie McGee, Sonny Terry, Bob Dylan, Joe Cainen and many others. Leadbelly's 65 years sometimes reads like a work of fiction

                     Midnight Special
 

Well you wake up in the morning, hear the ding dong ring,

You go a-marching to the table, see the same damn thing

Well, it's on a one table, knife, a fork and a pan,

And if you say anything about it, you're in trouble with the man

Let the midnight special, shine her light on me

Let the midnight special, shine her ever-loving light on me

                        Alabama Bound

I'm Alabama bound  --- I'm Alabama bound

And if the train don't stop and turn around

I'm Alabama bound

                           Goodnight Irene
D                                 A7
Asked your mother for you
                                               D
She told me that you was too young
                                                  G
I wish, dear Lord, that I'd never seen your face
D               A                   D
I'm sorry you ever was born.

CHORUS:
D                A7
Irene, Goodnight
                    D
Irene, Good night
                                     G
Goodnight, Irene, Good night, Irene
D               A              D
I'll see you in my dreams.