Black Betty  

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"Black Betty" (Roud 11668) is a 20th century African-American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations of earlier folk material; in this case an 18th century marching cadence about a flint-lock rifle. In 1977, the rock band Ram Jam — whose members included Bill Bartlett, formerly of Starstruck and The Lemon Pipers — rerecorded the song with producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz under Epic Records. The song became an instant hit with listeners, as it reached number 18 on the singles charts in the United States and the top ten in Australia. At the same time, the lyrics became the cause of a boycott by civil rights groups NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality, who claimed it insulted black women. This recording featured in the film "Blow" (2001).



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Black Betty" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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