The following is a partial list of songs performed by Lead Belly.
Lead Belly
Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...
, born Huddie Ledbetter, was an American folk and blues musician active in the 1930s and 1940s.
*"4, 5 & 9"
*"Abraham Lincoln"
*"Ain't Goin Down the Well No More"
*"Ain't Gonna Drink No More"
*"
Ain't Gonna Study War No More
*"Ain't It a Shame to Go Fishin' on a Sunday"
*"
Alabama Bound
"I'm Alabama Bound" is a ragtime melody composed by Robert Hoffman in 1909. Hoffman dedicated it to an M. T. Scarlata. The cover of its first edition, published by Robert Ebberman, New Orleans, 1909, advertises the music as "Also Known As The Ala ...
"
*"
Alberta"
*"
Amazing Grace"
*"Army Life" (see "I Don't Want No More of Army Life")
*"Backslider, Fare Thee Well"
*"Baby don't you Love me No More"
*"
Backwater Blues
The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City.
Background
The song has long been assoc ...
"
*"Becky Dean"
*"Big Fat Woman"
*"
Birmingham Jail
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West M ...
"
*"
Black Betty"
*"
Black Girl
Black women are women of sub-Saharan African and Afro-diasporic descent, as well as women of Australian Aboriginal and Melanesian descent. The term 'Black' is a racial classification of people, the definition of which has shifted over time and acr ...
" (trad.) (see "In the Pines")
*"Black Snake Moan"
*"Blind Lemon Blues"
*"the Blood Done Signed my Names (ain't you Glad)"
*"
Blue Tail Fly
"Jimmy Crack Corn" or "Blue-Tail Fly" is an American song which first became popular during the rise of blackface minstrelsy in the 1840s through performances by the Virginia Minstrels. It regained currency as a folk song in the 1940s at the ...
"
*"Blues Around New York"
*"
The Boll Weevil"
*"
Bottle Up and Go
"Bottle Up and Go" or "Bottle It Up and Go" is a song that is a standard of the blues.
Based on earlier songs, Delta bluesman Tommy McClennan recorded "Bottle It Up and Go" in 1939. The song has been interpreted and recorded by numerous artists, ...
" ( "Borrow Love and Go")
*"
The Bourgeois Blues
"The Bourgeois Blues" is a blues song by American folk and blues musician Lead Belly. It was written in June 1937 in response to the discrimination and segregation that he faced during a visit to Washington, D.C. to record for Alan Lomax. It rails ...
"
*"Bring a Little Water, Silvy" (with Martha Ledbetter )
*"Bull Cow"
*"Careless Love"
*"
C.C. Rider
"See See Rider", also known as "C.C. Rider", "See See Rider Blues" or "Easy Rider", is a popular American 12-bar blues song that became a standard in several genres. Ma Rainey, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was the first to record it on October 16, 192 ...
"
*"Corn Bread Rough"
*"
Cotton Fields"
*"
Death Letter Blues
"Death Letter", also known as "Death Letter Blues", is the signature song of the Delta blues musician Son House. It is structured upon House's earlier recording "My Black Mama, Part 2" from 1930. House's 1965 performance was on a metal-bodied Na ...
" (parts 1&2)
*"Daddy, I'm Coming Back to You" (tribute to
Jimmie Rodgers
James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmi ...
)
*"Dance Calls"
*"Dekalb Blues"
*"Diggin' my Potatoes"
*"Don't Lie Buddy" (with
Josh White)
*"Don't you Love your Daddy No More?" (trad.)
*"
Down in the Valley to Pray"
*"
Duncan and Brady
"Duncan and Brady", also known as "Been on the Job Too Long", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", or simply "Brady", is a traditional murder ballad about the shooting of a policeman, Brady, by a bartender, Duncan. The song's lyrics stemmed from act ...
"
*"
Easy Rider"
*"Ella Speed"
*"Every Time I Feel the Spirit"
*"Fannin Street (Mister Tom Hughes' Town)"
*"Fiddlers Dram"
*"Fort Worth and Dallas Blues"
*"Four Day Worry Blues"
[Leadbetter, H. (1960s). The Male Blues Vol.8. inylGreenford, UK: Jazz Collector Records.]
*"
Frankie and Albert
"Frankie and Johnny" (sometimes spelled "Frankie and Johnnie"; also known as "Frankie and Albert", "Frankie's Man", "Johnny", or just "Frankie") is a traditional American popular song. It tells the story of a woman, Frankie, who finds her man Joh ...
" (trad.)
*"
The Gallows Pole"
*"Get Up in the Mornin
*"Git on Board"
*"Go Down Old Hannah"
*"Good Good Good"
*"Good Morning Blues"
*"
Goodnight Irene
"Goodnight, Irene" or "Irene, Goodnight," is a 20th-century American folk standard, written in time, first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1933. A version recorded by the Weavers was a #1 hit in 1950.
The ...
"
*"Governor O.K. Allen"
*"Governor Pat Neff"
*"Green Corn"
*"
Grey Goose
The waterfowl genus ''Anser'' includes the grey geese and the white geese. It belongs to the true geese and swan subfamily (Anserinae). The genus has a Holarctic distribution, with at least one species breeding in any open, wet habitats in th ...
"
*"Gwine Dig a Hole to Put Devil In"
*"The Hindenburg Disaster" (parts 1 & 2)
*"Ha Ha This A-Way"
*"Ham an' Eggs"
*"
He Never Said a Mumblin' Word
"He Never Said a Mumblin' Word" (also known as "They Hung Him on a Cross", "Mumblin' Word", "Crucifixion", and "Easter") is an American Negro Spiritual folk song.
The song narrates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, detailing how he was nailed to th ...
"
(trad.)
*"Heaeh Mountain Stomp"
*"Hitler Song"
*"House of The Rising Sun"
*"
How Long, How Long Blues
"How Long, How Long Blues" (also known as "How Long Blues" or "How Long How Long") is a blues song recorded by the American blues duo Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell in 1928. It became an early blues standard and its melody inspired many later ...
" (with
Sonny Terry
Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and oc ...
)
*"Howard Hughes"
*"
If It Wasn't for Dicky"
*"
I Don't Want No More of Army Life"
*"If You Want To Do Your Part"
*"I'm Alone Because I Love You"
*"I'm on My Last Go Round"
*"I'm Sorry, Mama"
*"
In the Pines
"In the Pines", also known as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", "My Girl" and "Black Girl", is a traditional American folk song originating from two songs, "In the Pines" and "The Longest Train", both of whose authorship is unknown and date back ...
"
(trad.)
*"In dem Hot Summer Days"
*"
It's Tight Like That
"It's Tight Like That" is a hokum or dirty blues song, initially recorded by Tampa Red and Thomas A. Dorsey, Georgia Tom on October 24, 1928. The 10" Gramophone record, shellac disc single was released by Vocalion Records in December 1928. A succe ...
"
*"
In New Orleans (House of the Rising Sun)"
(trad.)
*"Jean Harlow"
*"Jim Crow Blues"
*"
John Hardy"
*"
John Henry"
*"Join the Band"
*"Julie Ann Johnson"
*"Kansas City Papa"
*"Keep your Hands Off Her"
*"Laura"
*"Leaving Blues (When you are smiling)"
*"Let It Shine on Me" (trad.)
*"Line Em"
*"Lining Track" (trad.)
*"Little Children's Blues"
*"Little Sally Walker"
*"Looky Looky Yonder"
*"Match Box Blues"
*"Medicine Man"
*"Meeting at the Building"
*"
Midnight Special" (trad.)
*"Mister Tom Hughes's Town"
*"Moanin
*"Mother's Blues"
*"
Mr. Hitler"
*"Must I Be Carried into the Sky"
*“My Baby Quit Me”
*"National Defense Blues"
*"New York City"
*"New Black Snake Moan"
*"Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"
*"Noted (No Good) Rider"
*"Oh, Something on My Mind"
*"Old Man"
*"Old Rattler"
*"(Old) Stewball"
*"
Old Time Religion
("Give Me That") "Old-Time Religion" (and similar spellings) is a traditional Gospel song dating from 1873, when it was included in a list of Jubilee songs—or earlier. It has become a standard in many Protestant hymnals, though it says nothing a ...
"
*"On a Christmas Day"
*"
On a Monday"
*"Out On the Western Plains" (a.k.a. "Cow Cow Yicky Yicky Yea")
*"Outshine the Sun"
*"Outskirts of Town"
*"Ox Drivin’ Blues"
*"Packing Trunk Blues"
*"Pig Meat" (with
Sonny Terry
Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and oc ...
- Harmonica)
*"Pig Meat Papa"
*"
Pick a Bale of Cotton" (trad.)
*"Poor Howard"
*"Prayer"
*"Pretty Flowers in My Backyard" (a.k.a. "Pretty Flower in Your Backyard")
*"The Red Cross Store Blues"
*"Red River"
*"Relax Your Mind"
*"Ride On"
*"Roberta" (parts 1 & 2)
*"
Rock Island Line"
*"the Roosevelt Song"
*"Run Sinners"
*"Sail On, Little Girl, Sail On"
*"
Salty Dog Salty Dog may refer to:
* Salty dog (cocktail), a drink made with vodka or gin and grapefruit juice
* Salty dog (slang), a slang phrase with several meanings, including "an experienced sailor"
Music
* ''A Salty Dog'', a 1969 album by the band Pro ...
"
*"the Scottsboro Boys"
*"Shorty George"
*"Silver City Bound"
*"
Skip to My Lou"
*"Stand Your Test in Judgement"
*"
Stewball
Skewball was the name of an 18th-century British racehorse, most famous as the subject of a broadsheet ballad and folk-song.
History
The horse was foaled in 1741 and originally owned by Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin, and later sold. H ...
"
*"Sweet Mary Blues (Governor Pat Neff)"
*"
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is an African-American spiritual song and one of the best-known Christian hymns. Originating in early oral and musical African-American traditions, the date it was composed is unknown. Performances by the Hampton Singer ...
" (trad.)
*"Sylvie"
*"
Take a Whiff on Me
"Take a Whiff on Me" ( Roud 10062) is an American folk song, with references to the use of cocaine. It is also known as "Take a Whiff (on Me)", "Cocaine Habit", and "Cocaine Habit Blues".
History
This song was collected by John and Alan Lomax fr ...
"
*"
Take This Hammer"
*"TB Blues"
*"Tell me Baby"
*"They Hung Him on a Cross" (see "He Never Said a Mumblin' Word")
*"
The Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
"
*"There's a Man Goin' around Takin' Names"
*"Turn your Radio On"
*"We Shall Be Free" (with
Woody Guthrie)"
*"We Shall Walk Thru the Valley"
*"Western Plain"
*"When I Was a Cowboy"
*"When the Boys Were Out on the Western Plains"
*"When the Train Comes Along"
*"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (trad.) (see "In the Pines")
*"Whoa Back Buck"
*"Yellow Gal"
*"Yellow Women's Doorbells" (see "On a Monday")
*"You Can't Lose-A Me Cholly"
*"You Don't Miss Your Water"
*"You Don't Know My Mind"
*"You Must Have that Religion, Halleloo"
References
{{Lead Belly
Lead Belly
Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...