Sunday, March 06, 2005

"black betty"

"whoaaa black betty bamalam, whoaaa black betty bamalam..." This song is pretty exciting, and it's on the soundtrack of Johnny Depp's movie Blow. Not many people know who wrote this song, but it is covered by a hell of a lot of bands, the most popular cover of this song being by the band Ram Jam. It was really written by one of the original Delta Blues legends named Huddie Lefbetter ("Leadbelly") around the 1930's.

Anyway, the Ram Jam band's version starts (and ends) the song with a heavy gong drum (continuously) and a really strong, defining drum beat (ending when the lead vocalist starts singing) with constant cymbal crashes. There's also some hardcore guitars being played. They've turned this song into more of a rockabilly song rather than a blues song. I've only heard the rock version, but I think it would sound good as a blues song too. The guitar has a great solo on the bridge, and escalates up, heading back to the original chorus.

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