SONG SYLLABUS / WEEK 5

WEEK 5: Thursday, February 15 DRAFT
Lead Belly: THE SOUTH



"Goodnight, Irene" (Alan Lomax 580/593. Good notes about Lead Belly)
S&P Lead Belly (2:32) ****
MH Ollie Gilbert #0952

"Rock Island Line" (Lead Belly Songbook)
S&P Lead Belly

Goodnight Irene & Rock Island Line are primary. Listen to the way Leadbelly sings them in the several versions available on SGS archive AND on AAS (which has the Library of Congress Recordings)

Additional Leadbelly tracks on SGS:
The Midnight Special
Black Girl (In the Pines)
Bring Me A Little Water, Sylvie
Linin’ Track
Cotton Fields
Stewball
Blind Lemon
Bourgeois Blues
Careless Love
Cowboy Song
Pigmeat
Salty Dog
Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Leadbelly on AAS:
Governor Pat Neff
Take A Whiff On Me
Where de Sun Gone Down
Whoa Back, Buck
Roberta
Alberta
Eagle Rock Rag (piano!)

Compare HENRY THOMAS (Songster tradition, for comparison) on AAS:
Fishing Blues
Red River Blues (compare with Leadbelly’s Where de Sun Gone Down)
Run, Mollie, Run

YouTube:
Leadbelly: March of Time Newsreel (with John Lomax)
Leadbelly—1945
Leadbelly—Bale O’ Cotton
Goodnight Irene—The Weavers
Goodnight Irene—Ernest Tubb & Red Foley

Goodnight Irene—Jerry Garcia in Golden Gate Park
Goodnight Irene—Van Morrison & Chieftans

YouTube Wildcards:
Leadbelly/Nirvana
Lonnie Donnegan: Jack o’ Diamonds
Hong Kong rooftop & a cappella in laundry
Irene: Fredrik Lundin Overdrive (Cobenhagen?)