I was in High School went Black Betty came out, perfect timing for us. Great memories for that period of being a mature kid in high school. Skipping school, going from Pennsylvania to across the NY state border, to Cuddebackville, New York, to hang out at a local swimming hole with those Cuddebackville, New York kids! Great times! Oh Black Betty!!!
Maybe it's because I graduated from High School in 1972, but I think we had the best music growing up. Starting with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones right up to the mid to late 70's. Love your reaction to this. Thanks for helping prove that music is the one thing that unites us all.
We did have to best music. I'm slightly younger than you are. Do you remember listening to the underground radio station? Beeker Street with Clyde Clifford, that played songs about a year before they came out to the public.
"Black Betty" was a cadence sung by black confederate soldiers during the civil war. Black Betty was a rifle made in Birmingham, Alabama. The company that made the gun made an "improved model", hence "Black Betty had a child". They hated the new rifle because it didn't shoot straight. Hence, "damned thing gone wild". Ram Jam put music to the 160 year old cadence. BY: tommonteck
My Dad's Coast Guard buddy played Black Betty while we were all out on his boat. He told me if this song didn't move you there was no music in your soul.
@Big Investment no, it was garbage. We used to have to roll 4 joints, then get in somebody's car and smoke 'em all at once with the windows up to feel amything. Today's weed? I can put one little piece in the bowl and I'm set.
There you go, brother...it's called, "old school," this song was written and performed a good while back and it's still loved by those of us who grew up at that time. I'm glad that you liked it.
There is an extended version with an amazing instrumental in the middle. ALSO / thank you for being one of my favorite reactors, because I had to go through three horrible ones to this song before I got to you. THANK YOU!!!
This video was brought to you by Marijuana, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Evan Williams. P.S. Aunt Janet is still pissed about her yard 45 years later, her neighbor Bob is still complaining about the noise, and three of the people in this video are still high today.
RELEASED IN 1977 Jamels biggest amounts of views 1 MILLION 387 , ,000,, GOES TO SHOW you how good 70s music WAS ,, Most of the biggest amounts Jamels views are songs from the 70s, , CHECK EM OUT for your self , The FANTASTIC 70s
"You can take your talent everywhere." That a great quote Jamel, inspired by some guy in his back yard playing some amazing guitar! - I used to tell my students: "The Man can steal your money; Mr. Slick can steal your honey; Gravity steals your health & pretty face; but no one can erase your talent & education."
Supposedly it's a old very old southern song dating to revolutionary War times but has been resong in different versions like it could me whiskey or gun powder or slaves in each continuation or version it was a song forbading the furtue but yes it has been around for over 300 years in some forum or another I believes Ledbetter did a version early 20th century too
@@ManiacalThrasher - my comment was referring to a common sentiment about hearing the version of this song played for radio- wanting the song to keep going for a couple of more verses because it's a fun time. Many times albums feature (slightly to completely) different versions of a song than what's available for radio play. The original Back Betty by Lead Belly that CLEARLY inspired the Ram Jam version is less than two minutes.
As others have commented, Leadbelly was the original artist. His version was about the chain gangs smashing rocks to make asphalt, which comes out black. The Ram Jam singer always said he was thinking about Bettie Page when he sang it. She was a gorgeous pin-up girl in the 60s. Some people say Bettie Page was the original "Goth Girl". She was FINE!
With the world in a fritz, I’m glad there’s still wholesome people not forgetting the joys in life. I’m a Asian/African-American watching a African American watching Caucasian Americans playing a song in their backyard. This is what matters.
@@CatharticusX immediately checked it out and holy crap nostalgia trip. going to watch without a paddle now. great cover though. thank you for recommending.
Legend has it, they asked for a few hundred bucks to shoot the video, spent 90% of it on beer and weed, then shot it with mostly their own equipment in the drummer's backyard
If that were the case your dad would most likelt be telling you this story while driving you in his mint 78 corvette because he was a successful artist
You heard this in the 2001 movie "Blow" when George Jung ( Johnny Depp ) walks through the Miami airport carrying over a million dollars in cash to meet his Columbian connection. What a walk.
Your videos show that music crosses over and reaches all kinds of people and race doesn't matter!! Music is the Great Language that brings people together!!
Your reaction was 2:25 of greatness! Feeling that flow. Made me smile. 😁 It's cool to see someone jamming out for the first time, to a song I know so well. Glad you enjoyed it!
Man you guys have no idea what you missed in the seventies! That we didn't have cellphones but we had damn good music! P.S. thanks for all the up votes! We didn't know how good we had it did we? When I compare the way music and the world is now to the way the world was then I just shake my head. To be honest I let it make me feel sad.
AMEN Sister!,... If given the chance I would relive my teenage years during the 70's. Saw Ram Jam perform this song live as an opening act for Robin Trower in 1977 at COBO Hall in Detroit, Michigan. Still have the ticket in a scrapbook with hundreds of other bands.
I was going to say that, but I noticed your comment. Yes, that was a Lead Belly song.These guys did an awesome cover. I like Lead Belly's version as well. ❤
Yes, there's an a cappella recording of Leadbelly, here on YT. So cool that LB sang his version, picked up by these "random" white guys, their version, then reviewed by our knowledgeable friend. Some good respect and sharing of music.
I'm a little late to the party here. :) There are a ton of covers of this great blues standard. Here is one I like, by a band called Caravan Palace who give it a bit of an Electro Swing flavor: ua-cam.com/video/B4hn1RnpVT0/v-deo.html
@@NefariousDreary I think there was a bigger leap from 60s to 70s than 70s to 80s although I love 80s music. The 70s really introduced power chords and iconic guitar riffs like no other decade.
The song was first recorded in the field by US musicologists John and Alan Lomax in December 1933, performed a cappella by the convict James "Iron Head" Baker and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas (a State prison farm). Baker was 63 years old at the time of the recording.
This song has a long and storied history my friend. Its actually a very old marching chant sung by soldiers. Black Betty refers to a favored model of musket. The line "black betty had a child. The damn thing gone wild" refers to the successor to this rifle which was hated by soldiers. "The damn thing gone blind" refers to the rifle being inaccurate and throwing shots everywhere. Bam balam is the sound of the soldiers' volley of fire. The line "she's so rock steady and she's always ready" again refers to the reliability of the gun. Hope you found this interesting. You should look up the OLDEST known recording of this song from the turn of the century. EDIT: Also this song has many different versions of the lyrics. They were modified and added to over the years with some arguing this has ascribed many different meanings to the song. However the original meaning holds true. It's about a rifle.
Hmmm. But Birmingham wasn’t founded until 1871 and muskets were falling out of favor. I’ve lived in Birmingham AL all my life and don’t recall ever hearing about an Arsenal or rifle works ever being here. Now, Birmingham England made rifles where you get the famous BSA (Birmingham Small Arms factory). Nice story anyway as there may be some truth in it.
@@39thala I just googled his name. Some stuff there on him, including a story about his life now...or at least the story seems fairly new. www.orgs.miamioh.edu/projectoxford/wards1.htm
I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that dude is the actual lead singer who didn't have anything to do for the song, so he combined weird al with mick jagger...
This was played by DJ Disciple of NYC in a House music club and we was getting down with the foot work with baby powder on the dance floor: This is Bangin!!!!
Me, too! Freedom was AWESOME in the 70's. Kids could be kids back then. I got in trouble for singing this song in school, though. Uneducated educators thought it was racist and wouldn't listen to me, or to the only 2 black kids in school, who ALSO walked around singing this song. Lol
So, I am old enough to remember when it first came out. The other day it got stuck in my head and I had ALEXA play it :) So here is the full history of the song. The chorus (oh Black Betty, Bamalam) has been around since the Revolutionary war (not Civil), however the lyrics changed many times over the years. It was originally a marching song. And they were singing about a musket that was painted black. It was manufactured in Birmingham, England. (it was then followed by Brown Bess) It may have been sung in the Civil war too. Next it reappears in 1933 sung by a 63 year old, James "Iron head" Baker who was in Prison on a chain gang. He was recorded in the field by US "musicologists" John and Alan Lomax. He performed a cappella with other convicts singing back up. The Lomaxes were recording for the Library of Congress. They recorded several versions. It was thought at that time that "Black Betty" was a whip used on the convicts. In 1939, LeadBelly re-recorded his own version and then finally in the early 1970's Bill Bartlett, a fan of LeadBelly, reworked the song and added two additional verses. He was the first guitarist of Ram Jam. He later left the band and took the song with him. His version of Black Betty is about whiskey/ moonshine. It was either Leadbelly or Bartlett that added the "down in Alabam". ( I think it was Bartlett, but not sure.) So there you have it!
Black Betty may have been put on vinyl by James Iron Head first, but that's the first recording, not the origins. But the origins of this song were first noted as a labor work song (Black & White) sung it. It was also a chain gang song. Folk songs like these meanings changed at various times with the events happening around the men singing it. Black Betty at times was a woman, a whip, a musket or bottle of whiskey to name a few. The song traveled great distances as the men looking for work migrated around and prisoners (who sadly had multiple times in prison back then) were held in different states. The song was sung as a cadence song during the American Civil War. This brings us to the oldest known reference of the song: it was in England and possibly Scotland in the 18th century as a war cadence song. Birmingham is in England, the Black Betty and Brown Bess were nicknames of the two muskets used. Betty and Bess were and still are common English names. It isn't that the other references are wrong but shows how folk songs travel through time, how lyrics change meanings by who is singing them, and what these types of songs meant to them, through the changes of events that shaped their lives. Many influences from England shaped the early stages that formed the beginnings of the United States. Even accents of British origins are still found in parts of the US, and many Americans don't realize that the origins of those accents are because their sound is so historically much a part of those regions.
🤘🏽the era music of the blues jazz n swing from the 40s and later on rock n roll from the 50s on all the way to the early 80s is undoubtedly the best!! I love bbking and natt king cole! My daddy got me into Led Zeppelin and bbking . We had a whole range of music 🎵
Just blows my mind you can truly appreciate so many types of music! I'm 68 and because of your channel I'm appreciating the music i grew up with more than i ever did! We just kinda took it for granted as it was what it was. Thanx so much for your channel.
I'm 70, and feel the same way as you do!! I enjoyed all of these songs, back in the day. This channel is excellent!! I'm re-hearing these songs like a first timer. Great job!! BB
We love our baby boomers, as a millenial in my early thirties can honestly say my dad introduced me to a lot of cool music and without your guys' generation of music and the counter culture of the sixties: who knows what music would be in this day and age its already suffering enough.
My brother from another mother. This white boy has been jammin to this song for the last thirty years. We've got more in common than the "MAN" wants to admit. (We're all just people dude!) ✌️👍
Yes, this was a jam...and I'm "a white people", but I don't like to see white people dancing, anymore than I like to see them boxing...which is always at 3am for some reason, lol. So I'm glad there wasn't a whole lawn full of embarrassing white people dancing. And like I said, I'm a "white people" myself. But as much as I hate to say it...there's just some things we don't do well. Not after you have watched Soul Train a few times.
This 1977 song was before music videos, before MTV which was like 1983. So it looks to me like Ram Jam started music videos. If you wanted to watch an artist perform you had to buy their concert ticket or catch them on American Bandstand or Soul Train which were on back to back every Saturday afternoon or Don Kirchner's Rock Concert which was in at like midnight or one am Saturday night. There might have been some other place on tv to see a live music performance but I can't remember any. Talk shows just talked. The Ed Sullivan Show ended in 1971.
This song is a freely rocking adaptation of Leadbelly’s Black Betty. From around 1930. It’s an old slave holla type thing. No instruments. Just clapping. Look it up. It’s amazing!
thad thanks for given me info on this song always loved it and i also wanted to know more about it i knew a few other people play it but never knew leadbelly wrote it thank you
"Black Betty" was the name of a famous moonshine still. The reference to a child was another still made from parts of Black Betty. Apparently some of the parts had something wrong with them or some of the ingredients for the moonshine were bad and were reported to cause blindness in those that drank it.
Producer: "Hey what budget do you need for the music video" RJ: "200 bucks" Producer: "How are you gonna make a music video with $200?" RJ: "We're just gonna play the song in Steven's backyard" Producer: "Well.... then what are the 200 bucks for?" RJ: "Weed."
This is an Old Blues Song by "Leadbelly". My Father had The Original. I've always been into Blues. So He played the original for Me and I played the Remake by Ram Jam for Him. Dad loved it.
The oldest recording of this song is from the chain gangs. The lyrics and name black betty date back even further. It's about a rifle if I remember correctly.
After listening to the Commodores' Brick house, I stumbled on the "backyard" video, and then you - what a great & lovely sequence of events. Life is good, folks (even if hard & bad sometimes or frequently).
@@mackjeez A Black Betty was a black lacquered Brown Bess; a Standard Long Land Pattern .75 caliber smoothbore musket. Since it was a flintlock, it made the characteristic "bam-ba-lam" as it was set off. Both were, of course, named after Queen Elizabeth.
Unfortunately, that's why a lot of really good artists went away after music videos started to be a thing. Sadly, the mainstream wanted style over substance apparently.
If you didnt know, one would think after the filming, they hopped in their pickups and and went back to their farms in the South, but this one hit wonder was a British American band formed in New York City, and Black betty was filmed in a yard on Long Island.. it boggles my mind at times...
I've always loved this song and think I always will, they was definitely a head of there time with there stile of music, it is a master peace that I don't think will ever get old. I've posted this song lots of times over a few year's, also there lyrics can be taken and used in a few ways, but nomatter what they are brilliant. If they brought this song out today or even within the last few years it would be an even bigger hit than way back when they produced this master piece. Its a tune that will always cheer you up and get you want to start dancing. Hopefully the more it get posted on the web etc then the younger generation will get to here it and eventually this master piece will start getting played in clubs etc,
I remember vividly, where I heard that song first time. Back end of the 70th in our small disco, which also functioned as a movie theatre. All the handbangers were totally freaking out, when Black Betty was on. Thank you so much for bringing back those times and for your always honest and heartfelt reactions. You got most of my back in the days favorites covered. It is great to be part of your travel in time. Thank you so much 🤘🤘💞💘
@@SaxaphoneMan42 Sadly. My generation is mostly creatively bankrupt musically. >_> There is the occasional exception like Casey Lee Wiliams for Alternative Rock, but Classic is just dead rn.
That song probably generated a million dollars in speeding tickets.
You got that right 🤣🤣🤣
I would confirm but I haven't been caught yet.
Yes sir. It is impossible to do the speed limit while this song is playing!
And at least 1 million worth of chiropractor visits for neck problems
Hell yeah!!
This song turns every middle age dad into a Nascar driver when it hits.
This one and "Radar Love". lol
Black betty, radar love, and highway star 😂
@@laurenblainebamartistmgt I know it's true....
🤣🤣🤣🤣 do the same thing and I a GIRL!🤣🤣🤣🤣
😁😂😂🤣🤣🤣
I was in High School went Black Betty came out, perfect timing for us. Great memories for that period of being a mature kid in high school. Skipping school, going from Pennsylvania to across the NY state border, to Cuddebackville, New York, to hang out at a local swimming hole with those Cuddebackville, New York kids! Great times! Oh Black Betty!!!
Maybe it's because I graduated from High School in 1972, but I think we had the best music growing up. Starting with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones right up to the mid to late 70's. Love your reaction to this. Thanks for helping prove that music is the one thing that unites us all.
We did have to best music. I'm slightly younger than you are. Do you remember listening to the underground radio station? Beeker Street with Clyde Clifford, that played songs about a year before they came out to the public.
I graduated in 93 but I agree with you. My parents graduated in 76 and they raised me right. :)
I am from 69 and every decade has his own golden hits.
The missing ingredient is cicaine
Agree. Graduated in ‘75, some of the best music ever.
"Black Betty" was a cadence sung by black confederate soldiers during the civil war. Black Betty was a rifle made in Birmingham, Alabama. The company that made the gun made an "improved model", hence "Black Betty had a child". They hated the new rifle because it didn't shoot straight. Hence, "damned thing gone wild". Ram Jam put music to the 160 year old cadence.
BY:
tommonteck
heard and liked this song but didn't know the background to it...awesome brother, thank you
Thank you for sharing this!! So much better than thinking about some lady named Betty and her bad son!!!
Fuck I didn't know that that is wild. Thx for the info brother
@@homesteadhousewife9964 😂😂😂😂😂😂. Ikr
Also Lead Belly did it earlier, and I believe Ram Jam got it from him.
“The lead singer looks like if mountain dew was a person.” To directly quote one of my favorite comments on any UA-cam video ever.
Fast Charlie 😂
That's hysterical
Fast Charlie That’s the funniest shit I’ve seen in awhile. I WILL use it elsewhere! 🤣🤣
Yes ripping on a guitar with a hill billy mustache. That would be mountain dew, no doubt about it
Oh yeah, I'm using that 😁
Classic.. we would blast that in the car and everybody would smiling, jumping in our seats! One of my favorites even decades later!
My Dad's Coast Guard buddy played Black Betty while we were all out on his boat. He told me if this song didn't move you there was no music in your soul.
This is the music you get when you prioritize talent over looks.
Yes sir
I love ugly musicians. They aren't making it on their looks. There must be some other reason.
Works for me all day every day.........
Looks are empty. Music is what you’re there for. Music comes from the soul and it was good
They're beautiful.
Saw a golden comment on this vid not long ago. "They spent $10 to make this video and that was to buy the weed..." LOL!
Hahahaha hahahaha hahahaha hahahaha
Good Gold or Red was $30.00 for a five finger bag, back then.
Dimes were a rip off but, when you're in a tight spot, you would get what you could.
@Big Investment no, it was garbage. We used to have to roll 4 joints, then get in somebody's car and smoke 'em all at once with the windows up to feel amything.
Today's weed? I can put one little piece in the bowl and I'm set.
Big Investment, no it wasn’t. This weed now is way, way more potent than back then. Was why we rolled big fat doobies.
@Big Investment bro I'm nearly 60!
I'm talking about the 70s, not five minutes ago in the 90s lolol
There you go, brother...it's called, "old school," this song was written and performed a good while back and it's still loved by those of us who grew up at that time. I'm glad that you liked it.
There is an extended version with an amazing instrumental in the middle. ALSO / thank you for being one of my favorite reactors, because I had to go through three horrible ones to this song before I got to you. THANK YOU!!!
hi. I am a 62 year old grandmother,I just love watching y'all youngins reactions to popular songs from my era.
Your era was the best. At least in America (here in Italy was a bit different...)
❤💕❤
I agree 100% - I'm 59...
So do I. I'm 60🎶
Lier you're not a grandmother
We all know it so shut up
This video was brought to you by Marijuana, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Evan Williams. P.S. Aunt Janet is still pissed about her yard 45 years later, her neighbor Bob is still complaining about the noise, and three of the people in this video are still high today.
And Pontiac Trans Am
RELEASED IN 1977 Jamels biggest amounts of views 1 MILLION 387 , ,000,, GOES TO SHOW you how good 70s music WAS ,, Most of the biggest amounts Jamels views are songs from the 70s, , CHECK EM OUT for your self , The FANTASTIC 70s
Based on an old slave work song …
Jim H. Best. Comment. Ever
Lol!
"You can take your talent everywhere." That a great quote Jamel, inspired by some guy in his back yard playing some amazing guitar! - I used to tell my students: "The Man can steal your money; Mr. Slick can steal your honey; Gravity steals your health & pretty face; but no one can erase your talent & education."
Supposedly it's a old very old southern song dating to revolutionary War times but has been resong in different versions like it could me whiskey or gun powder or slaves in each continuation or version it was a song forbading the furtue but yes it has been around for over 300 years in some forum or another I believes Ledbetter did a version early 20th century too
drugs and alcohol erase your talent and education
Epic quote from your father! Please make everyone you know and will eventually meet here's that quote! Wisdom is lacking in the 21st Century.
The guitar & the whole beat of this song is off the charts ..an old favourite,.love it !!
This house is at 295 Jerusalem Ave Hicksville NY 11801, and filmed in the front yard. The house was built in 1924. :)
Is it still there? Worth a road trip!
@@jinx5795 I was visiting friends in the old neighborhood. Yes the house is still there.
Hicksville!!! You can't make that stuff up.👍
@@dcmccart25 I heard there gear is still setup on that very lawn as well!
Really? I gotta check that out.
"...I wish it was longer."
-You ...and everyone else who has ever heard this song.
Beth G well, the album version is longer aye
@@ManiacalThrasher - my comment was referring to a common sentiment about hearing the version of this song played for radio- wanting the song to keep going for a couple of more verses because it's a fun time. Many times albums feature (slightly to completely) different versions of a song than what's available for radio play. The original Back Betty by Lead Belly that CLEARLY inspired the Ram Jam version is less than two minutes.
Were I come from we something called the “replay” button
Beth G yeah i know that with me being a musician and all, but i just wanted to point out that the album release at least is about a minute longer
"Thats what she said"
As others have commented, Leadbelly was the original artist. His version was about the chain gangs smashing rocks to make asphalt, which comes out black. The Ram Jam singer always said he was thinking about Bettie Page when he sang it. She was a gorgeous pin-up girl in the 60s. Some people say Bettie Page was the original "Goth Girl". She was FINE!
"Leadbelly was the original artist" No, James "Iron Head" Baker's recording was earlier.
Lead belly re-did it but it came out in 1933 by another black artist Iron Head
With the world in a fritz, I’m glad there’s still wholesome people not forgetting the joys in life. I’m a Asian/African-American watching a African American watching Caucasian Americans playing a song in their backyard. This is what matters.
Love it!!! You're so right! ✝️👍
Not right. You’re an American watching a American watching American play a song in a back yard.
@@tackleberry933 absolutely correct. i agree with you bud
There’s a great metal-ish version of this by the band Spiderbait.
@@CatharticusX immediately checked it out and holy crap nostalgia trip. going to watch without a paddle now. great cover though. thank you for recommending.
If you hear Ram Jam in a movie, someone's about to catch an ass whoop'n.
😂😉
I could dance like that! If I felt like it!
Or smuggling blow
Frankly I’m amazed it wasn’t in Joe Dirt....
Jarhead Charlie by a bear...
Legend has it, they asked for a few hundred bucks to shoot the video, spent 90% of it on beer and weed, then shot it with mostly their own equipment in the drummer's backyard
This song is from the era that you could recognize every band by their sound. Nowadays all popular music sound the same.
When your dad says he was in a band back in the 70s.
One of the best comments EVER
LOL!
If that were the case your dad would most likelt be telling you this story while driving you in his mint 78 corvette because he was a successful artist
Well....not my dad but Myke Scavone the lead singer is my older brother :D
Eco Mouse
The lead singer in the video is Bill Bartlett. He can be found playing in another video.
I don't understand how anyone can get to their 20's without hearing this song even by accident.
Nobody played NFS Underground or what?😁
I got to 39. Glad I did hear it Finally
Exactly you must have been living on another planet if you never heard this before come on now 🤦♂️
KINDA LIKE HEARING "DOA" BY BLOODROCK..ANOTHER BANNED! FROMT HE RADIO SONG. WHERE IS THE FREE SPEECH IN THE USA?
I heard it first on Rayman legends then searched for the actual song
This is what you used to do, no internet, no cell phone. The Backyard was awesome, everyone just enjoyed being there.
You heard this in the 2001 movie "Blow" when George Jung ( Johnny Depp ) walks through the Miami airport carrying over a million dollars in cash to meet his Columbian connection. What a walk.
He was wrong on what it cost to make it, the weed probably wasn't free.
To be honest, an oz of good Columbian was $40. Great times. 😎
Lol
Wish I could smoke!
Agreed
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
DIDNT ANY BODY SMOKE WEED IN THE 80s ???????????????? , Or was COCAINE The drug for 80 BANDS
When musicians were not promoted for their looks or their clothes.
It was all about the music. This is proof
I love their look and clothes, it's perfect. 🤩
@@hogi99 mid 70's clothing at it's finest !! LOL
The real-talent days
10/10 would still wear all those outfits.
Your videos show that music crosses over and reaches all kinds of people and race doesn't matter!! Music is the Great Language that brings people together!!
Your reaction was 2:25 of greatness! Feeling that flow. Made me smile. 😁
It's cool to see someone jamming out for the first time, to a song I know so well.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Man you guys have no idea what you missed in the seventies! That we didn't have cellphones but we had damn good music!
P.S. thanks for all the up votes! We didn't know how good we had it did we? When I compare the way music and the world is now to the way the world was then I just shake my head. To be honest I let it make me feel sad.
AMEN Sister!,... If given the chance I would relive my teenage years during the 70's. Saw Ram Jam perform this song live as an opening act for Robin Trower in 1977 at COBO Hall in Detroit, Michigan. Still have the ticket in a scrapbook with hundreds of other bands.
Word
I am so happy we did not have a camera on every friend growing up. Way more freedom!
My parents introduced me to this when I was a teen. I was born in 83. Love this song
Amen!
Leadbelly released this song in the 30's, which is probably why it slaps so hard. Props to Ram Jam for putting some sick energy on it.
I was going to say that, but I noticed your comment. Yes, that was a Lead Belly song.These guys did an awesome cover. I like Lead Belly's version as well. ❤
Haha same here
Yes, there's an a cappella recording of Leadbelly, here on YT. So cool that LB sang his version, picked up by these "random" white guys, their version, then reviewed by our knowledgeable friend. Some good respect and sharing of music.
I'm a little late to the party here. :) There are a ton of covers of this great blues standard. Here is one I like, by a band called Caravan Palace who give it a bit of an Electro Swing flavor: ua-cam.com/video/B4hn1RnpVT0/v-deo.html
His version is a little less loud
ua-cam.com/video/SJUSGuNxt-4/v-deo.html
African American sista here! We had a house party years ago (not too safe to have them now). The DJ played this, and the crowd went nuts! Lol
Never saw this video before but this song has captivated me (as well as millions of others) since the ‘70s whenever I heard it.
The musicianship in the 70s is unparalleled in my humble opinion.
And showmanship.
Agree with every fibre of my being mate! Born in the 70’s surrounded by this luciousness!
@@Lena_K0711 DUDE! Check out: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard! - Its 70s prog rock AF
I would also say the 80s but yeah the 70s had alot of cool stuff. Like the Hair of the dog album by Nazareth
@@NefariousDreary I think there was a bigger leap from 60s to 70s than 70s to 80s although I love 80s music. The 70s really introduced power chords and iconic guitar riffs like no other decade.
What a great channel! No race or politics here, just people coming together and appreciating music!!
All Love✌🏾🧔🏾✌🏾
Exactly!✌️
@@jamelakajamal let us all keep great music alive!😎
Singing bout a gun 😁
Didn't see that reaction coming. Truly thought it was going bad.
I Love this song! No matter what mood I’m in, this always gets me rockin’! There are some talented musicians in this band.
If you've ever seen "Blow" with Johnny Depp, this song is played during the airport scene
That's a whole lot of talent in that backyard.
Do you hear that a lot?
I agree
More talent than some music videos today by far , just pure talent .
Not really they stole this song from Lead belly. What else is new?
@@buickjohnson7914 and he stole it from the chaingangers in the 1800's. What's your point,they all stoled...
The song was first recorded in the field by US musicologists John and Alan Lomax in December 1933, performed a cappella by the convict James "Iron Head" Baker and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas (a State prison farm). Baker was 63 years old at the time of the recording.
this is exactly how we looked and dressed and hung out together...this is It!!!!!!!!!!
Us too, I had 4 uncles, all played music.
Even the freekin bikes...
Bridget Law Except there’s no beer can pyramid in the video.
This JUST came up in my suggestion list and....I dang near spit my wine out when Jamel said the video probably costs, "FREE DOLLARS" 😂😂🤣🤣😭😭😭
Can you imagine if that was your Gramma’s house, and all these years later everybody still seeing it! Cool!
This song has a long and storied history my friend. Its actually a very old marching chant sung by soldiers. Black Betty refers to a favored model of musket. The line "black betty had a child. The damn thing gone wild" refers to the successor to this rifle which was hated by soldiers.
"The damn thing gone blind" refers to the rifle being inaccurate and throwing shots everywhere. Bam balam is the sound of the soldiers' volley of fire.
The line "she's so rock steady and she's always ready" again refers to the reliability of the gun.
Hope you found this interesting. You should look up the OLDEST known recording of this song from the turn of the century.
EDIT: Also this song has many different versions of the lyrics. They were modified and added to over the years with some arguing this has ascribed many different meanings to the song. However the original meaning holds true. It's about a rifle.
It also makes for a lot of funny puns.
Hmmm. But Birmingham wasn’t founded until 1871 and muskets were falling out of favor. I’ve lived in Birmingham AL all my life and don’t recall ever hearing about an Arsenal or rifle works ever being here. Now, Birmingham England made rifles where you get the famous BSA (Birmingham Small Arms factory).
Nice story anyway as there may be some truth in it.
Wow, I did not know that ?..(said in Johnny Carson voice)..
Pierce Nine thank you for that!
Thanks So Much for the history and clarification of this very cool tune 👍⭐️👍💯
"This songs video cost about free dollars."
that legit made me laugh.. good joke..
That was funny sh*t!!!
Hehe yeah I was thinking 3 dollars but when he spelled it out I laughed my ass off. And it is probably true haha😅
It cost tree fiddy.
@@keribubba now dont go givin away no tree fiddy..
Just goin come back now wantin another tree fiddy..
Me: enters that into book of dad jokes for future reference.
I dare anyone to be still and not move to this song! It can't be done!
I played this quite it bit going through Mississippi and Alabama on a recent road trip. This is the anthem for driving fast in the South!
The lead singer was in the Lemon Pipers in the sixties..."My green Tambourine"
I didn't know that!
Not heard green tambourine in years!
@@doplinger1 Me neither.
His name is Bill Bartlett. Can't find any info on whatever happened to him or what he's doing lately. Just kind of disappeared it seems. Anyone know?
@@39thala I just googled his name. Some stuff there on him, including a story about his life now...or at least the story seems fairly new. www.orgs.miamioh.edu/projectoxford/wards1.htm
After all these years this song just continues to age like fine wine..
ua-cam.com/video/TaQv3Cl06ow/v-deo.html
Thats the 1970s For Ya ,,
No way
Sunny day, windows down, driving fast, blasting this song!!!!!!! Ahhhhhh
Popular song on rock stations back in the 70’s
I'm that guy in the back on the left. Contributing nothing but having a wild time.
He’s having a blast!
I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that dude is the actual lead singer who didn't have anything to do for the song, so he combined weird al with mick jagger...
Bullshit
You mean the one dancing and clapping his hands? Near the end of the video you can catch him singing.
@@peggyarnold4333 Yeah, I think he just jumps in on the chorus. Lmao
You know it's good when the lead singer successfully rocks mullet and bangs simultaneously. Legendary.
He be your favourite science teacher in high school, huh?
This was played by DJ Disciple of NYC in a House music club and we was getting down with the foot work with baby powder on the dance floor: This is Bangin!!!!
Old white guy here… I so trust you and your reactions! Rock on!
Having grown up in the 70's all I can say is I miss the good ol' days.
Amen
Me, too! Freedom was AWESOME in the 70's. Kids could be kids back then. I got in trouble for singing this song in school, though. Uneducated educators thought it was racist and wouldn't listen to me, or to the only 2 black kids in school, who ALSO walked around singing this song. Lol
So, I am old enough to remember when it first came out. The other day it got stuck in my head and I had ALEXA play it :) So here is the full history of the song. The chorus (oh Black Betty, Bamalam) has been around since the Revolutionary war (not Civil), however the lyrics changed many times over the years. It was originally a marching song. And they were singing about a musket that was painted black. It was manufactured in Birmingham, England. (it was then followed by Brown Bess) It may have been sung in the Civil war too. Next it reappears in 1933 sung by a 63 year old, James "Iron head" Baker who was in Prison on a chain gang. He was recorded in the field by US "musicologists" John and Alan Lomax. He performed a cappella with other convicts singing back up. The Lomaxes were recording for the Library of Congress. They recorded several versions. It was thought at that time that "Black Betty" was a whip used on the convicts. In 1939, LeadBelly re-recorded his own version and then finally in the early 1970's Bill Bartlett, a fan of LeadBelly, reworked the song and added two additional verses. He was the first guitarist of Ram Jam. He later left the band and took the song with him. His version of Black Betty is about whiskey/ moonshine. It was either Leadbelly or Bartlett that added the "down in Alabam". ( I think it was Bartlett, but not sure.) So there you have it!
Nice, thank you
Love hearing the history behind the song, thanks so much!
Thank you loveless, did not know the full history of the song. All I knew was the leadbelly version and the ram jam version. Thanks again!
Was used in the movie "Blow" with Johnny Depp.
Who Knew???
Black Betty may have been put on vinyl by James Iron Head first, but that's the first recording, not the origins.
But the origins of this song were first noted as a labor work song (Black & White) sung it. It was also a chain gang song.
Folk songs like these meanings changed at various times with the events happening around the men singing it.
Black Betty at times was a woman, a whip, a musket or bottle of whiskey to name a few.
The song traveled great distances as the men looking for work migrated around and prisoners (who sadly had multiple times in prison back then) were held in different states.
The song was sung as a cadence song during the American Civil War.
This brings us to the oldest known reference of the song: it was in England and possibly Scotland in the 18th century as a war cadence song.
Birmingham is in England, the Black Betty and Brown Bess were nicknames of the two muskets used.
Betty and Bess were and still are common English names.
It isn't that the other references are wrong but shows how folk songs travel through time, how lyrics change meanings by who is singing them, and what these types of songs meant to them, through the changes of events that shaped their lives.
Many influences from England shaped the early stages that formed the beginnings of the United States.
Even accents of British origins are still found in parts of the US, and many Americans don't realize that the origins of those accents are because their sound is so historically much a part of those regions.
🤘🏽the era music of the blues jazz n swing from the 40s and later on rock n roll from the 50s on all the way to the early 80s is undoubtedly the best!! I love bbking and natt king cole! My daddy got me into Led Zeppelin and bbking . We had a whole range of music 🎵
2 minute song that still resonates 50 years later.
43 YEARS Came out In 1977,,
Just blows my mind you can truly appreciate so many types of music!
I'm 68 and because of your channel I'm appreciating the music i grew up with more than i ever did! We just kinda took it for granted as it was what it was.
Thanx so much for your channel.
Me too. Never thought I would love reaction videos so muck. Jamal is sooooooo coooooool. Take care
I'm 70, and feel the same way as you do!! I enjoyed all of these songs, back in the day. This channel is excellent!! I'm re-hearing these songs like a first timer. Great job!! BB
@@bruceabean1 in thinking most of us do😄
We love our baby boomers, as a millenial in my early thirties can honestly say my dad introduced me to a lot of cool music and without your guys' generation of music and the counter culture of the sixties: who knows what music would be in this day and age its already suffering enough.
I’m 55 and I like this channel! Takes me back and I realize just how cool the music was I grew up on! Keep Rockin!
The song 'Black Betty' was featured in a John Travolta film called 'The General's Daughter.'
My brother from another mother.
This white boy has been jammin to this song for the last thirty years.
We've got more in common than the "MAN" wants to admit.
(We're all just people dude!) ✌️👍
This song is truly a JAM. No clue how everyone wasn't dancing as hard as the band.
There is no jamming in the sense of improvising in that performance.
I was!
The movie Blow with Johnny Depp...in the airport scene
Totally rocking out at work, good thing I'm at home!
Yes, this was a jam...and I'm "a white people", but I don't like to see white people dancing, anymore than I like to see them boxing...which is always at 3am for some reason, lol.
So I'm glad there wasn't a whole lawn full of embarrassing white people dancing.
And like I said, I'm a "white people" myself. But as much as I hate to say it...there's just some things we don't do well. Not after you have watched Soul Train a few times.
"Cost free dollars."
I peed.
The choreography though... c'mon.
f ... r .... e ... e .... dollars ...
Lol
Lmfao same
They had 50 dollars on budget for this video, it was spent on Budweiser and weed
The craziest thing about Ram Jam is that while a lot of people assume they were from somewhere in the south, they were actually from New York
This 1977 song was before music videos, before MTV which was like 1983. So it looks to me like Ram Jam started music videos. If you wanted to watch an artist perform you had to buy their concert ticket or catch them on American Bandstand or Soul Train which were on back to back every Saturday afternoon or Don Kirchner's Rock Concert which was in at like midnight or one am Saturday night. There might have been some other place on tv to see a live music performance but I can't remember any. Talk shows just talked. The Ed Sullivan Show ended in 1971.
This song is a freely rocking adaptation of Leadbelly’s Black Betty. From around 1930. It’s an old slave holla type thing. No instruments. Just clapping. Look it up. It’s amazing!
thad thanks for given me info on this song always loved it and i also wanted to know more about it i knew a few other people play it but never knew leadbelly wrote it thank you
Yes😍
Whaaaat?!
I knew about it being sung in chain gangs you know two songs with a similar is Flower by Moby and Green up Sally or at least that was it’s main lyric
ua-cam.com/video/6A2V9Bu80J4/v-deo.html Moby’s version
Unfortunately they were a one hit wonder but the song is legendary
Hey not gonna lie though the rest of the record slaps.
Bro, that whole album was the shit!
Legendary to who ?haha🤬
The song is a cover tho of an original slave song
@@FoxtaleHi Kind of
I just watched this for like the 5th time haha... I think this is my favorite reactions of yours. Just smilin'.. thanks
This song was heavily featured in Johnny Depps 2001 movie “BLOW”, it was about the ex drug kingpin “Boston George”(rest in peace)
"Black Betty" was the name of a famous moonshine still. The reference to a child was another still made from parts of Black Betty. Apparently some of the parts had something wrong with them or some of the ingredients for the moonshine were bad and were reported to cause blindness in those that drank it.
How can a still have a child?
@@stevenpatterson6229 read what?
@@scotchmorrison2579 " another still made from parts of Black Betty "
@@stevenpatterson6229 ok cool, I will never listen to that song and not think of that.
Holy shit
Producer: "Hey what budget do you need for the music video"
RJ: "200 bucks"
Producer: "How are you gonna make a music video with $200?"
RJ: "We're just gonna play the song in Steven's backyard"
Producer: "Well.... then what are the 200 bucks for?"
RJ: "Weed."
🤣
200 bucks well spend;)
Got me dying 🤣🤣
Classic little tale, Love It.
Free hundred. did you watch it. Come over my mama house
This song make you want more. Great jam song. Your reaction is priceless.
When you think about it, the singer is pretty much rapping, so that means it's probably the first song to combine rap, rock, and disco!!!!!
This is an Old Blues Song by "Leadbelly". My Father had The Original. I've always been into Blues. So He played the original for Me and I played the Remake by Ram Jam for Him. Dad loved it.
Leadbelly’s is the version I thought of automatically too.
Leadbelly I believe was a cover. This is the original, ua-cam.com/video/tiCEVl_9-MM/v-deo.html
@@DanK3670 ua-cam.com/video/lu7hBuhr-Ls/v-deo.html
Because you shared something cool, I'll reciprocate. Enjoy
The oldest recording of this song is from the chain gangs. The lyrics and name black betty date back even further. It's about a rifle if I remember correctly.
They got sued, and lost their ass even though they wrote 2 verses. It hit the charts even though it was banned on both coasts.
damn, this singer is playing the riff and the solo at the same time. What a legend
My 3 year old son and I dance to this song. This is his favorite song! It's pure gold!
After listening to the Commodores' Brick house, I stumbled on the "backyard" video, and then you - what a great & lovely sequence of events. Life is good, folks (even if hard & bad sometimes or frequently).
This was an OLD blues tune, goes back to "Lead Belly" ( Huddie Ledbetter)
"Traditional"
it's even older ... got a version from like 1877 or something like that ^^+gg
Yes he needs to check out leadbelly! Its even older than him. A real old african American plantation song
@Andrew Cahall you can find "Traditional" versions of this song uploaded on UA-cam.
@@drewsblues2001 Don't say "wrong" till you are sure you're right: 1 min 06 secs ua-cam.com/video/SJUSGuNxt-4/v-deo.html
This song, believe it or not, is actually an old tune written by Leadbelly.
He made it famous way back when but im not sure he wrote it. They didn't record way back when and songs were passed down.
@@kristomat My bad. Leadbelly is given props because he got the song copywritten.
It's actually a folk song, black betty is a gun, most probably a black musket.
@@mackjeez A Black Betty was a black lacquered Brown Bess; a Standard Long Land Pattern .75 caliber smoothbore musket. Since it was a flintlock, it made the characteristic "bam-ba-lam" as it was set off. Both were, of course, named after Queen Elizabeth.
Leadbelly! Old school shit right there
Back in the 70s, everybody had a cool uncle who was in a band like this. EVERYBODY! Rock-on!
Your smile :)
You are one of the nicest people I've seen on UA-cam, we was smiling all through the video. Talking about infectious.
Welcome to 70s music, brother! Everyone is ugly as hell and plays their ass off 😂😂
Ugly by today's botox, silicone, dyed, solarium tanned, spray tanned standards. :P
😆😆
onsese joo true true
Unfortunately, that's why a lot of really good artists went away after music videos started to be a thing. Sadly, the mainstream wanted style over substance apparently.
Goji 84 too true man.
Seeing your face when the dude first opened his mouth and sang was beautiful and priceless.
THE 70s were the BOMB ,, Heres some proof ,, 1977 Baby
That face made me forget the hell we are living in, even if just for a moment.
If you didnt know, one would think after the filming, they hopped in their pickups and and went back to their farms in the South, but this one hit wonder was a British American band formed in New York City, and Black betty was filmed in a yard on Long Island.. it boggles my mind at times...
Came from Howling Wolf Mississippi Delta Blues Great! I bet you didn't thnkWhite guys could do that huh!! Imlovecya!
They had to cut it short, mom was going to be hone in a few minutes. She said no friends over.
LOL
Hilarious.
John Ribby 😂😂😂
Ha ha ha brilliant comment
😂😂😂
One of the most under-appreciated rock song of all-time!
WHO, UNDER appreciates this? ive never seen the like..
This song was in the movie “Blow” with Johnny Depp.
I've always loved this song and think I always will, they was definitely a head of there time with there stile of music, it is a master peace that I don't think will ever get old. I've posted this song lots of times over a few year's, also there lyrics can be taken and used in a few ways, but nomatter what they are brilliant. If they brought this song out today or even within the last few years it would be an even bigger hit than way back when they produced this master piece. Its a tune that will always cheer you up and get you want to start dancing. Hopefully the more it get posted on the web etc then the younger generation will get to here it and eventually this master piece will start getting played in clubs etc,
This video proves:
A good song is a good song even in the backyard 😁
Claus Appel, and that AAmericans can dig some fantastic classic rock! One of their best songs, to me.
Such a great track, a 70's masterpiece.
The Album had other cool songs on it,cant recall the titles though,lol
Leadbelly released this song in the 30's, which is probably why it slaps so hard. Props to Ram Jam for putting some sick energy on it.
i watched this twice ...love this song ...Jamal you crack me up ...
I remember vividly, where I heard that song first time. Back end of the 70th in our small disco, which also functioned as a movie theatre. All the handbangers were totally freaking out, when Black Betty was on.
Thank you so much for bringing back those times and for your always honest and heartfelt reactions.
You got most of my back in the days favorites covered. It is great to be part of your travel in time. Thank you so much 🤘🤘💞💘
Kids, this was pre-MTV. No money was spent on music videos back then (when bands even had them).
They had to pay for film and development, though.
The 60s to the 90s. A thirty-year period of sheer musical godhood.
True
followed by 30 years of mostly musical garbage it seems, with a few exceptions
Yes.
@@SaxaphoneMan42 Sadly. My generation is mostly creatively bankrupt musically. >_>
There is the occasional exception like Casey Lee Wiliams for Alternative Rock, but Classic is just dead rn.
you have something against 50s music?!
"From the looks of things, this video costs about $3.00". Hilarious comment and true
Greatest video ever. The bass player gets me every time.