“Black Betty” 🐈‍⬛ (Ram Jam) Speakeasy Marty Vaz & L’ill Hustler @McDonaugh’s Pub, Keyport NJ 10/5/25 скачать в хорошем качестве

“Black Betty” 🐈‍⬛ (Ram Jam) Speakeasy Marty Vaz & L’ill Hustler @McDonaugh’s Pub, Keyport NJ 10/5/25

That is especially the case with the hit track “Black Betty” from the ’70s British-American rock band Ram Jam. The song, which was made famous more recently in the 2001 film Blow, is an all-time rocker, buoyed by big guitars and a big voice. But while it rose to fame again in the early 21st century, the song’s beginnings started in the early 20th. The original song, “Black Betty,” started as a work song, sung predominately by Black people in the early 20th century. Though its roots may even extend beyond that into the 19th. While it may seem obvious the song is about a woman named “Betty,” that meaning is likely not accurate—at least, not entirely. The song, like many early blues songs, has ties to the great songwriter and performer Lead Belly. (Another famous tune attributed to him is “In the Pines,” made especially famous by Nirvana in the band’s MTV Unplugged performance, then called “My Girl.”) Some sources claim that “Black Betty” was written by Lead Belly, though others claim that he adapted it from even earlier versions. Because of its populist origins, the song has many recordings—more recently, Tom Jones took a stab at it. But the most famous in modern day is Ram Jam’s rock version, which is sung with slightly modified lyrics. While some may think “Black Betty” refers to a woman, others claim it’s a nickname for any number of objects, including a bottle of whiskey, a whip, or even a penitentiary transfer wagon. In Northern England and southern Scotland, wrote David Hackett Fischer, the term “Black Betty” was offered used for a bottle of whiskey. That euphemism was later adopted in the country regions of the eastern United States. In 1736, American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin published The Drinker’s Dictionary and referenced the term, writing, “He’s kiss’d black Betty.” Other older references include the U.S. wedding tradition in which two groomsmen are pitted against one another in a race. The prize? A bottle of whiskey, known as “Black Betty,” according to Caldwell’s Illustrated Combination Centennial Atlas of Washington Co. Pennsylvania of 1876.