Black Betty: The Story Behind Ram Jam's Classic

2 days ago(edited)

Welcome gentlemen today I would like to write about the story behind the song Black Betty by the group Ram Jam

So we begin

Ram Ham a group from the 70s that in their entire career only managed to get this song in the top 20 but that has earned them a place in the history of music the song is one of those great stories of Blue Hard Rock music that is worth knowing.

today we are going to talk or rather write about Ram Ham a Blues Hard Rock band from New York whose career began in 1977 is impregnated with the label of what in the United States they call Oneit Wonder that is to say a formation that is known for only one success in their career the hit in question is Black Betty a fresh and vibrant additive song with which the band obtained a great media impact at the time the irony of the matter is that the song.

It wasn't even original; guitarist Bill Bartlett adapted the song from blues writer Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter. and whose artistic career took place between 1936 and 1946 the unexpected success of the song forced Bill to form a band which he named ram ham the song Black Betty has had a great trajectory its origins place it as a march of the XV century dedicated to a musket that had the butt painted black the babalan of the song refers to the sound when firing in the song the black musket that the soldiers hugged hugged Black Betty to establish emotional ties in a pure ritual of ancestral magic was surpassed by her son a new musket that no longer had the butt painted black but is brown is more other interpretations speak of Black Betty as a woman of the street or as a bottle of Whiskey but I believe that due to the time and the origin the most coherent meaning is that of the rifle then the change of social reality made the lyrics adapt to its literal meaning that is to say to a mother and her son.

The first recording of the song was made by American musicologists Johnny Allan LX in 1933 performed a capella by convict James Baker Also known as Iron Head and a group in downtown St Farm Sugarland Texas in 1939 Udie Le Yter would also record it a capella

Although he later added a lead belly guitar accompaniment he was a black musician dedicated primarily to recovering songs that would otherwise have been lost from that moment on various artists recorded versions of the song as in 1964 did odepa da snaker Ray Harry Belafonte and Alan LX himself who made the first recording in 1976 a Cincinnati band Starstruck recorded a rock version of the song on the Truck Star label with little success its moment of triumph after 44 years since its first recording.

It would come with the rock version that Ram ham made in 1977. The rock band Ram ham, whose members included Bill Bartlett, former member of Starstruck, and Telemon Peppers, re-recorded the song with producers Jerry Kenat and He Cat for Epic Records. The song became an instant hit with the public and reached number 18 on the singles chart in the United States and within the top 10 in Australia.