Graue Literatur. Zusammenfassende Bezeichnung für Privatdrucke, Firmenschriften, Kongreßberichte u.ä., die in keiner Bibliographie verzeichnet sind und deshalb von Buchhändlern wie auch Bibliothekaren nur schwer beschafft werden können.
How to acquire all recordings Lead Belly made for the Victor Records label (absorbed by RCA Records in 1929) and its subsidiary label Bluebird Records? Lead Belly recorded for Victor RCA/Bluebird on two dates: June 15th and June 17th of 1940 (a saturday and a monday, as it happens), a total of 27 known tracks.
The Lead Belly collection Take This Hammer – The Secret History of Rock & Roll (Bluebird 82876 50957 2 or RCA 50957), the fifth volume of Bluebird series When the Sun Goes Down sometimes has the claim to sport „The Complete RCA Victor Recordings“.
This is one track short of the truth: While it does have the unissued first take „Grey Goose“ (Victor 051327-1), it misses the alternate take of „Grey Goose (Take 2)“ (Victor 051327-2). These are often mistaken for one another, as the vocal performances of Lead Belly and the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet were very precise – but apart from slightly different speeds (which could be due to pitch differences), some of the Quartet vocalists do notably different things in the background on the two tracks.
This track, „Grey Goose (Take 2)“ can almost exclusively be found on Document Records „Too Late, Too Late“: More Newly Discovered Titles And Alternate Takes, Volume 6 (1924-1946) (DOCD-5461).
There are two more Document Records that contain Victor/Bluebird recordings: Complete Recorded Works 1939-1947 In Chronological Order: Volume 1 (1 April 1939 To 15 June 1940) (DOCD-5226) and Complete Recorded Works 1939-1947 In Chronological Order: Volume 2 (17 June 1940 To Summer 1943) (DOCD-5227).
These are excellent compilations that contain many other Lead Belly tracks that you can almost exclusively get on them – so you need them. But they do not contain two tracks from the Victor sessions that are available on Take This Hammer: versions of „Yellow Gal“ and „Julianne Johnson“.
This creates one of the more unfortunate overlap situations for Lead Belly: If you get all three Document Records compilations (which you should), you’ll need to get Bluebird’s Take This Hammer for just two tracks.
This is a problem that nowadays can be solved through downloads, I guess, but then you miss out of the liner notes. Here is the tabella for Lead Belly’s Victor/Bluebird sessions:
Lead Belly’s Victor/Bluebird Recordings
No. / Source
Title
Document
others
Remarks
New York June 15, 1940 Huddie Ledbetter vocal/guitar with speech-1
051295-1, Victor 27268
Pick A Bale Of Cotton
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051296- , Victor unissued
Yellow Gal
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye; RCA 50957 notes it as „051296-1“
051297-, Victor unissued
Whoa Back, Buck
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051298-1, Victor
Midnight Special
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051299-1, Victor 27268
Alabama Bound
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051500-1, Victor
Rock Island Line
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051501-, Bluebird B8791
Good Morning Blues
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051502-, Bluebird B8791
Leaving Blues
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051503-1, Victor
T.B. Blues
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051504-, Bluebird B8709
Red Cross Store Blues
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051505-, Bluebird B8550
Sail On, Little Girl, Sail On
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051506-, Bluebird B8709
Roberta
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051507-, Bluebird B8559
Alberta
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051508-1, Victor
I’m on My Last Go Round
DOCD-5226
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
New York June 17, 1940 Huddie Ledbetter vocal/guitar with speech-1
051322-1, Victor
Easy Rider
DOCD-5227
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051323-1, Bluebird B8750
New York City
DOCD-5227
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051324-, Bluebird B8570
Worried Blues
DOCD-5227
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051325-, Bluebird B8570
Don’t You Love Your Daddy No More?
DOCD-5227
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye. Fancourt notes that Wolfe/Lornell also incorrectly note this track for August 4, 1949.
051326-1, Bluebird B8750
You Can’t Lose-A Me Cholly
DOCD-5227
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye. Fancourt notes that Wolfe/Lornell also incorrectly note this track for August 4, 1949.
051327-1, Victor unissued
Grey Goose
DOCD-5227
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051327-2, Victor 27267
Grey Goose (Take 2)
DOCD-5461
in: Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051328-1, Victor unissued
Didn’t Ol‘ John Cross The Water?
DOCD-5411
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051329-1, Victor 27267
Stew Ball
DOCD-5227
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051330-, Victor unissued
Take This Hammer
DOCD-5227
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051331-, Victor unissued
Can’t You Line ‚Em
DOCD-5227
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye
051332-
Julianne Johnson
RCA 50957
in: Wolfe/Lornell; Dixon/Godrich/Rye; RCA 50957 notes it as „051332-1“
Having busied myself with some «Irene»-trivia lately, more questions arose. For example, you’ll notice that the «Irene»-version 44-A is almost five minutes long while the maximum play length of a commercial shellac 78 was around three minutes. The «Irene»-version 44-B, then, lasts only about 2 minutes and features only one additional verse – verse 7 if you reconstruct 44-A and 44-B-1 as a supposedly continuous version. This is almost the same verse-structure (with seven verses total) that shows up if you reconstruct the «Irene»-versions 124-A-2 and 124-B-1 as a continuous version, compare my harmonization of «Irene»-versions.
Anyway, how do the field recordings by John and Alan Lomax account for the longer running time of tracks than a commercial 78 could hold?
The recording device and recording discs
It is true for commercial shellac 78rpms (10-inch) meant for replayat home that they only held about 3 minutes of music. Different discs were used for field recordings. John and Alan Lomax were supplied by the Library of Congress with a state of the art recording device, a «Presto» – this was a big machine that made electrically enhanced direct-to-disc recordings on aluminum discs and ,later, aluminum discs with a lacquer coating. These are called «aluminum discs» and «lacquer discs» usually, the latter most often referred to as «acetate discs» – which is materially speaking wrong, they were not made of acetate. While different explanations exist, it remains unclear how this factually wrong manner of naming them developed, but «acetate disc» is the most common name in popular contexts nowadays.
These recording «lacquer discs» were 12-inch-discs, not 10-inch (cf. Wolfe/Lornell 1992, 113), that could hold 5 minutes of music, and even more with some trickery: I read Alan Lomax could bring the recording time of those discs up to seven, some sources say even ten minutes – the most common technique to lengthen the record time apparently was to leave a narrower space between the grooves which in turn worsened the recorded quality. But this was a trade-off the Lomaxes often made for field recordings as these were not meant for commercial use.
Although John Lomax had used one of the only «portable» recording devices on his trips (starting 1907) before – recording on «Edison Dictaphone» wax cylinders which were fragile (cf. Morton 2000, 147) –, and although John and Alan Lomax even started out the 1933-trip with this «Ediphone» (cf. Kahn 2003, 1) and picked up the superior disc-cutting machine in Baton Rouge in mid-July (cf. Szwed 2010, 43), the Presto disc-cutting device was still immensely chunky. With a reported weight of 300 to 350 pounds (plus the discs, so some sources drive this number up to 500 pounds, cf. Ferris 2013, 15), installed in the back of the Lomaxes car.
The cylinder machine made only scratchy and squeaky sounds, but their new disc-cutting machine was the best portable machine on the market. These were long before the days of magnetic recording tape, transistors, and digital sound. Their new behemoth weighed a hefty 315 pounds. Alan recalls that the machine consisted of one large amplifier, a cutting turntable, two Edison batteries […], a loud-speaker, and the discs themselves. The latter were twelve inches in diameter, and were of annealed aluminum […].
(Wolfe/Lornell 1992, 113)
The fact the received the disc-cutting recording device just a couple of days before they first recorded Lead Belly in Angola Prison brings to attention that they had virtually no experience running that machine at that time. You can get a glimpse of such a device as well as of the 12-inch-discs in the film documentary Lomax the Songhunter (the device shown in that clip is not the one used for the Lead Belly-session of 1933 in Angola Prison, it’s a newer one). You can probably see that older Presto in action for a about two seconds in a completely staged «prison» scene recorded for the March of Time newsreel, with John Lomax and Lead Belly here, around the 15-second mark. (By the way, this film with its horrific script was reportedly despised by all involved: «There was something in the film to upset everyone», Szwed 2010, 73).
We have to imagine the process something like this: the 4+ minutes version 44-A was one continuous recording on one of those 12-inch-discs – the side was then labeled 44-A. Since the song wasn’t finished with all verses, Lomax then asked Lead Belly to finish the song for the archive, Lead Belly probably «restarted» the ending part which Lomax recorded on the flip side: 44-B. This explains the wildly different lengths of those recordings.
You can check how this worked if you consider three other examples.
1) Check the «Ella Speed»-version (125-B) on the essential compilation The Midnight Special: Library of Congress Vol. 1 (Rounder-1044) (also on SFW 40201), it is from Angola Prison, 1934. That recording runs a bit over six minutes and then gets a scrambled ending with the song unfinished. This is probably the maximum Lomax could stretch these discs out which he clearly didn’t like to do since examples of this length are rare. I guess that is where the assumption of a «seven minute»-limit comes from. Compare this to Lead Belly’s first recordings with commercial intent (the ones on Leadbelly – King of the 12-String Guitar, CK 46776) by the American Record Corporation (ARC) – they all punch in at around 3 minutes, as was necessary for shellac-78s playable at home.
2) Then, take a look at and listen to the first session by Lead Belly in Angola Prison, July 16–20, 1933, on DOCD-5579. You’ll notice that this session features the call numbers «119-B-1» to «119-B-6» and «120-A-1» to «120-A-7» (plus «120-B-5»). These are 45 to 90-second-snippets of different songs – DOCD-5579 doesn’t even bother to split the songs apart, they are one track on the CD: All songs labeled «119-B» were recorded on one side of a lacquer disc, as were the songs labeled «120». Wolfe/Lornell note about these recordings: «These [songs] took up one side of disc number 119-B, and a second, labeled 120, was started.» (Wolfe/Lornell 1992, 114). Lomax recorded for a short while, stopped the disc. Then restarted to record another song. And so on, until the side was full. The combined time of these song snippets is 4 to 5 minutes, that’s what a 12-inch-disc could hold on a side.
3) One last example: If you take a look at Alan Lomax’s Library of Congress-recordings of Jelly Roll Morton, it becomes clear just by looking at the track times what Lomax’s preferred manner of recording was in a controlled setting – maximum length of continuous recording without sacrificing too much quality. The entirety of the Library of Congress-Morton-recordings runs over eight hours – but each song and each interview cuts out very consistently at about 4:30 minutes. You can hear how Morton is interrupted after 4:30 minutes and then picks up the story where he was interrupted when Lomax puts on the next recording disc.
Well here we are, this was predominantly an entry to consolidate the scattered sources I found available online. There’s some more books I referenced and that I’ll make a note of here:
Further Reading and Sources:
Cohen, Ronald D. (Ed.): Alan Lomax. Assistant in Charge. The Library of Congress Letters, 1935–1945. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi 2010.
Ferris, William R.: Alan Lomax: The Long Journey. In: Piazza, Tom (ed.): The Southern Journey of Alan Lomax. Words, Photographs, and Music. New York: Library of Congress 2013, 10–21.
Kahn, Ed: Part I. 1934–1950: The Early Collecting Years. In: Lomax, Alan: Selected Writings 1934–1997. Ed. By Ronald D. Cohen. New York: Routledge 2003, 1–8.
The single features take „SC-261“, not take „SC-261-1“
There have been some updates to my Lead Belly Discography. Some inconsistencies were found concerning the «Irene»-versions from the session from July or August 1943, with the call numbers «SC-261-1» and «SC-261» (both found on DOCD-5227) and an alleged «Irene»-version from the session «ca. February 1947», on DOCD-5568.
I thank Tim Dickinson for pointing out the irregularities.
The new and rectified situation is this: The «Irene»-version «SC-261-1» (with Sonny Terry on harp who is not «SC-261») is found on DOCD-5227, DOCD-5568 and SFW 40201. All discographical information points to this take being from the «July or August 1943» session. Confusion arises because DOCD-5568 claims February 1947 as a recording date for a lot of takes that are in fact from 1941 or 1943, respectively. These informations seem largely false, criticized by professional discographers. There is no «Irene»-version from February 1947 (as DOCD-5568 claims).
Although being the identical take, the «Irene»-version on DOCD-5227 is longer than the tracks on DOCD-5568 and SFW 40201 – this is because the latter are being faded out while the track on DOCD-5227 has a doctored, artificially enlengthend ending.
This detail raises are larger point: It will be necessary to go through all of the tracks on DOCD-5568, because the information there seems incorrect to a degree that we’ll have to identify each track aurally, through comparative close listening. These mistakes have been known for years, judging by Fancourt/McGrath’s discography The Blues Discography 1943–1970 (2006), but the Document Records-website still touts this as an «undiscovered session» from 1947. I’m also interested to know why DOCD-5227 includes a doctored version of otherwise available takes. The Document Records label usually didn’t operate like this.
Along with these changes, I made several other minor corrections that are part of the process; I won’t line them out here.
Ramsey, Frederic Jr.: Liner notes for Leadbelly’s Early Recordings, Legacy Volume 3 (Folkways FA 2024, 1951).
Let’s talk about Lead Belly and his song «Irene, Goodnight», alternatively called «Goodnight, Irene». I’ll just refer to it as «Irene» here.
The question that interests us here is simple: What exactly does Lead Belly sing in the chorus’s last line? Is it: «I get you in my dreams»? «I guess you’re in my dreams»? «I kiss you in my dreams»?
It is really hard to make out in some takes and online ressources don’t seem to have a great consensus. There are different recordings with different plausible outcomes, we’ll take a look at that and some prominent cover versions below.
For those with little time, the «too long, didn’t read»-summary is this: Lead Belly mostly used «I get you in my dreams» for the early recordings (up until 1943), other times most likely an «I kiss(ed) you in my dreams». For later records (from 1944), he opted for something like «I guessed you in my dreams», which can be seen as a cleaned-up version of «I get» or «I kissed». Cover versions mostly use «I’ll see you in my dreams» (from the Weavers’s hit version) or, more in line with Lead Belly, «I get you in my dreams». For the fun details, read below.
As for the song: This is nowadays a classic of folk americana, a weird waltz that doesn’t quite fit into Lead Belly’s repertoire of blues, field hollers or folk songs, but does fit very well into his habit of soaking up whatever good song he could find and modify to make it his own. There is a cute family story about its origins – he supposedly made it up on the spot as a lullaby for his little baby niece. But this story is debunked – first, by his own uncle, Bob Ledbetter, who is known to have it sung before Lead Belly (and who says he learned it from his brother Terrell – you can hear this statement and Bob’s 1940 version on Document Records DOCD-5579), and secondly by Wolfe/Lornell who trace the song back even further to a 19th century popular song – but there is no written record. Wolfe/Lornell note:
There is evidence, nonetheless, that the chorus, at least, was circulating among other folksingers besides the Ledbetters. In November 1936 […], a Library of Congress field recording unit came upon Gilbert Fike in Little Rock, Arkansas. Fike was originally from Louisiana and sang a song called «The Girls Won’t Do to Trust,» [sic] which used a set of unusual misogynistic verses to set up a familiar chorus:
The girls will chew tobacco, but she will raise a fuss The girls will dring good whiskey, boys, but they Won’t do to trust
Irene, goodnight, Irene, Irene, goodnight, my life, I’ll kiss you in my dreams.
While it is possible that Fike had heard Huddie sing a version of the song […], it is probable that both Fike and Leadbelly heard the song as it circualted among rural singers in Texas and Louisiana.
(Wolfe/Lornell 1992, 53)
Well, the story goes on (there’s even earlier textual evidence), but so far this is pretty standard fair as far as the creation and development of folk songs go (for this, see also Ek 2014, and for a short summary online, see Lornell 2003). Let’s turn to the lyrics. What does Lead Belly do in his dream? «Get» Irene? «Kiss» Irene? «Guess»? The problem is that – especially on the early field recordings – it is really hard to make out what Lead Belly sings – and even in later versions, he uses a dialectal phrasing that sounds a lot like «giss» (hard g), like a mixture of «get» and «kiss». I think this is where the «guess» version comes from, which, spoiler, will turn out to be the least plausible one in my view.
Before we turn to the audio analysis, let’s get some clear textual evidence. As noted above, Wolfe/Lornell transcribe the songs origins as using the line «I kiss you in my dreams», and if you listen to Bob Ledbetter’s 1940-version, there is no doubt about it. This in itself stakes a strong claim for «kiss» instead of «get» or «guess» as an initial variant. Also, in the liner notes of the Folkways-LP Leadbelly’s Early Recordings, Legacy Volume 3 (Folkways FA 2024, 1951), Frederic Ramsey makes quite astute poetic observations about Lead Belly’s lyrical craft:
There is one quality of Leadbelly’s song that is only partially touched on in the Lomax book, how ever, but if we piece together bits of the Lomax story and combine them with the text and mood of Leadbelly’s songs, it can be sensed. There is in certain of the songs a mood of sleeplessness; in others, of dream, and trance. […] Where no escape is provided through sleep or dream, it is through alcolhol as in Roberta. The sleeplessness complements the dream, for it is a waking dream. It is a state where real and unreal are mixed, seen and unseen come together.
Ramsey 1951.
Ramsey then goes on to quote several other songs that reference this escape or wish fulfillment through (day dreams) and, on the occasion, transcribes the bit from «Irene» as:
«Irene, good night, Irene good night, Good night Irene, good night Irene, I kiss you in my dreams …» (Irene, FP 4)
Ramsey 1951.
Since Ramsey mentions Folkways FP 4 as the source, it is clear that he refers to the versions «SC-261» or «SC-261-1» from 1943, both on FP 4 (cf. my bio-discography of Lead Belly for such session-details). Now, Ramsey isn’t just anybody – he met and recorded Lead Belly in his late sessions. But apart from this supposed authority on the subject matter, I find his lyrical assembly of quotes about dreamy wish fulfillment persuasive: This again makes a stronger claim that Lead Belly dream-wishes that he «gets» or «kisses» Irene, rather than the line not fitting in this logic: «I guess you’re in my dreams».
But Wolfe/Lornell go on to say this:
The first time he recorded the song on disc, in 1933, he sang only two verses and two choruses, including the slightly ominous refrain «I’ll get you in my dreams». A year later he recorded it with four verses and four refrains.
Wolfe/Lornell 1992, 56.
I agree with their assessment that it sounds most like «get» in the 1933-chorus (version 120-A-1) which is the only complete chorus from that year that includes the line. Very generally, it coud be heard as «kiss» with a mumbled «s» in the end. But «get» is what they decide on, so let’s take that as corroborating evidence.
Now, if we turn to what is audible on Lead Belly’s own recordings, there is little doubt about one thing: On several occasions, he clearly sings «I get you in my dreams». If you compare my harmonisation below, you see that I think there is no doubt about him singing this line on the versions 124-A-2 (1934) – starting with the second chorus, as the first is unclear to me –, 124-B-1 (1934) and SC-261-1 (1943). As opposed to SC-261-1, version SC-261 (1943) gives you this weird «get/kiss»-mixture, so that must have been the one Ramsey refers to in his transcription above.
If we now take a close listen to his other versions, we most of the time end up with a word that sound like «giss» or even «gass». At one point I though this might be a dialectal version of «catch» (as in «I catss you in my dreams»), and it also occured to me that it could simply be a dialectal «I gets you» – because Lead Belly pretty systematically uses this conjugation on all other verbs in the song, «I lives», «I loves», «I haves», but I don’t know enough about the nature of Lead Belly’s idiom to know if this is even remotely plausible from a linguistic perspective. American dialectologists, please let me know if «I gets» was a plausible form.
Anyway, if you are primed by textual knowledge about the «kiss»-version, most of these can pretty reliably sound like «kiss». The version where I’m really struggling to hear a difference between «kiss you» and «guess you’re» is version 44-A (1935).
Two last points on the «I guess you’re in my dreams»-variant: First, I must say I can hear «guess(ed)» on some occasions, but I have to force myself to hear «you’re in my dreams», it is usually a clear «you in my dreams» to me. Also, in later versions (from 1944 onwards), it becomes a more clearly pronounced «I guessed you’re in my dreams». The past tense makes even less poetic sense to me – it seems like a bowlderized versions of «kissed» to me.
This is also why I don’t quote more of Lead Belly’s numerous later Irene-versions because even though he clearly gravitated to what sounds like «I guess you in my dreams», the problems fundamentally remain the same: Even with better and clearer recording (and Lead Belly having adapted his singing for white audiences), it is hard to know whether we’re dealing with a dialectal «kiss», «gets» or «guess» (compare especially version 413-3A, 1944). But more importantly: Folk lyrics change. At this point of Lead Belly’s career, we’re dealing with lyrical adaptation by Lead Belly for the audiences he played for. In the version FC 7533 (1945), I hear a clear «I guessed you in my dreams», but at that point he had also changed the lyrics of «take morphine and die» to «run away and fly». As in the Weavers’ version (see below), «getting» and «kissing» maybe wasn’t deemed suitable for mainstream (and children) audiences, so «guessing» might have become a valid option from 1944 onwards.
Taken all of this together, I’d say we end up with the following for the versions up until 1943:
There is clear textual evidence for «I kiss you in my dreams», clear auditive evidence for it in Bob Ledbetter’s version and plausible auditive evidence in Lead Belly’s versions
There is clear auditive evidence for the variant «I get you in my dreams». Some of Lead Belly’s versions leave no doubt.
There is clear «poetic» evidence for both these variants, that is to say: they simply make sense, even in a larger thematic context of Lead Belly’s lyrical motifs
There is some auditive, little poetic and no textual evidence for «I guess(ed) you(’re) in my dreams»
As corroborated evidence goes, I’d say Lead Belly sings a dialectal «I kiss» on some, and «I get» on other versions. Having said that, none of this disproves the «I guess you’re in my dreams»-version which remains plausible, why not? But it remains the least supported version by corroboration. As a last resort, I’d propose a dialectal «I gets», until an expert tells me that this form didn’t exist in the idioms spoken then.
Cover versions
The story could but doesn’t have to end here. How did prominent cover versions handle this textual unclarity? To spoil the harmonisation of lyrics I made below: There is a strong preference to use the completely different line «I’ll see you in my dreams» – this is easily explained as this stems from the cleaned-up version by the Weavers which was a 1950-hit that made the song as famous as it is nowadays in the first place. No kissing or «getting» in this mainstream folk context (cf. Ek 2014)! Even Mississippi John Hurt uses this line in his 1966-version – he announces it as «Lead Belly’s song» in the spoken intro, says that he «learned it off the record» and then continues to sing a song that structurally uses the lyrics from the Weavers’, not Lead Belly’s, version. So hilariously and wonderfully for folk authenticity and pop history, Mississippi John Hurt most likely learned this song from the Weavers’ hit record. Eric Clapton’s 2013 also shares this approach of using the song in the form it first entered the mass audience’s mind: as the Weavers-version.
Then, more reconstructionist artists like Ry Cooder (1976) and Tom Waits (2006) both opt for lyrical structures the pretty much exactly resemble one of Lead Belly’s version. Ry Cooder clearly goes with «I’ll get you in my dreams» in the chorus, while Tom Waits, in typical fashion, sort of recreates Lead Belly’s «kiss/get» mixture as «giss». Waits gives no lyrics in the liner notes for this song.
As an example of continued oral folk permutation, Dr. John’s version from 1992 just uses general musical and lyrical elements of the earlier version to come up with something very different. He turns the music into a big-bandish boogie and the song is not about yearning, scrounging, suicide and loss (with a dream as escape), but about desire, sex and partying, balling down the river while screaming «I wanna get you into my dream!» Of course, Dr. John pays his dues as a reconstructionist as well, at one point introducing a female choir which sings the exact lyrics of the Weavers’ chorus.
Well, that was fun, wasn’t it. For what I’ve exactly heard, uncertainties included, compare below harmonisation of the different versions I mentioned. Sources are below.
Lead Belly 120-A-1
Lead Belly 120-A-6
Lead Belly 120-A-7
Lead Belly 124-A-2 (1934)
Lead Belly 124-B-1 (1934)
Lead Belly 44-A (1935)
Lead Belly 44-B-1 (1935)
Irene SC-261-1 (1943)
Irene (SC-261) (1943)
Bob Ledbetter (1940)
Weavers (1950)
Mississippi John Hurt (1966)
Ry Cooder (1976)
Dr. John (1992)
Tom Waits (2006)
Eric Clapton (2013)
INTRO / CHORUS
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get/kiss (?) you in my dreams
ø
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get/kiss (?) you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you in my dreams + Spoken Intro
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I get you in my dreams
ø
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Irene goodnight, goodnight Irene I kiss you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams
Spoken Intro + Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I will see you in my dream
ø
ø
Irene goodnight, Irene, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you in my dreams
ø
VERSE 1
One day, one day, one day Irene was a-walkin’ along Last word that I heard her say «I want you to sing one song»
I asked your mother for you She told me that you was too young I wish dear Lord that I’d never seen your face I’m sorry you ever was born
Quit ramblin‘ and quit gamblin‘ Quit staying out late at night Come home to your wife and your family Sit down by the fireside bright
I asked your mother for you She told me you was too young I wish dear Lord that I’d never seen your face I’m sorry you ever was born
Sometimes I lives in the country Sometimes I live in town Sometimes I have the great notion Jumpin‘ in, into the river and drown
I asked your mother for you She told me that you was too young I wish dear Lord,that I’d never seen your face I’m sorry you ever was born
Last Saturday night I’ve got married Me and my wife settled down Me and my wife is parted now I’m goin‘ take a stroll uptown
Last Saturday night I got married Me and my wife settled down Now me and my wife are parted I’m gonna take another stroll down town
Sometimes I live in the country Sometimes I lives in town Sometime I take great notion Jump in the river and drown
I asked your mother for you She told me that you was too young I wish dear Lord never have seen your face And I’m sorry that you ever been born
Last night as I laid in my bed a-sleepin’ Last night as I laid down across my bed Last night I had myself a nightmare I had a dream, I had a dream My little Irene was dead
Last Saturday night I got married Me and my wife settled down Now me and my wife are parted I’m gonna take me a little stroll uptown
Last Saturday night I got married Me and my wife settled down Now me and my wife are parted Gonna take another stroll down town
CHORUS
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight (scrambled)
(possible continuation of 120-A-6, scrambled)… in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you / guess you’re (?) in my dreams + Spoken Interlude
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I get you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss (?) you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Irene goodnight, goodnight Irene I kiss you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I will see you in my dream
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get you in my dreams
I had to say now: Goodnight Irene, goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I wanna get you, I wanna get you Wanna get you into my dream
Irene goodnight, Irene, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams
VERSE 2
Stop ramblin‘ and stop gamblin‘ Quit staying out late at night Come home to your wife and your family Sit down by the fireside bright
Last Friday night, I got married Me and my wife settled down Now me and my wife have parted Gonna take me a stroll uptown
Sometimes I lives in the country Sometimes I lives in town Sometimes I have the great notion Jumpin‘ into the river and drown
Stop ramblin‘ and stop gamblin‘ quit stayin‘ out late at night Go home to your wife and your family Sit down by the fireside bright
Sometimes I lives in the country Sometimes I lives in town Sometimes I haves the great notion Jumpin‘ in, into the river and drown
Quit ramblin‘, quit gamblin‘ Quit staying out late at home(– at night!) Come home to your wife and family Sit down by the fire[?]side bright
Sometimes I live in the country Sometimes I live in town Sometimes I take a great notion To jump into the river and drown
Stop ramblin‘, stop gamblin‘ stop stayin‘ out late at night Go home to your wife and family And stay by the fireside bright
Sometimes I live in the country Sometimes I lives in town Sometimes I have a great notion To jump into the river and drown
Last Saturday night we got married Last Saturday night we sho’ got down Last Saturday night we went sailin’ down the river We swung that little boat And we almost drowned
Sometimes I live in the country Sometimes I live in town Sometimes I take a great notion To jump in the river and drown
Stop ramblin‘, stop your gamblin‘ stop stayin‘ out late at night Come home to your wife and your family And sit by the fire so bright
CHORUS
Irene goodnight, Irene (scrambled fade-out)
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you / guess you’re (?) in my dreams + Spoken Interlude
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I get you in my dreams (Fade out)
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss (?) you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Irene goodnight, goodnight Irene I kiss you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I will see you in my dream
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get you in my dreams (+ instrumental chorus)
I had to say now: Goodnight Irene, goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I wanna get you, I wanna get you Get you into my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams
VERSE 3
I asked your mother for you She told me that you was too young I wish dear Lord that I’d never seen your face I’m sorry you ever was born
You cause me to weep and you cause me to moan You cause me to leave my home The last words I heard her said „I want you to sing this song“
Stop ramblin‘ and stop gamblin‘ quit stayin‘ out late at night Go home to your wife and your family Sit down by the fireside bright
Stop ramblin‘, stop your gamblin‘ stop stayin‘ out late at night Go home to your wife and your family Stay there by your fireside bright
ø
I loves Irene, God knows I do Loves her till the sea runs dry If Irene turns her back on me I’m gonna take morphine and die
ø
I loves Irene, God knows I do Loves her till the sea runs dry If she ever loves another I’m gonna take morphine and die
I loves Irene, God knows I do Loves her till the rivers run dry If Irene should ever turn her back on me Gonna take morphine and die
CHORUS
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you / guess you’re (?) in my dreams + Spoken Interlude
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss (?) you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams (Repeat + Fade-Out)
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I will see you in my dream
ø
(Female choir:) Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnigt Irene, goodnight Irene I will see you in my dream
Irene goodnight, Irene, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams
VERSE 4
One day, one day, one day Irene was a-walkin‘ along Last words that I heard her say „I want you to sing this song“
Last Friday night, I got married Me and my wife settled down Now me and my wife have parted Gonna take me a stroll uptown
I loves Irene, God knows I do Love her ‚til the sea run dry If Irene turns her back on me I’m gonna take morphine and die
Stop ramblin‘ and stop gamblin‘ Quit stayin‘ out late at night Come home into your wife and your family Sit down by the fireside bright
Sometime I wanna drink Sometime I wanna gamble Sometime I wanna stay out all night long Lord, but when I’m lovin’ my little Irene I wanna love the girl Love her on and on and on and on…
Stop your ramblin‘, stop your gamblin‘ Stop stayin‘ out late at night Go home to your wife and your family Sit down by the firelight
ø
CHORUS
ø (possible continuation of 124-A-2)
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you / guess you’re (?) in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get you in my dreams
Yeah yeah Goodnight Irene, goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I wanna get you, I wanna get you Get you into my dream
(Everybody!) Irene goodnight, Irene, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I kiss you in my dreams (Repetition + Fade-Out)
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams
VERSE 5
…And she caused me to moan She caused me to leave my home Last words that I heared her say „I’m sorry you ever was known“
ø
CHORUS
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get you in my dreams
(possible continuation / re-start of 44-A) Spoken Intro
VERSE 7
I love Irene, God knows I do Love her ‚til the sea runs dry If Irene turns her back on me I’m gonna take morphine and die
I love Irene, God knows I do Love her ‚til the sea run dry If Irene turn her back on me I’m gonna take morphine and die
CHORUS
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll get you in my dreams
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I get you in my dreams + Spoken Interlude
ø
Spoken Interlude + Hummed Chorus Ending
Sources:
Ek, Kirstin: «A Precipice Between Deadly Perils»: American Folk Music and the Mass Media, 1933–1959. Dissertation University of Virginia 2014.
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