Though many of his posthumous releases list him as "Leadbelly," he himself spelled it "Lead Belly." This is also the usage on most of his original records, tombstone, as well as of the Lead Belly Foundation.
Lead Belly was born in Mooringsport, Louisiana, and spent time in and out of prison most of his life. In 1933, serving a sentence for attempted murder, musicologists John and Alan Lomax "discovered" him on a field recording tour sponsored by the Library of Congress. That summer, he was pardoned by the governor of Lousiana after recording his plea for pardon on a record, together with "Good Night Irene". Lead Belly went on to make hundreds of recordings of all sorts of different songs: country, blues, spirituals, reels, and work chants.
His songs have been covered by Mark Lanegan, The Animals, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Nirvana, Lonnie Donegan, Johnny Cash, Gene Autry, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, British Sea Power, Ram Jam, Ry Cooder, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Half Man Half Biscuit, Tom Waits and The White Stripes.
Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Biography: Lead Belly Biography
BIO Biography: Lead Belly Biography
Lead Belly Foundation: Lead Belly Foundation.org
Lead Belly is also on Last.fm as Leadbelly
Cotton Fields
Lead Belly Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In them ole cotton fields back home
When I was a little baby, my mother rocked me in the cradle,
In them ole cotton fields back home
Oh when them cotton balls get rotten, you can't pick very much cotton,
In them ole cotton fields back home
It was down in Louisiana, just a mile from Texarkana,
It may sound a little funny, but you didn't make very much money,
In them ole cotton fields back home
It may sound a little funny, but you didn't make very much money,
In them ole cotton fields back home
Oh when them cotton balls get rotten, you can't pick very much cotton,
In them ole cotton fields back home
It was down in Louisiana, just a mile from Texarkana,
In them ole cotton fields back home
I was home in Arkansas, people ask me what you come here for,
In them ole cotton fields back home
I was home in Arkansas, people ask me what you come here for,
In them ole cotton fields back home
Oh when them cotton balls get rotten, you can't pick very much cotton,
In them ole cotton fields back home
It was down in Louisiana, just a mile from Texarkana,
In them ole cotton fields back home
Oh when them cotton balls get rotten, you can't pick very much cotton,
In them ole cotton fields back home
It was down in Louisiana, just a mile from Texarkana,
In them ole cotton fields back home
Lead Bellyās song āCotton Fieldsā paints a picture of life as a cotton-picker in the Southern US during the early 1900s. The songās opening lines āwhen I was a little baby, my mother rocked me in the cradle, in them ole cotton fields back homeā explore the idea that the practice of picking cotton was a part of life that people were born into, and that it was passed down from generation to generation. The cotton fields are a representation of the struggles and hardships of life in a sharecropping society, where people were tied to the land by debt and had little chance of improving their economic standing.
The song also addresses the issue of rotting cotton, which was a common problem in the South during the early 20th century. When cotton balls become rotten, they are no longer worth as much money, and it becomes more difficult to pick them. This highlights the precarious nature of the cotton-pickersā livelihoods and the fact that they were at the mercy of the natural elements. The songās chorus repeats the phrase āin them ole cotton fields back homeā as a reminder of the way of life that the singer is describing and as a way of acknowledging the shared experience of his fellow cotton-pickers.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was a little baby, my mother rocked me in the cradle,
In them ole cotton fields back home
Lead Belly reminisces about his childhood growing up in the cotton fields where his mother took care of him
Oh when them cotton balls get rotten, you can't pick very much cotton,
In them ole cotton fields back home
When the cotton balls become rotten, it becomes difficult to pick a good harvest, which affects the profitability of the cotton fields
It was down in Louisiana, just a mile from Texarkana,
In them ole cotton fields back home
Lead Belly is specifically referencing a location in Louisiana near Texarkana where cotton fields were common
It may sound a little funny, but you didn't make very much money,
In them ole cotton fields back home
Despite the hard work put in to pick the cotton, it was not a profession that provided much financial reward
I was home in Arkansas, people ask me what you come here for,
In them ole cotton fields back home
Lead Belly is sharing that when he visited Arkansas, people asked him why he would leave the cotton fields to travel
Oh when them cotton balls get rotten, you can't pick very much cotton,
In them ole cotton fields back home
The repetition of this line further emphasizes the struggle of a cotton farmer when the crops are not healthy
It was down in Louisiana, just a mile from Texarkana,
In them ole cotton fields back home
The repeated location reference is important to the song's imagery and the reality of many people living in the American South at the time
Lyrics Ā© Bluewater Music Corp.
Written by: HUDDIE LEDBETTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@macias226
I am Mexican and in Mexico they made a song with almost the same lyrics as this one, in Mexico it was very famous around the 80's, and honestly this song is just as good as the one from Mexico.
this is the lyrics of the song made in Mexico:
Cuando apenas era un jovencito
Mi mama me decia cuidadito
Si un amor tratas de encontrar
Cuando apenas era un jovencito
Mi mama me decia mira hijito
Un amor pronto has de encontrar
Le pregunte como podria
Saber lo que la amaria
Me miro, luego se sonrio
No la busques dijo muy bonita
Porque al paso del tiempo
Se le quita, busca amor
Nada mas que amor
Le pregunte como podria
Saber lo que la amaria
Me miro, luego se sonrio
No la busques dijo muy bonita
Porque al paso del tiempo
Se le quita, busca amor
Nada mas que amor
Busca amor, nada mas que amor
Busca amor, nada mas que amor
@NEMEPOLYNHA
It makes more sense now, listening this song from Leadbelly
@seethe42
Yes, but even CCR was more believable than others that covered it. Beach Boys, Elton John, Harry Belefonte...
@andresvola7408
@@seethe42 esos son zoquetes
@DJFonzi
@@seethe42 CCR were just as California as the Beach Boys.
@edtyndall3564
@@DJFonzi they were California! Northern California...
@DJFonzi
@@edtyndall3564 that was my point. :)
@mountainserenity
My Mama taught my brother and me this song when we were little children in North Carolina. Ā It brings me such happy memories!
@trukeesey8715
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7suWiC5I3uk
@bcbloomer1385
I am the great granddaughter of a sharecropper who worked the cotton fields of North La. It took me a long time to know what it was I missed about the cotton fields and now realize that it was the relationships with family, friends, and faith that now days are far and few. It was the midwives and the church folks on a Sunday morning, the fresh vegetables and ripen honeydews, and those sleepy and lazy late "Indian" summers watching the big "thunder head" clouds. The cotton fields structured the lives of the cotton field children in that they were born into struggle and injustice, but then it was a place where God's glory paved the way to the spiritual things in life in peace, hope, grace, mercy, and prosperity. For those reasons, I long to be in the land of cotton that Leadbelly knew so well. You can find good and bad in many things including the cotton fields. I came out of the cotton fields and turned out to be a decent and law abiding human being.
@headspace261
man I had no idea leadbelly did this, just knew CCR's version. gotta love some leadbellyĀ