Leadbelly talking about the blues (1939)

Leadbelly and Allan Lomax 1939
Leadbelly talking about the blues then gives a driving Red Cross Store.

[@jeremytheoneofdestiny8691]

A man in 1939 talking about his grandfather who was a slave that became free during the course of his life. Amazing how far back in time recorded interviews can take us.

[@WalldenAdam44]

Leadbelly himself was born 1889, I dont know when his parents was born but they were probably born during slavery also.

[@kajuiceboi3592]

@@WalldenAdam44 His parents were born around the 1850s so it's probably safe to assume that his grandparents were born 30 - 45 years before slavery was abolished. Quite surreal.

[@Shokarneda]

It's almost surreal listening to an interview 70 years ago

[@jimbobjimjim6500]

KZbin time machine strikes again.

[@joesephkroll2056]

@@jimbobjimjim6500 right, you're comment was a year ago, theirs was 7. Time is a bitch. Lol

[@imaddatu6819]

Same thing with liking a comment from 2014

[@Flux799]

@@imaddatu6819 same thing like using windows 98.

[@bonacontention1619]

@@Flux799 Windows 98? I look forward to its release.

[@Andrew-zo5po]

2024 - listening to an interview from 85 years ago. Wow

[@hydrogendiamond5830]

never heard lead belly talkin its good to hear this

[@mhabatibrahim1883]

I love this man leadbelly cuz his songs touch me soo deep. Great artist that will never die. ❤️🌹

[@sarahbedtelyon6783]

I used to have this whole interview on cassette tape- I think it was a Yale library recording. The future versions they cut out the interview and just had the music but it's such a shame. The interview is fantastic. Ledbelly just makes fun of the interviewer the entire time and he either doesn't notice or doesn't care. The man was an absolute genius and a stunning artist.

[@sonjadietz5297]

Thank you ........! Leadbelly RIP

[@amiemartin2661]

He's fantastic

[@terencechesney9098]

It is so great to hear this...

[@srvenenoforte]

Just marvellous

[@haloskater24]

They need to stop cutting him off..they always do this

[@mortonharley]

I's just Alan Lomax. Just listen to him interviewing Blind Willie McTell. Poor man couldnt even finish 2 sentences

[@James1Foster]

Yes, it's infuriating

[@SkipPlaysStrings]

​@@mortonharley Alan or John?

[@edwinslater1888]

This is gold

[@grunntalll]

i imagined his speaking voice to be wayyy lower

[@wybepieters4255]

Leadbelly.The library of congress recordins.A 3 record box.Recorded on a taperecorder.

[@muddysludge7117]

A Brilliant Musician and a very clever Badass. In December 1917, Ledbelly was arrested and charged with murder and was found guilty. Prison is where it seems he picked up the nickname Lead Belly. In early 1924, only a few years into a 20-year sentence, Lead Belly sang for Texas governor Pat Neff a song in which he asked for a pardon. A year later, Neff pardoned Lead Belly and he was a free man. Only five years later, Lead Belly was involved in a stabbing incident that led to "assault with intent to murder" charges and another prison sentence. Budget issues caused by the Great Depression allowed him to apply for early release, which he did, and the sitting governor approved the application in 1934. (He also sang a song to this governor, pleading for release.)

[@brucesmith1544]

these days he could just post $100 bond and get back to stabbin

[@nacionalismoNegro1985]

Ele era foda mesmo. O homem era real.

[@kennethnick3213]

Also when he was a young adult, (he was basically an adult when he was 16) but around 18-21 he said he and blind lemon had train loads of women around town and shack up with them. He ended up getting gonorrhea. He was really sick for 6 months before he was so sick he almost died from it. He wasn't able to see a real doctor but his family knew of a lady that had remedies for sickness. So he went to visit her and she gave him homemade medicine that was called "Lafayette tincture" I think it was called. Back in the day that cure was mostly used to cure gonorrhea for colored people. Crazy to think he almost died from it. He stopped fooling around a lot after that I believe.

[@mhabatibrahim1883]

He sings the blues like no any other.. I say best have heard the blues.

[@LukeRissa]

I got the blues I know the darkness but the light and we all diffrent shades of same colour

[@jamespolucha8790]

The old farm workers would sing to count and pass time in the fields or resting when they were done which was talking about hard times that’s the blues

[@nathanielblak8136]

is this for real? coz i've never seen it and now, from nowhere, this shit comes.

[@ZachVance108]

yes that is most definitely alan lomax and huddie

[@mebeasensei]

12 string?

[@kenjikent]

Correct.

[@carpenters1482]

Lead Belly is known as the “King of the 12 String.” Nobody before or since has come close to playing it as iconically as he did.

[@sciexp]

I can't get the name of the first blues song he said he listened to... He says that his uncle sung it at home all the time... Anyone got it? Thanks!!!

[@kenjikent]

Sorry for the late reply. It is "Baby, I'm all out and down". Recorded as "Shout on".

[@sciexp]

Thank you very much. Actually, I have heard today a song called "Honey, I'm all out and down". I do not know if it's the same.

[@kenjikent]

@w 2:16

[@jamescollins8794]

I learned a song from my aunt it was called Red Cross store blues. It went something like: “Nooooooo I ain’t goin to, no Red Cross store, go ahead now talk to me a little bit.” But I’m white. Maybe I dreamed it lol

[@kenjikent]

Haha. Nice one.

[@Flipdrivel]

"Give us your idea about where the blues really came from, not anything that anybody told you, but what you believe yourself, or what you heard"(!) Good old Alan Lomax, never the finest of interviewers.

[@colmtansey8359]

The real deal .

[@ClassicRock1973]

Leadbelly should have been sued. He stole songs from Nirvana "where did you sleep last night", Creedence Clearwater Revival "the midnight special " , and Led Zeppelin "gallows pole" Did this guy ever write a song???

[@easytosay9805]

Omg we get it "hey look at me I'm pretending to think that Nirvana made the songs first even though lead belly sung these songs before Nirvana was even thought of" There's your attention, happy 😀

[@kerryvonzabern6796]

I hope you are joking because you got it backwards..Leadbelly came first in 1939 before any of those people were born

[@jackssmirkingrevenge9365]

obvious is obvious bro

[@timlee2237]

Yes it's TRUE!! He even married a crazy bitch to further emulate Kurt

[@michaelhatcher5264]

How can you steel something before these people didn't ecsist

[@michaelhatcher5264]

There goes WTF putting a spin to shit

[@JohnCampbellmarleybikes]

a finger pointing to THE BLUES IS NOT THE BLUES

[@oldmaterizz4516]

Wut

[@ClassicRock1973]

This guy ripped off Kurt Cobain.

[@aliyahaintnobodygottaknow4227]

This guy INFLUENCED Kurt he also influenced jimmy page

[@philgoodpaster3161]

This may be the stupidest comment of all times

[@ryreinhardt]

Kurt who? Never heard of her

[@jessickalush3305]

Kurt made this style and all these copy cats want credit. Pathetic.

[@canesvenatici4259]

Leadbelly predates Kurt Cobain by over half a century.