Fire in the Belly

Today I listened for the first time to Ry Cooder's early-1980s version of the old popular song, "Goodnight, Irene." It caught my ear as so interesting because, first, of its strong waltz beat and zippy Texmex accordian. And secondly because he changed some words in it. Instead of singing several times, "Goodnight, Irene, I'll see you in my dream," he sings "I'll GET you in my dream." And he says---not heard in the popular version---"I'll go to the river and drown," and "I'm gonna take morphine and die."

Then it struck me: Cooder hadn't really changed the words---he simply sang the ORIGINAL words of the song as written by the famous folk-blues singer of the 1930s, Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly. Interestingly as social history, the song, increasingly sung from the 1940s to probably the early '80s, had its words changed by the "decency police." "GET you in my dream" was deemed to be a cover for "have sexual intercourse with you in my dream," so "see you" replaced it. "Go to the river and drown" was too harsh for the ears of White Americans; so too was "take morphine." Voila, a sanitized "Goodnight, Irene."

The irony is that just a decade or so ago, rap music becomes dominant in the country, and begins using lyrics which paint much harsher and vulgar scenes than Leadbelly could ever been accused of.

Maybe Leadbelly is turning over in his grave now, wishing he would've been a singer in the 1990s+.

-Old Gargoyle