GOODNIGHT IRENE
Huddy William Ledbetter
aka Leadbelly
Irene goodnight, Irene Goodnight
Goodnight Irene,
goodnight Irene
I will see you in my dreams.
Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in
town
Sometimes I take a great notion
To jump in the river and drown
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene,
goodnight Irene
I will see you in my dreams
Stop your ramblin
Stop your gamblin
Stop staying out late
at night
Go home to your wife and family
And stay by thr fireside bright
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I will see you in my dreams
Sometimes I live in the counry
Sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I take a great notion
To jump in the river and drown
Irene goodnight, Irene Goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I will see you in my
dreams
Stop your ramblin
Stop your gamblin
Stop staying out late at night
Go home to your wife and family
And stay by the fireside bright
Oh Irene goodnight,
Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I will see you in my
dreams
Footnote : This song by the great Leadbelly
concluded many Folk Nights I attended in the 1960s. Huddie William
Ledbetter (20 January 1888 - 6 December 1949) was an ex
convict-turned-singer. On his release from prison in 1934 his singing
career was aided by father and son, John and Alan Lomax. The joint
copyright to this song was to prove very beneficial to Alan Lomax, who
died earlier this year (19 July 2002), in financing his many field trips
to record folk song and music, which included much good work in Scotland.
Alan Lomax and the late Scottish collector,poet and songwriter Hamish
Henderson did much recording in the field together of Scottish song
and with the late Calum McLean, Alan Lomax collected much Gaelic material.
The 25 reels of tape he collected in Scotland became the foundation of the
sound archive of the School of Scottish Studies. In a letter to Hamish
Henderson, Alan Lomax described his colection in Scotland as 'the finest
flower of Western Europe'. My thanks to William R MacBride for supplying
words to 'Goodnight Irene'.
