# Woah Black Betty Bam-A-Lam, (original singer?)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woah-black-betty-bam-a-lam-original-singer/211089>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 3, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woah-black-betty-bam-a-lam-original-singer/211089 "2003-11-03T03:52:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Deathstatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Deathstatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deathstatic)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woah-black-betty-bam-a-lam-original-singer/211089/1 "2003-11-03T03:52:33Z")

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Heard the original version of this song the other day. It wasn’t the best sound quality, but I am pretty sure it was a black gentleman singing. There were no instruments, I think it was just him stomping his foot. If I had to guess, I would say that it was from the 20s or 30s… I would really like to hear this again, so if someone could tell me the original singer of this song, that would be kick ass. Thanks for your help again boys and girls.

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**Author:** ![Deathstatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Deathstatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deathstatic)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woah-black-betty-bam-a-lam-original-singer/211089/2 "2003-11-03T03:59:06Z")

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Nevermind. It was Leadbelly. I think his name was Huddie Ledbetter. Not quite like the Ram-Jam version. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Brad\_Pittiful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Brad\_Pittiful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_Pittiful)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woah-black-betty-bam-a-lam-original-singer/211089/3 "2003-11-03T04:06:39Z")

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well im glad you could be of help to yourself 🙂

yead leadbelly is cool…im not into blues but i do like his stuff

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**Author:** ![Brad\_Pittiful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Brad\_Pittiful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_Pittiful)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woah-black-betty-bam-a-lam-original-singer/211089/4 "2003-11-03T04:07:06Z")

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well im glad you could be of help to yourself 🙂

yeah leadbelly is cool…im not into blues but i do like his stuff

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**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woah-black-betty-bam-a-lam-original-singer/211089/5 "2003-11-03T11:23:35Z")

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godDAMMIT , I hate this song!  
and now it’s stuck in my head for the rest of the day.:mad:

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woah-black-betty-bam-a-lam-original-singer/211089/6 "2003-11-03T15:45:13Z")

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John Lomax collected a version by some woman in the late 30s/early 40s that I heard once. Not a commercial release but the Library of Congress has it someplace.

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woah-black-betty-bam-a-lam-original-singer/211089/7 "2003-11-03T15:49:47Z")

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Though it might’ve been the Leadbelly version played at the wrong speed.