Our First Time Hearing: Ram Jam - Black Betty | KAREN WONT STOP LISTENING TO THIS!

Comments · 1.9K

• HE

  @henkebenke573 · 1 year ago

  The rumour says they got 500 dollars to make this music video and they spent it on weed 😂

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• MI

  @mikemodlin · 1 year ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a7Ya9LJBuc&amp;t=68">1:08</a> &nbsp;That bass player is the happiest MF who ever lived.

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• AT

  @AthenaZallen · 1 year ago

  That is how backyard parties were in the 70&apos;s. &nbsp;People, beer and a live band. &nbsp;The best way to party.

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• FR

  @FreddyKurganNimmo · 6 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a7Ya9LJBuc&amp;t=240">4:00</a> - The studio album version is over a minute &amp; a half longer.

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• RU

  @rudolphgarcia8898 · 1 year ago

  You need to listen to the full uncut studio version because this version is cut down! They cut out a great break in the song where the tempo speeds up and there is a great guitar solo!

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• YO

  @Yooper2024 · 11 months ago (edited)

  Fun fact. &nbsp;The lead guitarist, Bill Bartlett, used to be a member of the Lemon Pipers. &nbsp;Remember Green Tambourine?

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• RI

  @richardmarston6704 · 1 year ago

  This was recorded in the backyard of the drummer&apos;s mom&apos;s house<br> It was 20 minutes from where I lived at the time.

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• HO

  @HonestJohn-nv1xy · 8 months ago

  I am 78 years old so know all these songs first time around,Love the way karen gets right into them.

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• RO

  @robertcunningham2777 · 1 year ago

  Greatest one hit wonder in rock history.

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• PH

  @phillipsuttles1926 · 1 year ago

  the rule to get radio play was to keep the song short &nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a7Ya9LJBuc&amp;t=150">2:30</a> was the standard in the 60&apos;s and 70&apos;s

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• BE

  @BennoHaas · 1 year ago

  Black Betty is actually a really old song ... the oldest recordings of this song go back to the 1930’s ... the song itself likely goes back into the 1800’s. &nbsp; <br>There are a few versions of what “Black Betty” actually means ... it is a reference to a civil war era gun -- a “musket” called a Black Betty ... it is said the &quot;bam a lam&quot; is a reference to how the musket sounds when fired. &nbsp; &nbsp;“Black betty” &nbsp;is also a very very old reference to a bottle of whisky from &nbsp;the l820&apos;s &nbsp;(this came to this country from England possibly as far back as the 1700’s. In fact, &nbsp;an old term for being drunk is to have been &quot;Kissing Black Betty&quot; (kissing a bottle of liquor). &nbsp;Other references lost to the annals of time have been attributed to this song as well ... there is quite a bit in wikipedia on the song. The cadence and melody of the song may have started out in an English military march, pre-1900 ......... and of course, as you can hear in the song &nbsp;Black Betty is also a reference to a woman. &nbsp; <br> <br>The history of RamJam is a complicated one and the fact that they have only one big hit would seem to be because of the instability of the band, not a lack of talent. &nbsp;And not to muddy the water too much more, that video was of the group of guys that <i>became</i> RamJam ... like I say; off in the weeds already. &nbsp; <br> <br>The earliest <i>recorded</i> versions of the song appear to be from the 1920’s-1930’s. &nbsp;Like many roots music songs, Black Betty was also sung as an old african-american work song ... sang when working in the fields ... &nbsp;or when &quot;dancing on the rails&quot; as a &quot;Gandy&quot; (work straightening railroad tracks by hand). <br>As far as those old, old versions of the song, you can still listen to some of these, and you can hear some &nbsp;of the lyrics from the Ram Jam version actually <b>in</b> those very old songs ... If you’d like to check them out .. Here are two recordings of the song from the 1930&apos;s, first is sung by Mose &apos;Clear Rock&apos; Platt ... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgvdA1MGCYo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgvdA1MGCYo</a> .... <br>and the second version from 1933 is sung by James Iron Head Baker ... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4XFXJSQQOI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4XFXJSQQOI</a>.

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• MA

  @marcieharreld286 · 9 months ago

  Babes, beer, bikes, weed and music!! &nbsp;Typical backyard jam session!!🎶🎼🎵🎸🎸🥁🥁🎤🎤🥳🥳

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