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"Goodnight, Irene" or "Irene, Goodnight," is a 20th-century American folk standard, written in 3 4 time, first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1933. A version recorded by the Weavers was a #1 hit in 1950. The lyrics tell of the singer's troubled past with his love, Irene, and express his sadness and frustration.
After hearing Pete Seeger performing Tzena, [1] with The Weavers as backing, Gordon Jenkins made an arrangement of the song for the Weavers with English lyrics. [ 2 ] The Jenkins/Weavers version, released by Decca Records under catalog number 27077, was one side of a two-sided hit, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard magazine charts in 1950 while ...
Huddie William Ledbetter (/ ˈ h j uː d i / HYOO-dee; January 1888 [1] [2] or 1889 [3] – December 6, 1949), [1] better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In the Pines", "Pick a Bale of Cotton", "Goodnight, Irene ...
The group had a big hit in 1950 with Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene", backed with the 1941 song "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena", which in turn became a best seller. [4] The recording stayed at number one on the charts for 13 weeks, the first folk song arrangement to achieve such success. "Goodnight, Irene" sold one million copies in 1950. [6] (Pete ...
The Weavers' first big hit, the flipside of Lead Belly's "Good Night Irene", and a top seller in its own right, was in Hebrew ("Tzena, Tzena, Tzena") and they, and later Joan Baez, who was of Mexican descent, occasionally included Spanish-language material in their repertoires, as well as songs from Africa, India, and elsewhere.
The album is a collection of children's music played in various styles, including folk, gospel, reggae and rock. It features covers of a variety of songs by other artists, among them "Hey Bo Diddley" by Bo Diddley, "Car Car" by Woody Guthrie, Cat Stevens' "Here Comes My Baby" and "Goodnight Irene" by Lead Belly.
Of the Columbia River Ballads "Roll on, Columbia", which he set to a modified version of Huddie Ledbetter's "Goodnight, Irene", was by far the most popular. Because of the song's message and popularity, it was established as the official folk song of Washington in 1987. [3]
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer-songwriter, musician and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene," which topped the charts for 14 weeks in 1950.