Leadbelly

Aliases: Huddie Leadbelly
Lead Belly
Real name: Huddie William Ledbetter
Born: January 23, 1888
Died: December 6, 1949
Country: United States
IPI: 00017609586 23 works
Affiliation: BMI
Comments: His date of birth is uncertain: According to his grave he was born in 1889, and according to his 1942 draft registration card the date was January 23, 1889. However, the 1900 United States Census lists him born in January 1888.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970

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Originals

Title	Performer	Release date	Covered by
Bring Me Li'l Water Silvy	Lead Belly	1946	(29 artists)
Christmas Is Coming	Leadbelly	1960	(2 artists)
Cotton Song	Leadbelly	1953	(172 artists)
Cow Cow Yicky Yea / Out on the Western Plains REL	Lead Belly	1946	(30 artists) Originally by Leadbelly REC
Defense Blues	Leadbelly	1962	(2 artists)
Fannin Street	Lead Belly	1939	(4 artists)
Good Morning Blues	Leadbelly	September 5, 1941	(36 artists)
Grasshoppers in My Pillow	Leadbelly	October 1947	(2 artists)
Irene REC	Leadbelly	Unreleased	(225 artists) Originally by Lead Belly REL
Irene REL	Lead Belly	1943	(225 artists) Originally by Leadbelly REC
Jean Harlow	Leadbelly	1962	(3 artists)
Keep Your Hands off Her REC	Leadbelly	1965	(15 artists) Originally by John Koerner, Dave Ray and Tony Glover REL
Leaving Blues	Leadbelly	September 5, 1941	(4 artists)
Little Children’s Blues	Leadbelly	1951	Unverified
Pig Meat Papa	Lead Belly	April 1936	(2 artists)
Relax Your Mind	Leadbelly	1954	(5 artists)
Ride On	Leadbelly	April 1966	Little Axe
Rock Island Line REL	Lead Belly	May 1942	(73 artists) Originally by Rock Island Colored Booster Quartet PRF, Kelly Pace and Group REC
Silver City Bound	Leadbelly	1954	(14 artists)
Take This Hammer (Steel Drivin')	Lead Belly	May 1942	(71 artists)
The Bourgeois Blues	Leadbelly	Unreleased	(19 artists)
The Titanic	Leadbelly	1954	(3 artists)
Western Cowboy REC	Leadbelly	1990	(30 artists) Originally by Lead Belly REL

Covers by Leadbelly

Title	Performer	Release date	Originally by
Ain't Goin' Down to the Well No Mo' - Go Down Old Hannah	Lead Belly	1939	Covered by (8 artists)
Ain't Gonna Study War No More	Lead Belly	1994	Fisk University Jubilee Singers
Alabama Bound	Lead Belly and The Golden Gate Quartet	February 1941	Prince's Orchestra
Alabama Bound	Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly	1954	Prince's Orchestra
(Black Gal) Where Did You Sleep Last Night?	Leadbelly	1944	"Dock" Walsh
Blue Tail Fly	Leadbelly	1954	Burl Ives
Bully of the Town	Leadbelly	1954	May Irwin PRF,REC, Mr. J. W. Myers REL
By and By When the Morning Comes	Leadbelly	1960	Frank and James McCravy
Dancing with Tears in My Eyes	Leadbelly	1954	Regent Club Orchestra [Bob Haring]
Digging My Potatoes	Lead Belly	February 1948	Little Son Joe
Down in the Valley to Pray	Leadbelly	April 1966	Price Family Sacred Singers
Easy Rider	Huddie Leadbelly	November 1940	Ma Rainey - Acc. by Her Georgia Jazz Band
Ella Speed	Lead Belly	1962	Unverified
Every Time I Feel the Spirit	Leadbelly	1960	Morehouse College Quartette
Fiddler's Dram	Lead Belly	1946	Gid Tanner and George Riley Puckett
Frankie and Albert	Lead Belly	1939	The Leighton Brothers REC, Paul Biese Trio REL
Good Morning Blues	Lead Belly accompanied by Sonny Terry	1943	Leadbelly
Ha-Ha This A Way	Leadbelly	1997	Unverified
How Long	Lead Belly, Sanders Terry	1943	Ida Cox, Leroy Carr
If It Wasn't for Dicky	Leadbelly	April 1966	(unknown) Covered by (69 artists)
I'm Alone Because I Love You	Leadbelly	1954	Al Carney
In New Orleans	Leadbelly	1944	Ashley and Foster
John Hardy	Lead Belly	1946	Eva Davis
John Henry	Lead Belly, Sanders Terry	1943	Fiddlin' John Carson
Julie Ann Johnson	Leadbelly	March 20, 2006	Unverified
Looky, Looky, Yonder - Black Betty - Yallow Women's Door Bells	Lead Belly	1939	James "Iron Head" Baker and Group REC Covered by (97 artists)
Mama, Did You Bring Me Any Silver?	Lead Belly	April 1966	Bentley Ball
Match Box Blues	Leadbelly	1970	Unverified
Midnight Special	Leadbelly	April 1966	Rev. C.D. Montgomery, Dave Cutrell with McGinty's Oklahoma Cow Boy Band
Midnight Special	Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly	1954	Rev. C.D. Montgomery, Dave Cutrell with McGinty's Oklahoma Cow Boy Band
My Hula Love	Leadbelly	2014	Dolly Connolly
Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out	Leadbelly	1953	Unverified
Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep	Leadbelly	1954	Fisk University Male Quartette
Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep	Lead Belly	1994	Unverified
On a Monday	Lead Belly, Sanders Terry	1943	Lead Belly
Pick a Bale of Cotton	Lead Belly and The Golden Gate Quartet	February 1941	(unknown)
Rock Me (Hide Me in Thy Bosom)	Lead Belly with Anne Graham	2015	Charles Beck
Run, Sinners	Leadbelly	April 1966	(unknown)
Sail On, Little Girl, Sail On	Huddie Leadbelly	October 25, 1940	Amos
Shorty George	Leadbelly	1969	(unknown)
Stewball	Lead Belly and The Golden Gate Quartet	February 1941	(unknown)
Sweet Jenny Lee	Leadbelly	1954	Isham Jones' Orchestra
Take a Whiff on Me	Leadbelly	April 1966	Charlie Poole with The North Carolina Ramblers Covered by (8 artists)
The Boll Weevil	Lead Belly	1939	Fiddlin' John Carson
The Gallis Pole	Lead Belly	1939	Bentley Ball
The Midnight Special	Lead Belly and The Golden Gate Quartet	February 1941	Rev. C.D. Montgomery, Dave Cutrell with McGinty's Oklahoma Cow Boy Band
The Red Cross Store Blues	Huddie Leadbelly	1941	Bessie Jackson, Walter Roland Covered by (3 artists)
When a Man's a Long Way from Home	Leadbelly	1960	(unknown)
When the Train Comes Along	Leadbelly	1990	Odette and Ethel
Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues [actually Alcoholic Blues]	Lead Belly	1994	Vernon Dalhart REC, Billy Murray REL

Web Covers by Leadbelly

	Title	Performer	Upload date	Originally by
	Turn Your Radio On	Lead Belly	November 20, 2015	Lulu Belle & Scotty and Five String Banjo

Songs written by Leadbelly

Original songs

Title	Written by	Originally by	Original date	Covered by
Almost Day	Leadbelly, Alan Lomax	Leadbelly	February 15, 1945	Covered by (2 artists)
Bring Me Li'l Water Silvy	Leadbelly	Lead Belly	March 1935	Covered by (29 artists)
Cotton Song	Leadbelly	Leadbelly	1947	Covered by (172 artists)
Defense Blues	Leadbelly	Leadbelly	1943	Covered by (2 artists)
Fannin Street	Leadbelly, John Lomax, Alan Lomax	Lead Belly	April 1, 1939	Covered by (4 artists)
Good Morning Blues	Leadbelly, Alan Lomax	Leadbelly	June 15, 1940	Covered by (36 artists)
Goodnight Irene	Leadbelly, John Lomax	Leadbelly REC, Lead Belly REL	July 16, 1933	Covered by (224 artists)
Grasshoppers in My Pillow	Leadbelly	Leadbelly	October 1947	Covered by (2 artists)
Jean Harlow	Leadbelly	Leadbelly	1962	Covered by (3 artists)
Keep Your Hands off Her	Leadbelly	Leadbelly REC, John Koerner, Dave Ray and Tony Glover REL	May 1944	Covered by (15 artists)
Leaving Blues	Leadbelly	Leadbelly	June 15, 1940	Covered by (4 artists)
Little Children’s Blues	Leadbelly	Leadbelly	1951	Unverified
Looky Looky Yonder	Leadbelly, John Lomax, Alan Lomax	Lead Belly	April 1, 1939	Covered by (3 artists)
On a Monday	Leadbelly	Lead Belly	April 1, 1939	Covered by (42 artists)
Out on the Western Plains	Leadbelly	Leadbelly REC, Lead Belly REL	July 16, 1933	Covered by (30 artists)
Pigmeat	Leadbelly	Lead Belly	March 25, 1935	Covered by (2 artists)
Relax Your Mind	Leadbelly	Leadbelly	1948	Covered by (5 artists)
Ride On	Leadbelly	Leadbelly	April 1966	Covered by Little Axe
Run, Sinners	Leadbelly			Covered by (2 artists)
Silver City Bound	Leadbelly, Alan Lomax	Leadbelly	1948	Covered by (14 artists)
The Bourgeois Blues	Leadbelly, Alan Lomax	Leadbelly	December 26, 1938	Covered by (19 artists)
The Titanic [Fair thee, Titanic, Fair thee well]	Leadbelly	Leadbelly	1948	Covered by (3 artists)

Adapted songs

Title	Written by	Originals	Originally by	Covered by
If It Wasn't for Dicky	Leadbelly	Drimmen Down	Leadbelly	Covered by (69 artists)
Mama, Did You Bring Me Any Silver?	Leadbelly	The Maid Freed from the Gallows	Lead Belly
Red Cross Store Blues	Leadbelly	Red Cross Blues	Huddie Leadbelly	Covered by (3 artists)
Take a Whiff on Me	Leadbelly, Alan Lomax	Honey, Take a One on Me	Leadbelly	Covered by (8 artists)

Releases

Albums

Title	Performer	Release date	Label
Go Down Old Hannah - The Library of Congress Recordings (Volume 6)	Lead Belly	1994	Rounder
Good Mornin' Blues - Early Leadbelly 1935-1940	Leadbelly	1969	Biograph
Gwine Dig a Hole to Put the Devil In - The Library of Congress Recordings, Volume Two	Lead Belly	1991	Rounder
Keep Your Hands Off Her	Leadbelly	1965	Verve Folkways
Leadbelly Sings Folk Songs	Leadbelly	1962	Folkways
Lead Belly's Last Sessions [1994 Box Set]	Lead Belly	1994	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Leadbelly's Last Sessions [Volume One]	Leadbelly	1954	Folkways
Leadbelly's Last Sessions [Volume Two]	Leadbelly	1954	Folkways
Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection	Lead Belly	2015	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Negro Folk Songs	Lead Belly	1946	Disc
Negro Folk Songs for Young People	Leadbelly	1960	Folkways
Negro Sinful Songs	Lead Belly	1939	Musicraft [US1]
Rock Island Line - Huddie Ledbetter Memorial, Vol. 2	Leadbelly	1953	Folkways
Songs by Lead Belly	Lead Belly accompanied by Sonny Terry	1943	Asch Recordings
The Library of Congress Recordings	Leadbelly	April 1966	Elektra
"The Midnight Special" and Other Southern Prison Songs	Lead Belly and The Golden Gate Quartet	February 1941	Victor
Vol. 10 - Complete Library of Congress Recordings (1940)	Leadbelly	1990	Document Records
Vol. 1 - Complete Library of Congress Recordings (1933-1935)	Leadbelly	1990	Document Records
Work Songs of the U.S.A.	Lead Belly	May 1942	Asch Recordings

Singles

Title	Performer	Release date	Label
(Black Gal) Where Did You Sleep Last Night?	Leadbelly	1944	Musicraft [US1]
Digging My Potatoes	Lead Belly	February 1948	Disc
Easy Rider	Huddie Leadbelly	November 1940	Bluebird
Good Morning Blues	Leadbelly	September 5, 1941	Bluebird
Grasshoppers in My Pillow	Leadbelly	October 1947	Capitol Records
Pig Meat Papa	Lead Belly	April 1936	Perfect [US1]
Red Cross Store Blues	Huddie Leadbelly	1941	Bluebird
Sail On, Little Girl, Sail On	Huddie Leadbelly	October 25, 1940	Bluebird

Performances also appear on

	Title	Performer	Release date	Label
	American Folksay Ballads and Dances - Vol. 2	various artists	1954	Stinson Records
	Classic African American Songsters from Smithsonian Folkways	various artists	2014	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Tributes

Title	Performer	Release date	Label
Black Girl	Lils Mackintosh	1999	Quintessence Records
Folkways: A Vision Shared	various artists	1988	Columbia [US]
Lead Belly's Gold	Eric Bibb and JJ Milteau	November 6, 2015	Stony Plain
Remembering Leadbelly	Long John Baldry	2001	Stony Plain
These Are My Roots - Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly	Clifford Jordan	1965	Atlantic

Reported errors

#	Reported by	Reported on	Status	Last update
#38269	Stephan Koenig	2008-11-25 15:48:21 UTC	processed	2018-05-15 17:42:38 UTC by Limbabwe
#38693	Stephan Koenig	2009-02-10 22:07:34 UTC	processed	2012-05-16 12:11:01 UTC by Stephan Koenig
#152998	Mark_Heyrman	2020-12-18 04:50:55 UTC	processed	2021-01-21 20:46:12 UTC by CarlDennis
#156852	Canary	2021-01-20 18:40:26 UTC	processed	2021-03-21 12:52:05 UTC by Bastien
#164056	Bastien	2021-03-07 13:27:35 UTC	processed	2021-03-10 15:45:37 UTC by walt
#173310	Mark_Heyrman	2021-06-09 21:33:26 UTC	processed	2021-06-10 19:45:42 UTC by Bastien

Forum topics

	Topic	Board	Started by	Replies	Last message
	Turn Your Radio On --- Original or Cover ?? unread	Discussion	jojo	0	November 27, 2013 by jojo

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Leadbelly

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Originals

Covers by Leadbelly

Web Covers by Leadbelly

Songs written by Leadbelly

Original songs

Adapted songs

Releases

Albums

Singles

Performances also appear on

Tributes

Reported errors

Forum topics

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