One-hit-wonder bands have always fascinated me. Some guys go to all the trouble of putting together a band and everything that goes with it including getting a recording contract, but they only have one hit song in their whole career. They put out an album with a bunch of songs but only one of them gets listened to. The rest of the songs are considered to be junk, which is not always the case, but they never got airplay.
Even though a band might only have a single hit, it might be a monster, and almost worth the entire existence of the band, which I think is the case here. I mean I'd have loved to see this band become multi-millionaires, but they only lasted one year. In that year though they truly left us a gift, God bless 'em.
If I had to pick my favorite OHW band song, hands-down it'd be Black Betty by Ram Jam. I love the name Ram Jam for a band although I don't know why. I also don't know why Black Betty moves people so much to this day but it does. I wish I knew what makes it so special and I'm sure a lot of other people do too.
Ram Jam didn't write the song; it's a traditional song. It's sometimes credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, but it existed long before he recorded it. Ram Jam put it on the map though, and gave it more balls than a heard of elephants.
I remember when it first came out and it blew my mind. It seemed to jump out of the speakers like few other songs did. It started out with a gong which was run through a phase shifter, followed by a "four-on-the-floor" bass drum beat...playing all four quarter notes. It's the most primal beat there is, and it works in any style of music.
Being a drummer myself the intro hooked me immediately, and when the guitar riff came in it was all over. I'd already fallen in love with the tune before it even got to the "Prog" section in the middle. Bonus.
We used to get together after school and just blast this song. I remember it was like a switch was being flipped in our brains...we'd all get almost giddy. It was a buzz...like a mood elevator or maybe a shot of whisky and three expressos. We'd all be dancing around and laughing like a bunch of idiots. It was fun.
It may sound strange or even disrespectful to laugh at a song, unless of course it's a novelty tune, but sometimes a song can flip me out so much that it goes beyond my natural standards to the point of being absurd, and all I can do is laugh. I know that if I hear a song and it makes me laugh, I'll be a fan for life.
I'm serious when I say that I wish I knew what makes it so special. Sure it has a great beat, badass guitar riffs, great vocals, a wicked instrumental section, a big ending and all, but lots of songs fit that bill. They aren't Black Betty.
If you doubt the everlasting power of this tune, go to YouTube and check out some reaction videos. There's a couple of compilation videos that show clips of all these people just going apeshit for the tune. Young or old, black or white and whatever else doesn't matter...this song has universal appeal. It makes everybody happy. It really is something to see.
Recently though some snowflakes came out and said that it was "racist," but that just shows what morons they are. There's nothing racist about the song. If you see the reaction videos there's just as many blacks as whites and they love it. A couple of them even mentioned how stupid it is to think it's racist in any way. These "woke" clowns are getting tiresome.
I'd put a link to the videos but the phone version of this app makes it impossible. I also can't put a hyperlink to the song either and I apologize for that. You can certainly find it on YouTube. If you do, check out the version with the video, which is simple but classic. I think you'll dig it.
Not too many bands did videos back in those days, and it's a goodun. A couple of their friends are standing "onstage" (in the yard actually) with the band, just hanging out and clapping and grooving and having a blast. It's beautiful.
There's a great story about the video. They had a very modest budget of something like $500 or whatever it was to shoot the video, but instead of finding a soundstage or a location to shoot it, they spent all but $50 on beer and reefer, threw a party for their friends and shot it in the drummer's backyard. It just doesn't get any better than that.
This song could take the place of a cup of coffee in the morning...it's that uplifting. See for yourself. If this song fails to move you, please see a doctor immediately.
Whoa Black Betty, bam-ba-lam
Whoa Black Betty, bam-ba-lam
Black Betty had a child, bam-ba-lam
Damn thing gone wild, bam-ba-lam...
Oh hell yeah! Enjoy.
THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE FEATURE.
No comments:
Post a Comment