Does anybody know the song lyrics for Black Betty, Thirty Point buck, or Cotten-eyed Joe?

Question

I love all 3 of those songs

Answer 1

Those old FolkSongs often have so many variations & popularizations ,,it can be impossible to determine what's 'Original" sometimes.

Many were handed down for Decades strictly by word-of-mouth,,by people who couldn't read or write,,and didnt have pencil/paper even if they could.

You'd be perfectly in order to ADD your own lines to most any of them.
Thats exactly how many have been handed down to us today

.......................................................................................................
Cotton-Eyed Joe
Lyrics: Traditional
Music: Traditional

Played by Old And In The Way.

Lyrics below not yet checked against an Old And In The Way recording.

Way back yonder a long time ago
Daddy had a man called Cotton-Eyed Joe
Blew into town on a travelin' show
Nobody danced like the Cotton-Eyed Joe

Chorus
Cotton-Eyed Joe, Cotton-Eyed Joe
Where did you come from, where did you go?
Where did you come from, where did you go?
Where did you come from, Cotton-Eyed Joe?

Mama's at the window, Mama's at the door
She can't see nothin' but the Cotton-Eyed Joe
Daddy held the fiddle, I held the bow
We beat the hell out of Cotton-Eyed Joe

[chorus]

Made himself a fiddle, made himself a bow
Made a little tune called the Cotton-Eyed Joe
Hadn't oughta been for the Cotton-Eyed Joe
I'd a-been married some forty years ago

[chorus]

Whenever there's dance all the women want to go
And they all want to dance with the Cotton-Eyed Joe
Daddy won't say but I think he knows
Whatever happened to the Cotton-Eyed Joe

[chorus]


** In Texas,,,a common added refrain at end of each stanza/chorus is
"Stepped in WHAT!!??"

........................................................
"Black Betty" was Originally Recorded ( MANY years ago)just up the road from where I live.

The interpretations of the MEANING of the term Black Betty are interesting

From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Betty

The origin and meaning of the lyrics are subject to debate. Some sources claim the song is derived from an 18th century marching cadence about a flint-lock rifle with a black head-stock; the "bam-ba-lam" lyric referring to the sound of the gunfire. Soldiers in the field were said to be "hugging Black Betty". In this interpretation, the rifle was superceded by its "child", a rifle known as a "Brown Bess".[1]

Other sources claim the term was a contemporary reference for a prostitute, a prison bullwhip, heroin or the "paddywagon".

In Lead Belly's version of the song, Black Betty is characterized as a woman with a child:

Woah, Black Betty
bam-ba-lam
Woah, Black Betty
bam-ba-lam

Black Betty had a baby
bam-ba-lam
Black Betty had a baby
bam-ba-lam

Damn thing gone crazy
bam-ba-lam
Damn thing gone crazy
bam-ba-lam


In an interview (see The Land Where the Blues Began, 1st Edition, Alan Lomax, Pnatheon Books, 1993) conducted by Alan Lomax with a former prisoner of the Texas penal farm named Doc Reese (aka "Big Head"), Reese stated that the term "Black Betty" was used by prisoners to refer to the "Black Maria" -- the penetentiary transfer wagon. Below is a song in which the term "Black Betty", used to refer to the wagon, appears in the context of a prison work song.

Black Betty's in the bottom,
I can hear her roar,
She's bringing some po sucker,
With an achin soul.

She'll bring you here and leave you,
Let your hammer ring,
For a hundred summers,
Let your hammer ring.

(and now we hear the most familiar part of the song)

Black Betty's got a baby,
Let your hammer ring,
Damn thing's gone crazy,
Let your hammer ring,
Dipped its head in gravy,
Let your hammer ring.


In this interpretation, Black Betty's baby may be the prisoner himself, who has by his own admission "gone crazy" -- seeing as it was "Black Betty" who delivered the prisoners into the prison world ("She's bringing some po sucker"). In the lyrics above, the phrase "Let your hammer ring" is used repeatedly. In this case, the "hammer" refers to the hoes used by prisoners to break up the ground in the cotton fields. The song itself was used to keep a steady rhythm among the workers as they toiled in the field. It had the added benefit of helping the time go by faster through collective participation.

Many early blues and proto-blues songs follow the theme that all the wickedness of man (Adam) is the result of a woman (Eve). A number of early artists sang of how they got mixed up with a woman and ended up in prison as a result. As such, the characterization of the prison wagon as a woman is not unprecedented.


[edit] In the media

.......................................................................................................

30pt Buck,,I never heard of

This sound familair?

30 PT. BUCK
yea , i am the boy from illinois and i thought that i was just one of the boys but my cousins from wisconsin were just making noise while i was a hunting the thirty point buck, the 30 pt buck, i don't know what they were thinking but i could tell that they were drinking and smell that they were stinking when they should of been a stalking the 30 pt buck, the 30 pt buck, so i started tracking round not even making sound as they were drunk and falling down while i was a hunting the 30 pt buck, the 30 pt buck, saw a movement in the bushes and knew the time was near, i was great hunter not some fool drinking beer so i lifted up my gun without any fear, i slowly pulled the trigger knew the buck i had, heard a shaking in the bushes it took a fall real bad and that's when i shot the best cousin i ever had. ...


......
If ya read it careful,,it's easy to separate into line/verse.


Hope that Helps

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Does anybody know the song lyrics for Black Betty, Thirty Point buck, or Cotten-eyed Joe?
I love all 3 of those songs

Answer 3

Gravenhurst - Black Holes in the Sand Mountain Goats & Kaki King - Black Pear Tree Songs: Ohia - Hot Black Silk Beck - Black Tambourine Led Zeppelin - White Summer/Black Mountain Side

Answer 4

30 Pt Buck Song

Answer 5

Where did you come from where did you go where did you come from cotton-eyed joe

Repeat till your heart's content...

Answer 6

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/

Answer 7

try this site
http://www.songmeanings.net/

Answer 8

Here's all three of the lyrics for ya !! Enjoy !! :o)

Black Betty by Ram Jam

Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Black betty had a child (bam-ba-lam)
The damn thing gone wild (bam-ba-lam)
She said, "i'm worryin' outta mind" (bam-ba-lam)
The damn thing gone blind (bam-ba-lam)
I said oh, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)

Oh, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
She really gets me high bam-ba-lam
You know that's no lie bam-ba-lam
She's so rock steady bam-ba-lam
And she's always ready bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam

whoooa i will rock you betty

Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
She's from birmingham bam-ba-lam
Way down in alabam' bam-ba-lam
Well, she's shakin' that thing bam-ba-lam
Boy, she makes me sing bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam



30 Point Buck by a group called "Bananas At Large"


background noise: sipping beer, chorus of laughs and belches, general yooper noises

lemmie tell ya dat
and you know it's not so much the heat as it is the gosh darn humidity
you know dat

you know when you sit there in the bed and you're just sweaty you know and you go to reach for the water on the nightstand and ya slide right out of bed, and the wife says
"stop making so much noise you're waking me up, go to sleep"

well lemmie tell ya
times like that make me feel like movin up north ya know
good idea
yeah i'd do it too

course then i couldn't watch the Packers ya know, the Packers are
gosh i like the Packers, i'd do anything for the Packers
who can forget Vince Lombardi ya know, back in the glory years, not me boy
ya know

yeah well anyhow
gettin to be that time of year eh?

yeah i'm a deer hunter how do you do

i got this deer huntin rappin tale for you
i'm so excited, it's my favorite time of year
i love to freeze my buns chasin trophy deer
but don't clap your hands to the stompin of the feet
cause ya he's like me he can't keep a steady beat no

i got this great big knife cause the hunting is my life
it's my chance to drink beer and get away from the wife
it's the boys night out acting stupidly

say now baby baby don't you think maybe how bout you and me yeah
well we partied all night never made it to our bunks and
i was sittin in the tree stand on the tree dead drunk
windmill blowin 45, temp thirty below, i was freezin to death, then it started to snow
so i got down from the tree stand start headin for the truck
and thats when i seen it there, the turdy point buck
the turdy point buck?
turdy point buck (5x)

well he was eight foot tall, weighed twelve thousand pounds, with every step there was a shakin' on the ground
he was so rutiful so beautiful
strutted right out of my dreams, he was created by God just for outdoor magazines
now i'm not much for thinkin, no i don't do it often
but i had an idea
to put that turdy pointer in his coffin

turdy point buck
hh
turdy point buck

i couldn't get to my grenades
the howitzer was in the shop
my stomache was tied into a monkey knot
ya my only hope was betty lou
she was da one
a combination AK-57 uzzie radar lasar triple barrel double scoped heat-seakin shotgun

turdy point buck
hh
turdy point buck
turdy point buck

ya dat the women clappin' the the back dere i gotta make dat

well he was comin for me gettin bigger and bigger but my fingers were so frozen i could not pull the trigger
i kicked off my boots fired with my big toe
i was Dirty Harry, John Wayne, and G.I. Joe

ya dat turday point buck was only 10 feet away
ya still i couldn't seem to hit him and he wouldn't run away
and after 20 minutes when the smoke cleared
there were hunters on the ground and the world's biggest deer
standing tall and proud, he looked at me and yawned (ohhhhhhh dear)
and then a flash of white, and there he was, gone

[cryin and burpin]

well seven men got up and then one fell down
a big lump of blaze orange, shakin on the ground
at first i thought he was one of the boys
but it was a no brother good in law man from illinois

only cheese-heads in here, right boys?
send him back on the next plane ya know

Did ya see the turdy pointer?
Did ya see the turdy pointer?
Did ya see the turdy pointer?
Did ya see the turdy pointer?

as we jumped into da truck
sayin i'm gonna get that turdy point buck
yeah i'm gonna get that turdy point buck

hhh
turdy point buck (5x)


Cotton Eyed Joe by REDNEX

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

He brought disaster wherever he went
The hearts of the girls was to hell broken sent
They all ran away so nobody would know
and left only men cause of Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
where did you come from Cotton-eye joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

He brought disaster wherever he went
The hearts of the girls was to hell broken sent
They all ran away so nobody would know
and left only men cause of Cotton-Eye Joe

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

Answer 9

Ram Jam Black Betty

Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Black betty had a child (bam-ba-lam)
The damn thing gone wild (bam-ba-lam)
She said, "i'm worryin' outta mind" (bam-ba-lam)
The damn thing gone blind (bam-ba-lam)
I said oh, black betty (bam-ba-lam)
Whoa, black betty (bam-ba-lam)

Oh, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
She really gets me high bam-ba-lam
You know that's no lie bam-ba-lam
She's so rock steady bam-ba-lam
And she's always ready bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam

whoooa i will rock you betty

Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
She's from birmingham bam-ba-lam
Way down in alabam' bam-ba-lam
Well, she's shakin' that thing bam-ba-lam
Boy, she makes me sing bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam
Whoa, black betty bam-ba-lam

cotton eyed joe Rednex

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

He brought disaster wherever he went
The hearts of the girls was to hell broken sent
They all ran away so nobody would know
and left only men cause of Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
where did you come from Cotton-eye joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

He brought disaster wherever he went
The hearts of the girls was to hell broken sent
They all ran away so nobody would know
and left only men cause of Cotton-Eye Joe

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey
hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey,hey

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe


Thirty Point Buck

It's from a group called "Bananas At Large"


background noise: sipping beer, chorus of laughs and belches, general yooper noises

lemmie tell ya dat
and you know it's not so much the heat as it is the gosh darn humidity
you know dat

you know when you sit there in the bed and you're just sweaty you know and you go to reach for the water on the nightstand and ya slide right out of bed, and the wife says
"stop making so much noise you're waking me up, go to sleep"

well lemmie tell ya
times like that make me feel like movin up north ya know
good idea
yeah i'd do it too

course then i couldn't watch the Packers ya know, the Packers are
gosh i like the Packers, i'd do anything for the Packers
who can forget Vince Lombardi ya know, back in the glory years, not me boy
ya know

yeah well anyhow
gettin to be that time of year eh?

yeah i'm a deer hunter how do you do

i got this deer huntin rappin tale for you
i'm so excited, it's my favorite time of year
i love to freeze my buns chasin trophy deer
but don't clap your hands to the stompin of the feet
cause ya he's like me he can't keep a steady beat no

i got this great big knife cause the hunting is my life
it's my chance to drink beer and get away from the wife
it's the boys night out acting stupidly

say now baby baby don't you think maybe how bout you and me yeah
well we partied all night never made it to our bunks and
i was sittin in the tree stand on the tree dead drunk
windmill blowin 45, temp thirty below, i was freezin to death, then it started to snow
so i got down from the tree stand start headin for the truck
and thats when i seen it there, the turdy point buck
the turdy point buck?
turdy point buck (5x)

well he was eight foot tall, weighed twelve thousand pounds, with every step there was a shakin' on the ground
he was so rutiful so beautiful
strutted right out of my dreams, he was created by God just for outdoor magazines
now i'm not much for thinkin, no i don't do it often
but i had an idea
to put that turdy pointer in his coffin

turdy point buck
hh
turdy point buck

i couldn't get to my grenades
the howitzer was in the shop
my stomache was tied into a monkey knot
ya my only hope was betty lou
she was da one
a combination AK-57 uzzie radar lasar triple barrel double scoped heat-seakin shotgun

turdy point buck
hh
turdy point buck
turdy point buck

ya dat the women clappin' the the back dere i gotta make dat

well he was comin for me gettin bigger and bigger but my fingers were so frozen i could not pull the trigger
i kicked off my boots fired with my big toe
i was Dirty Harry, John Wayne, and G.I. Joe

ya dat turday point buck was only 10 feet away
ya still i couldn't seem to hit him and he wouldn't run away
and after 20 minutes when the smoke cleared
there were hunters on the ground and the world's biggest deer
standing tall and proud, he looked at me and yawned (ohhhhhhh dear)
and then a flash of white, and there he was, gone

[cryin and burpin]

well seven men got up and then one fell down
a big lump of blaze orange, shakin on the ground
at first i thought he was one of the boys
but it was a no brother good in law man from illinois

only cheese-heads in here, right boys?
send him back on the next plane ya know

Did ya see the turdy pointer?
Did ya see the turdy pointer?
Did ya see the turdy pointer?
Did ya see the turdy pointer?

as we jumped into da truck
sayin i'm gonna get that turdy point buck
yeah i'm gonna get that turdy point buck

hhh
turdy point buck (5x)



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