"Goodnight, Irene" or "Irene, Goodnight," is a 19th century song written and published as "Goodnight, Irene" in 1886 by Gussie Lord Davis an African American songwriter. The song (by then much altered) was first recorded in 1932 by American musician Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter who claimed he had learned the song from his uncle. The lyrics tell of the singer's troubled past with his love, Irene, and express his sadness and frustration. Several verses make explicit reference to contemplated suicide, most famously in the line "sometimes I take a great notion to jump in the river and drown," which was the inspiration for the 1964 Ken Kesey novel Sometimes a Great Notion. In 1950, US folk group The Weavers recorded a version which became a US #1. Although generally faithful, the Weavers chose to omit some of Leadbelly's more controversial lyrics, leading Time magazine to label it a "dehydrated" and "prettied up" version of the original.[1] Due to the recording's popularity, however, The Weavers' lyrics are the ones generally used today. Subsequent to 1950, the song was recorded by numerous artists across several genres. In 2002, Lead Belly's 1936 Library of Congress recording received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. The song has also come to fame as being the terrace song for Bristol Rovers FC who play in the English Football League 1. In 1950, one year after Leadbelly's death, the American folk band The Weavers recorded a version of "Goodnight, Irene". The single first reached ...
Keywords: Music:, Nat, King, Cole
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