Talk:Goodnight, Irene

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Untitled[edit]

Infoboxes for the Leadbelly and The Weavers versions were requested at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Missing_encyclopedic_articles/List_of_notable_songs/5

Origins[edit]

From the Grateful Dead Family Discography at http://www.deaddisc.com

"'Goodnight Irene' is nearly always credited to Leadbelly, or to Leadbelly and Lomax, on LPs and CDs. He though claimed to have been taught it by an uncle. It is thought to be a Tin Pan Alley song from the first decade of the century but may be earlier. In [his book] Songsters and Saints, Paul Oliver suggests that the song was written in 1886 by Gussie Davis, as 'Irene, Goodnight'."

I havs seen at least one other reference to the early sheet music version on the web but now I can not find it. In any case it is plausible to suppose that Davis simply did what the later performers did and adapted an existing traditional song.

It has been recorded is so many styles by so many people that is a truly popular song: not simply a folk song.

mikeL....

The basis of the assertion that the song by Gussie L. Davis "has several lyrical and structural similarities to the latter song" is unclear to me. I'm not a musicologist, so I'm reluctant to judge, but the only similarity I see is in the song phrase, "Irene good night." I received a copy of the Gussie L. Davis sheet music from the Library of Congress (to which I added a reference in the body of the article) and cannot find other similarities. ~ sschuman

Question[edit]

Any particular reason why this is Categorized as a "football chant and song"? If nobody answers, I will decategorize it. Smartyshoe 20:38, 27 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Article says associated with the Bristol Rovers football team. Design 23:44, 27 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Lyrics[edit]

The current article says the Leadbelly lyrics are "I guess you in my dreams"...but other sources say "I'll get you in my dreams". Design 00:35, 14 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Not anymore! --Kschwerdt514 04:11, 13 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

List of recorded versions[edit]

I know that Mississippi john hurt recorded a version, http://www.discogs.com/release/727481.

As did The Nields, on their 1995 EP "Abigail." From what I can tell, their recording is rather heavily influenced by Lead Belly's...

Lyrics and copyrights[edit]

There's undoubtably some value in discussing the changes made to the lyrics over the years by the various artists who've covered the song; the removal of the more controversial verses in the 1950s is particularly noteworthy.

But including complete lyrics (especially two different versions!) is pointless, ugly, and inconsistent. Plus it violates WP:SONG#LYRICS. Plus it's not clear (to me) that these lyrics are actually public domain. They're clearly based on an old folk song, but that might not matter; after all, lots of copyrighted material is based on non-copyrighted sources. I don't know enough about copyright law to say for sure, but until someone can, the lyrics shouldn't be here.

Plus they're pointless!

LSD (talk) 18:27, 6 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There is no mention of Leon Russell's cover of Goodnight Irene on his album "Hank's Back" from 1973. Leon Russell is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and cohort of Elton John. His cover is worthy of mention. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.125.56.14 (talk) 02:15, 29 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I added it to the list. Hank Wilson's Back does not have its own page! So I will try to work something up for that too. Grandma kristin (talk) 02:21, 29 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Jimi Hendrix[edit]

My understanding is that Jimi Hendrix played guitar on the Little Richard version, but I'm not 100% sure where I got that from. Is that worthy of mention and does anyone have a reference?

I'm guessing he didn't if the recording date is 1972...Anderfreude (talk) 23:02, 15 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

First Recording date?[edit]

The date listed as first recording of Irene Goodnight is 1932. Lead Belly according to historical notes did not meet Lomax until July 1933. Did Lead belly have access to recording equipment prior to the first Lomax recordings? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.142.26.7 (talk) 11:08, 15 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Same Tune, Different Words[edit]

Perhaps there should be a section about folk singers who have written other lyrics to the tune of Irene Goodnight. For example, Woody Guthrie's songs Roll on Columbia Roll on, and Chain around my Leg both use slightly modified versions of the tune of Irene Goodnight. Does anyone know other examples of this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.211.131.240 (talk) 15:42, 14 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Would be nice to remind that there has been a record by Los Machucambos (date of record unknown to me) - refrain "Adios Irene" sung in spanisch slightly modified music (close to south american style) in a very gentle sound.

Also synonymous w/[edit]

Also synonymous w/ "That's all she wrote". Or there ain't no more. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Longinus876 (talk • contribs) 02:03, 20 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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External links modified[edit]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Goodnight, Irene. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140201230455/http://www.leadbelly.org/Irene.ram to http://www.leadbelly.org/Irene.ram

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Use - or not - in Battlestar Galactica[edit]

The current 'Other uses' section says:

"Dee hums "Goodnight Irene" in an episode of Battlestar Galactica."

A reference is provided. The episode being referred to is Sometimes a Great Notion, the title and some of the themes of which reflect the novel by Ken Kesey. However, Dualla ('Dee') isn't humming Goodnight, Irene. It seems the melody she's humming was improvised by the actor. The article says:

"When we shot the actual suicide scene, Kandyse McClure hummed a little song as she undressed and put her jewelry away for the last time. It wasn’t scripted or anticipated, but it was haunting and perfect for the moment. A lullaby before the big sleep. I called our composer, Bear McCreary, from the set and talked to him about it. It became a theme in his score—woven into the fabric of the music in the Dualla scenes leading up to the moment, and even after, as Lee contemplates her body in the morgue."

I've removed the claim that Dee was humming Goodnight, Irene. - Eiliken (talk) 22:20, 22 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Category[edit]

The page belongs to so many categories... Do we need to remove those that are no mentioned in the article? James Booker fan (talk) 15:49, 2 January 2019 (UTC) ...Or do we mention those musicians in the article?James Booker fan (talk) 15:52, 2 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]