So many blues-rock songs I like seem to be covers of early recordings like this one. Thanks for this.
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Company, villainous company hath been the spoil of me.
August 31, 2021, 08:19 AM
Ripley
I see someone suggesting this is much older than a 1933 recording from a Sugarland, Texas work gang. From the comments with dissenters noted --
"This was a British Army marching song and refers to the muskets carried by British soldiers which was called the Black Betty because of it's black painted stock. (It's replacement had a brown oiled stock and was refered to as the Brown Bess). BB had a child, the child went wild refers to the musket firing a ball which was not very accurate as rear firing lines often shot the forward lines on accident. Birmingham refers to Birmingham England where the muskets were made, not Alabama. There are many references to this in literature as far back as the early 1700s."