The Lead Belly Songbook - Lead Belly, no stranger to the blues

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Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (Black Girl) (My Girl)

Click here to listen to Real Audio Format 28.8 modem This is a real audio recording of the midi file, itself.

This song was recently popularized by Kurt Cobain and Nirvana when they included it in their Unplugged CD that was performed live on MTV. Kurt Cobain was a devoted Lead Belly fan. Cobain pitched the song in E-flat, thereby leaving his voice enough room to sing at one octave higher near the end of the song. Click here to listen to Nirvana. The song is in 3/4 time, and usually a crowd pleaser.

This is a good song for learning some of the basics of Lead Belly's style. The key is natural E. On his guitar, Lead Belly played out of the "A" position with the A7th chord a prominent chord in the song. It also has fun little bass runs that can be played as hammer ons or individually noted, depending on the tempo and your desire. Lead Belly often used an A7th chord, sometimes seemingly instead of an A major.

Lead Belly's version: Here is a short clip of the song that Lead Belly recorded. This recording was the one used in the transcription, and appears in the sonbook. Click here to listen to RealAudio format - Lead Belly recording

Problems with RealAudio? click here.