C. T. Suddeth

Who wrote Irene Goodnight?

And who was Irene?

-Lead Belly first recorded Irene Goodnight in 1933

-His family insists he wrote as a lullaby to his niece, Irene Campbell in 1908

-Leadbelly claimed his uncle Terrell taught him the song

-Others claim the melody is an English folk melody

-Gussie Davis, one of Tin Pan Alley’s 1^st black composers, published it in 1886, 2 years before Lead Belly’s birth. No mention of Irene.

-I believe Gussie Davis revamped an old slave song, and we will never know who Irene was.

-Lead Belly rewrote the words and melody, making it the marvelous song it is.

I asked your mother for you
She told me that you was too young