Artist: Lead Belly
Author: Bob Yellin/John Herald/Ralph Rinzler
Label: Victor
Year: 1940
With the Golden Gate Quartet.
Covers:
Woody Guthrie [own lyrics & melody; along with a more orthodox version with A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl & Roy Harris]
22 & Group [Lomax recording in Parchman]
Jacques Jay et ses Joyeux Saltimbanques [as Laiss' tomber Joe]
A.L. Lloyd [as Skewball, with Steve Benbow on guitar]
Ed Lewis & prisoners [Lomax recording in Lambert State Pen, MS]
Greenbriar Boys [new melody impressing folk circles]
Joan Baez [credit the Greenbriar Boys]
Chad Mitchell Trio [as Stewball & Griselda]
Hollies [idem]
Hugues Aufray [translated by Pierre Delanoƫ]
John Lennon & Yoko Ono [strong echoes of Greenbriar Boys' version in Happy Xmas (War Is Over); see also: Pledging My Love]
Martin Carthy [as Skewbald]
Andy Irvine & Paul Brady [as The Plains Of Kildare]
Patrick Street [as Stewball And The Monaghan Grey Mare; with Andy Irvine]
Calexico [idem]
Alanis Morissette [as Happy Xmas]
Irish origin, horse loving country #1. It's a song about a steeple chase in Co. Kildare in 1790, won by speckled Skewbald, underdog par excellence. Irish wouldn't even think of competing with such a horse, which on top of it all came from America (New England). The favorite (nobility) beaten by the outspoken underdog, that's the stuff nurturing lasting songs, inspiring bookmakers and Southern chain gangs alike. Lomax, Oster and Evans collected different versions all over the South. Bill Monroe's Mollie And Tenbrooks, bluegrass classic about two Kentucky race horses, is another offspring of the same Irish root.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)