Where Did You Sleep Last Night

In response to the song “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” Lead Belly never dramatically changed his expression.  In some ways it was sung with an upbeat attitude.  To add flare to the song, Lead Belly uses different pitches each line of the song.  This seems to add emphasis to his lyrics.  With the simple A-B-A format and his use of simple lyrics he is able to convey much passion and emotion, from what seems to me to be an emotionless way of singing.  This way of singing was common for folk music of the time period.  Another thing that Lead Belly did in his rendition of Where Did You Sleep Last Night, was his ability to change from monotone singing to spoken word.  He added phrases like “come on and tell me something about it, or shiver for me now.”  These phrases gave the song texture.  He was able to stray of his strict use of the A B A format by interjecting these phrases in between his different verses. 

Lead Belly strictly sticks to the A B A format.  We are able to tell because he repeats the same tone and some of the lyrics every other verse.  The whole song seems to be a conversation between a man and a woman and he switches off voices every other verse.  With the conversation between the man and the woman he sticks to his use of the A B A format.

Comments

[AmyMayper]

In your posts, many of you considered the effect Lead Belly’s spoken interjections had on the authenticity or lack thereof in his version of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” Christopher Yoshonis made an interesting point when he noted the Jazz influence in Lead Belly’s interjections, implying that they detracted authenticity. Check out Christopher’s post here: (http://benleedscarson.com/by-banks-in-pines/2009/10/10/lead-bellys-in-the-pines.html). Hannah Sherman, on the other hand, felt that these interjections increased authenticity as they reflected what Lead Belly “felt and experienced.” Take a look at Hannah’s post here: (http://benleedscarson.com/by-banks-in-pines/2009/10/9/where-did-you-sleep-last-night-by-leadbelly.html). Using these examples as a springboard, what effect do you think Lead Belly’s spoken interjections have on the song’s authenticity and on the song in general? Why do you think Lead Belly chose to speak the specific lines that he did, as opposed to any other lines? And looking at the topic in broader terms, what effect do you think spoken interjections have on songs today? Feel free to post youtube links to examples of present-day songs featuring spoken interjections and to discuss these examples with your classmates!