Leadbelly - Irene Goodnight (Live/1949) [HD]

Leadbelly sings ’Irene Goodnight’ from the 1973 Playboy Records album ’Leadbelly Recorded in Concert, University of Texas, Austin, June 15, 1949’. This is the longer ’Intro’ version of this song of the two versions he sang in the concert. The concert was recorded for a KUT Radio broadcast (Leadbelly’s only such long live performance recording; he died 6 months after) and this was certainly one of the most powerful versions of his signature song. The song lyrics are below (with transcribed spoken sections)