Original subtitles

♪ Go down, Ol' Hannah

♪ Don't you rise no more

♪ Well, if you rise in the mornin'

♪ Bring Judgment Day

♪ You oughta been on the brazis

♪ Nineteen and ten

♪ They was drivin' the women

♪ Like they do the men

♪ Oh, the sun was shinin'

♪ And the men was flyin'

♪ Oh, the cap'n was a-hollerin'

♪ And the men was dyin'

♪ Go down, Ol' Hannah

♪ Doncha rise no more

♪ Well, if you rise in the mornin'

♪ Bring Judgment Day ♪

Ledbetter!

Come on!

They want you in the office.

[CHAINS CLINKING]

I'm Professor Lomax, this is my assistant Tom.

Want to take his chains off?

Orders are to leave 'em on.

This nigger's a real bad one.

LOMAX: Right this way.

Have a seat.

I guess they told ya, we're here collectin' songs.

There ain't a damn thing I can do for you,

'cept maybe a sack of Bull Durham,

couple of hours out of the sun.

Heard a lot about you.

That's why I've come all the way down here to record you.

I knows a lots of songs.

Some of 'em I made up,

some of 'em I changed from other folks's.

You got some picks for me?

Yeah, here.

What are you in for?

Murder.

I calls it self-defense.

He stuck me with a knife, but I stuck him better.

[ON RECORDER] He stuck me with a knife, but I stuck him better.

[CHUCKLES] You see, it's easy.

[CHUCKLES] Lord.

I ain't never sung in no machine before.

Well, this is a song I used to sing back home

in Mooringsport, Louisiana.

It's around 1907.

My uncle, Terrell, taught it to me.

Saturday night we used to have play party dancin'.

Sukey Jumps we calls it.

[GUITAR PLAYING]

HUDDIE: Yes, sir.

Everybody come to dance. Just had a fine time.

Heh. Weren't no white folks

maybe 10, 15 miles around.

Pshaw!

I used to ride my daddy's horse,

sashay around them girls,

lookin' like Saturday night all the way to Sunday mornin'!

Yes, sir. And everybody knew everybody them days.

Y'know, it was like it was a family.

Evenin', ladies, y'all goin' to the party?

Hah!

HUDDIE: Now, there was this ol' Archie Macoomb.

Look out! Here come Archie!

He had a team of bays,

and before you know it,

Lord, he'd come boilin' down the road

and I'd just take out after 'im.

Hah!

Hah!

Come on! Hah!

[CLUCKING]

Hah!

Hah! Come on!

[JAUNTY MUSIC PLAYING]

♪ Green corn, green corn

♪ Green corn, come along cholly

♪ Green corn, go 'n tell polly

♪ Green corn, green corn

♪ Stand around, stand around

♪ Two little boys to call me poppa

♪ One named Sop and th' other named Gravy

♪ Green corn, green corn

♪ Green corn, come along cholly

♪ Green corn, go 'n tell polly

♪ Green corn, green corn

[SHRIEKS]

♪ Two little boys to call me poppa

♪ One named Sop and th' other named Gravy

♪ One named Sop and th' other named Gravy

♪ One's gonna put up an' the other's gonna save it

♪ Green corn, green corn

♪ Green corn, come along cholly

♪ Green corn, go 'n tell polly

♪ Green corn, green corn

♪ Wake, snake, day's a-breakin'

♪ Peas in the pot, the whole cake's bakin'

♪ Green corn, green corn

♪ Green corn, come along cholly

♪ Green corn, go 'n tell polly

♪ Green corn, green corn

♪ Stand around, stand around the jimmy-john

♪ Stand around, stand around the jimmy-john

♪ Stand around, stand around ♪

[JAUNTY MUSIC CONTINUES]

[TEMPO INCREASES]

[MUSIC STOPS][APPLAUSE]

Come on, Margaret, I'll take you on with me in my new buggy.

Uh-uh.

Don' you be mule stubborn.

Come on.

This here seat's made outta real oak.

No, thank you kindly.

Promise to let Huddie carry me home.

Yeah, well, Huddie Ledbetter ain't gonna take you nowheres!

Archie Macoomb, you let go me.

You all liquored up, else you wouldn't!

Oh! [WHIMPERS]

Archie, please!

Stop, Huddie! Archie, stop!

Oh, my God. Y'all are liquored, throw it away!

Archie... Oh, my God.[GUN CLICKS]

Stop! No!

Huddie!

[LAUGHS]

♪ Black girl

♪ Black girl, where did ya sleep last night?

♪ Did you shiver the whole night through? ♪

MARGARET: Supposin' you killed Archie, just supposin'?

HUDDIE: [CHUCKLES] No.

You can't hit the inside of a barn wall with one of these pistols.

You know, one day I'm gonna get away from here.

MARGARET: What you mean, "Away from here"?

HUDDIE: Shreveport, that's what I mean.

Shreveport.

Way away from here.

MARGARET: My daddy say there ain't nothin' in Shreveport,

but the white man you owes money to

and his co'thouse and his jail.

HUDDIE: Oh, no!

There's Fannin Street. That's what there is in Shreveport.

Fannin Street.

Huddie honey, I don't want to hear nothin' more

'bout no Fannin Street.

HUDDIE: Unless you ever been to Fannin Street,

well, you won't never know.

MARGARET: Listen, honey, we gotta get married.

HUDDIE: What?

MARGARET: I missed my time.

Twice.

Fan Belle said I'm gonna have a baby.

You can't go nowhere now.

HUDDIE: Aw, come on.

That's what you said last Christmas and you come 'round.

MARGARET: Huddie, it's gonna be real sweet when we married, baby.

Huddie?

Are you listenin' to me, Huddie?

Uh, yeah, I'm listenin' to you, honey.

Hmm. I'm listenin'.

[DOG BARKING]

Mornin', Wes.

Morning, Sheriff.

Your boy at home?

No.

He didn't come home last night.

Well, then that's what I'm 'bliged to believe.

Fact is, Leonard Macoomb come into town this mornin'

to swear out a complaint.

Seems your Huddie laid open his boy's head with a pistol barrel.

Now, you know me, Ledbetter.

Fact is, Wes, I come out here

'cause I got a deal of respect for you.

But I'm worried about your boy.

Why, you just let him run wild!

Nobody tell me how to raise my own boy.

I respect that.

What'd you come into my dooryard to tell me, Sheriff?

Bring your boy into town, hear?

I won't pay no mind to no assault truck,

I'll just fine the boy $25 for carryin' concealed weapons

and that'll be an end on it.

Now, you watch your boy, Ledbetter.

That's a word to the wise.

Hiyah!

[CARRIAGE DRIVES AWAY]

[SLAMS DOOR SHUT]

Come outta there, boy.

Wes, Wes!Shut up! Shut up, woman!

Goddamnit, boy, you listen to sense.

I told you never to take that gun outta this house

without good reason.

Where you gonna go? You got the Sheriff down on you.

Shreveport.

Fannin Street, that's where I go.

Play my music.

All of a heap you in a hurry?

Wes, he's just a child.

No, he ain't.

Sam Judd come by on his way to meetin'.

You been lyin' with that gal of his?

Answer me, boy.

Yeah.

What?

Yes, sir.

When?This mornin'.

WES: Judd say he'd come around with all his menfolks

with their duck pieces and rifle guns,

make Huddie marry that gal.

Sheriff's down on him for a bad nigger.

Judd's bad mouthin' him around the parish.

Give a dog a bad name, folks gonna chunk rocks at him.

By and by, he gonna bite somebody for sure.

You leave the horse with Will Farrell in Mooringsport.

Yes, I will, Pa.

Huddie...

I'll be givin' help to the Judd girl

when that child o' hers come.

You best keep your mind on helpin' her, too,

whenever you can.

Yes, sir.

And you come back home some day, you hear, Huddie?

Well, you better be gettin' on down the road.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

♪ My mama told me My papa told me, too

♪ The women in Shreveport, son, gonna be the death of you

♪ Mmm...

♪ Mmm, mmm, mmm

♪ Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm

♪ Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm

♪ I got a woman, live on Stony Hill

♪ Been settin' down gamblin' with Buffalo Bill

♪ Mmm, mmm, mmm

♪ Follow me down, follow me down

♪ Follow me down to Mr. Tom Hughes' town

♪ Mmm, mmm, mmm ♪

[PIANO PLAYING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

MAN: Laura, put your hand on your hip.

Sugar Tit, look far over the fan.

Now, hold it there, all of you.

Thank you.

Hey! You lookin' for somethin'?

He lookin' for his plow.

Done follered his mule clear down Fannin Street.

[LAUGHTER]

Hey, watch your feet, Country Boy.

You get cow shit on Miss Eula's Turkey carpet,

she have your ass!

[LAUGHTER]

Hey, plow this, Country Boy.

Acres an' acres, and it's all yours.

This here's, uh, Sugar Tit.

She does specials.

[WOMEN CHUCKLING]

I'm Sugar Tit,

and you ain't gonna do no better

on Fannin Street, Country Boy.

Now, which one you want, mmm?

Take your pick.

I choose you.

'Cause I like to see them sassy ones

holler and screamin' for more.

Ooh![WOMEN CHUCKLE]

Country Boy, I got a boss longshoreman comin' in

for his regular in half an hour,

and I ain't gonna even be breathin' hard.

Right, right!

Mercy, mercy!

Ooh!Point it upstairs and follow me.

'Bye, Country Boy.Bye-bye.

Bye, Country Boy.

[CHUCKLING]

[PIANO PLAYING]

[STOPS]

Hello, girls.

ALL: Good day, Miss Eula.

Uh, the longshoreman's on his way, where's Sugar Tit?

Um, upstairs, takin' a nap.

Takin' a nap?

[PIANO PLAYING RESUMES]

[SUGAR TIT GIGGLING]

[SUGAR TIT LAUGHING]

SUGAR TIT: Ah!

Well![SUGAR TIT SHRIEKS]

[GASPS]

[SHRIEKS]

I don't see no money.

This ain't no four-bit crib.

This is a parlor house.

You take one of my girls upstairs, you owe me $5.

Have you got $5?

Albert!

Albert![MUSIC STOPS]

What's your name?

Huddie Ledbetter.

Ledbetter.

Leadbelly!

Albert, stay right where you are.

MISS EULA: ♪ Good mornin', blues

♪ Blues, how do you do? ♪

HUDDIE: That Miss Eula,

she really turned out to be somethin'.

I stayed with that woman for quite some time.

I learned a lot from her.

She even taught me how to sing the blues.

[GUITAR STRUMMING]MISS EULA: That's not it.

You ain't playin' it at all.

Well, that's the tune.

Ain't got nothin' to do with the tune.

You're talkin' 'bout the blues.

You got to feel the blues.

New Orleans blues, woman blues, whore blues.

[STRUMMING]

It's gonna cost you dear to learn the blues.

[CONTINUES STRUMMING]

Nobody can turn you around, can they?

Tonight it's the blues,

tomorrow night it'll be the barrelhouse.

That's it! That's it!

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Come on, now.

[MOUTHORGAN PLAYING]

♪ Good mornin', blues

♪ Blues, how do you do?

♪ Good mornin', blues

♪ Blues, how do you do?

♪ Well, I'm doin' all right

♪ Good mornin' How are you?

♪ Lay down last night

♪ I was turnin' from side to side

♪ Oh...

♪ Turnin' from side to side

♪ I was not sick, but I was just dissatisfied

♪ Well, I got up this mornin'

♪ Blues walkin' 'round my bed

♪ Oh...

♪ Blues walkin' 'round my bed

♪ Well, I went to eat my breakfast

♪ The blues was all in my bread

Hey, hey, hey!

Drinks for everybody. Drinks for everybody!

How about that? Y'all go and get some drinks!

[TEMPO INCREASES]

♪ Keep your hands off her

♪ Keep your hands off her

♪ Keep your hands off her... ♪

Bitch!

You're fired outta my house.

You can go on back to that sidewalk crib

and peddle your skinny ass on the street two for a quarter.

Customers are always complainin' about that girl.

I tell her, "Wiggle your ass sometimes, honey,

"so people know you're alive."

[LAUGHTER]

It's time to come on home, honey.

I said come on home.

We got Saturday night company, I need you.

Albert.

Come on, honey.

Britt, bring me my guitar.

Woman, don't bother me none,

I am playin' my music.

What are you talkin' about?

[SCOFFS] Tellin' me when to come and when to go,

and don't do this and don't do that.

I ain't one of your whores.

No, you ain't one of my whores,

'cause they are hard-working girls

and they earn their keep.

[SCOFFS]

You come here, you a green country boy,

didn't know nothin' 'cept play party hollers,

wanderin' on Fannin Street

without the price of a piece of ass.

I bought you that guitar!

I went your bail when Sheriff Tom Hughes

dragged you in for drunk fighting.[SIGHS]

And when you went and dipped your wick in some chippie

and caught the clap.

I cured you with Lafayette Mixture.

I'm tellin' you...

Nobody make me small, ya hear?

If I walk out of here by myself,

that's the way it's gonna stay!

You hear what I'm tellin' you?

You're born for trouble,

and you're hurryin' out to catch it

like it was the railroad train to New Orleans.

You ain't never goin' home.

You're goin' to die alone and a million miles away!

You comin' home now?

[STRUMS GUITAR]

Well, whatcha y'all wanta hear?

WOMAN: Anything.

HUDDIE: Oh, we're gonna party for long now, man.

Come on, we can still have a good time.

Come on, y'all!

Join me. Step right up and have a drink.

Guys, order whatever y'all want, hear?

Gimme a bottle o' liquor, Shorty.

Miss Eula.

Hmm.

What you talkin', she got Albert?

Huh!

He ain't nothin' but a damn piano player.

If you want to make music, you got to sing the songs.

Ain't that right?[PEOPLE AGREEING]

Come on, now! Ain't that right?

[ALL AGREEING]

I was the best singer around Caddo Lake.

I is the best on Fannin Street!

That's right. The king, that's it.

The king, the king of Fannin Street.

Ain't that right, Shorty?

Ain't many better.

Goddamnit, ain't none better!

Goddamnit, I put my money where my mouth is.

Now!

[CLAPS]

$10 gold, double eagle.

Here, we can put that right there in the kitty.

Anybody...

Now, anybody think he can out pick and out-sing me?

Let him step right on up here and try.

And this here will be his.

And then I'll just go on back

and sing at play parties for the children.

[LAUGHTER]

Now, how about that?

What you reachin' for?

I picks guitar some.

[SCATTERED LAUGHTER]

[LAUGHS]

You goin' to out pick me?

That's fair enough.

Shorty,

pour this here guitar-pickin' fool a drink.

Come on over here, y'all, ya'all goin' to hear.

Get that chair over here...

[CHUCKLES]

We'll find out who's the king.

Bring the chairs out over here.

[CHUCKLING]

Uh-huh.

Oh.

What kinda guitar is that you got, ol' man?

Just an old guitar.

[LAUGHING]

Well, how many strings you got there?

MAN: Twelve.

HUDDIE: Ooh-hoo! [CHUCKLES]

Whoo-e!

Two to one, huh?

Well, I guess I'm the scratch horse in this race!

[LAUGHS]

You ready, ol' man?

[PLAYING]

[LAUGHS]

[PLAYING FASTER TUNE]

[PLAYING A DIFFERENT TUNE]

[PLAYING FASTER TUNE]

[PLAYS A DIFFERENT TUNE]

[PLAYS SAME TUNE FASTER]

[PLAYING A DIFFERENT TUNE]

[STRUMMING ALONG]

[AUDIENCE CLAPPING ALONG]

[SIREN WAILING]

[PEOPLE CLAMORING]

Sheriff Tom Hughes is comin'!

WOMAN: Sheriff! Sheriff's comin'! Oh, my God!

[MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

MAN: He'll lock up the whole street!

What's he doin'? I thought we pay protection.

[CLAMORING CONTINUES]

Huddie, Huddie, come in the house.

Sheriff Tom Hughes never come in my place.

I got an arrangement.

Don't just stand there, come on inside.

You're safe in my place.

Huddie, Huddie!

Damn fool.

[GROANS]

[TRAIN HORN TOOTS]

[SIRENS WAILING]

[TRAIN HORN TOOTING]

[GUITAR PLAYING]

[TOOTING]

[TRAIN STOPS]

Hey, old man, come here.

Come on, hurry up!

Where is this place?

[COW MOOING]

This is Texas cotton country.

Well, this's where I'm gettin' off.

Some fool plowboy stomped on my guitar back there.

I still got that $10 gold.

I ain't sayin' you won it, mind you.

You take it easy, ol' man.

HUDDIE: ♪ When I was a little baby

♪ My mother would a rock me in the cradle

♪ In them old cotton fields at home

♪ When I was a little baby

♪ My mother would a rock me in the cradle

♪ In them old cotton fields at home

♪ When them cotton bolls got rotten

♪ You couldn't pick very much cotton

♪ In them old cotton fields at home

♪ It was down in Louisiana, just a mile from Texarkana

♪ In them old cotton fields at home

Hey, girl.

You, good-lookin' girl.

♪ It may sound a little funny

♪ But you didn't make very much money

♪ In them old cotton fields at home

♪ It may sound a little funny

♪ But you didn't make very much money

♪ In them old cotton fields at home

♪ When them cotton bolls got rotten

♪ You didn't pick very much cotton

♪ In them old cotton fields at home

♪ It was down in Louisiana, just a mile from Texarkana

♪ In them old cotton fields at home ♪

Whoo!

Quittin' time, y'all!

HUDDIE: Ooh, what's that?

Gun oil, that's sovereign for a pickin' back.

You're not bad at it...

For a Louisiana man.

How you know where I'm from?

Oh, I know.

You play that big ol' twelve-string guitar over in the saloons.

You a whiskey drinker.

And you got your eye on every gal

in Marshall, Texas,

twixt twelve and too old!

[CHUCKLING]

Mmm.

Lethe, how come you ain't got no man hangin' his pants on your bedpost every night?

Like you, maybe?

Yeah.

Mmm-mmm.

I chooses you one night, that's my lookout.

When you're done ramblin',

when you ready to live my way

in one place, with one woman,

you come back, see me then.

Oh, you got a lot of ramblin' left in your bones.

So it's just...

Thank you kindly now.

And make sure that latch catch on the way out

the door in the mornin'.

HUDDIE: ♪ O' the Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

♪ O' the Rock Island Line is the road to ride

♪ O' the Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

♪ If you want to ride, you got to ride it like you find it

♪ Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line

Tyler. Tyler next.

Tyler!

♪ Jesus died to save our sins

♪ Glory to God We gonna meet him againTyler!

Tyler, Texas! ♪ O' the Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

♪ O' the Rock Island Line is the road to ride

♪ O' the rock island line Is a mighty good roadTyler, Texas!

♪ If you want to ride it, you got to ride it like you find it

♪ Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line

♪ I may be right, I may be wrong

♪ Know you gonna miss me when I'm gone

♪ O' the Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

♪ O' the Rock Island Line is the road to ride

♪ O' the Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

♪ If you want to ride it, you got to ride it like you find it

♪ Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line ♪

Shut off that pig squealin'[STRUMMING STOPS]

so's a man can sleep.

What I hear you say?

I said it sound like a hog with his whanger

caught in the hinge side of a gate.

Whyn't I just cut yours off and stick it in your ear?

Well, leastways then I wouldn't have to hear that jackass hollerin'.

[PEOPLE MURMURING]

Come on, fool.

Come on!

You know it's hog killin' time now.

[SCREAMS]

[LAUGHS]

Just shut off that laughin' or I'm gonna shut it for you.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna stick you right in your gizzard.

You hear?

Dammit! Somebody gimme my knife, do ya hear?

Who the hell took my knife?

Fat boy, I got your knife.

How you want this pig-sticker back,

open or closed?

[STAMMERING] What's your name?

Huddie Ledbetter.

Nickname, Leadbelly.

Lemon Jefferson. They call me Blind Lemon.

It's a damn lie.

I can see...

Some.

You're, you're that blues-shoutin' Lemon I hear so much about!

Yeah, that's me.

[BOTH LAUGHING]

Uh, I figure I better take that knife back closed.

[GUITAR PLAYING]

♪ Silver City bound

♪ Silver City bound

♪ Oh, tell my baby

♪ I'm Silver City bound

♪ Me and Blind Lemon gonna ride on down

♪ Silver City bound

♪ I'm Silver City bound

♪ I'm gonna tell my baby I'm Silver City bound

♪ Me and Leadbelly gonna ride on down

♪ Catch me by the hand

♪ Oh, baby

♪ Blind Lemon was a blind man

♪ Catch me by the hand

♪ Oh, baby

♪ Leadbelly was a fine man

BOTH: ♪ Silver City bound

♪ Silver City bound

♪ Mmm, tell my baby

♪ I'm Silver City bound

♪ Me and Blind Lemon gonna ride on down

♪ Catch me by the hand ♪ Catch me by the hand

♪ Oh, baby

♪ Oh, baby, baby

♪ Blind Lemon was a blind man

♪ Catch me by the hand ♪ Catch me by the hand

♪ Oh, baby ♪ Oh, baby, baby

LEMON: ♪ Blind Lemon was a blind man

BOTH: ♪ Silver City bound

♪ Silver City bound

♪ Oh, tell my baby I'm Silver City bound

♪ Me and Blind Lemon gonna ride on down ♪

[TRAIN HORN TOOTING]

What you doin'?

You been boozin' all night in that saloon,

you can't drive, you drunk.

You blind.

[WOMEN LAUGHING]

LEMON: You ever drive one of these things before?

HUDDIE: Nope.[HORN HONKING]

LEMON: ♪ There's one kind of favor I asks of you

♪ There's one kind of favor I asks of you

♪ There's one kind of favor I asks of you

♪ See that my grave is kept clean

♪ It's a long lane, ain't got no end

♪ It's a long lane, ain't got no end

♪ It's a long lane, ain't got no end

♪ Feel so bad

♪ It is a miserable shame

♪ Have you ever heard a coffin sound?

♪ Have you ever heard a coffin sound?

♪ Have you ever heard a coffin sound?

♪ Then you know the po' boy's in the ground

♪ Oh, dig my grave with a silver spade

♪ Dig my grave with a silver spade

♪ Dig my grave with a silver spade

♪ You may place four diamonds on my grave

♪ Have you ever heard a death bell toll?

♪ Have you ever heard a death bell toll?

♪ Have you ever heard a death bell toll?

♪ Then you know the po' boy's dead and gone

♪ Then you know the po' boy's dead and gone ♪

[HORN HONKING]LEMON: That's what is the blues,

not that sticky sweet whore blues you learned in Shreveport.

HUDDIE: Well, we's doin' all right.

LEMON: What, playin' in saloons?

We bein' nickel-and-dimed to death.

What are we?

Well I was the King of Fannin Street.

[LAUGHS] King?

King?

Hey, man, you ever hear them Victrola records?

HUDDIE: Yeah, plenty times.

They make 'em in Chicago and Memphis,

see that's where I'm goin' some day.

They gonna know who I am.

Ain't nobody gonna say, "Hey you, Fat Boy."

They gonna know my name.

HUDDIE: Your songs got too much misery in 'em.

Keep you hungry and evil all the time.

Oh!

You like a chicken tied to a pole.

Runnin' around in circles and cacklin' a lot,

but you ain't goin' no place.

And some day somebody gonna catch up with you

and wring your goddamn neck.

Hee-hee-hee!

Lemme get outta here, boy, nature done callin' me.

Well, I hope you miss

and hit yourself in the shoe.

And one more thing, Leadbelly...

Leadbelly?

[MUSIC PLAYING][MEN WHOOPING]

[SCATTERED APPLAUSE]

Let's get outta here, Lemon.

Hey, boy.

Who the hell told you to stop playin'?

It's gettin' late.

You keep playin'.

Man, it's after 2:00 in the mornin'.

What the hell do you care what time it is?

You keep on playin'.

You said $3 till midnight.

God dammit, don't argue with me, boy!

We'll just take our $3.

You'll take shit if you don't start playin'.

I say that's it.

God damn it, don't sass me, boy!

You spoilin' the party, you hear, nigger?

Now, you pick up the goddamn guitar and you play!

[MEN SHOUTING]

Lead!

[HUDDIE GRUNTS]

[BOTTLES CLATTERING]

[GROANS]

[GRUNTS] Damn ol' nigger.

[GUITAR PLAYING]

[CELL UNLOCKING]

Lead.

Lead.

[HUDDIE GROANS]

Hey, man, you all right, man?

Hey, that bartender, he kicked you in the balls before the Sheriff come.

Yeah.

Somebody knocked my tooth out.

Stole my watch, too.

What you doin' out there with me in here?

I went through the window in the dark.

Listen, I ain't got much time.

It cost me six bits to get...

Oh!

Here.

[WINCES]

Cost me six bits to get in.

You get the money outta the snuff can to pay my fine.

Ain't no fine.

They holdin' you till Judge Baines get back from Dallas, Saturday.

You on your way to the Harrison County Chain Gang.

Tsk.

[EXHALES]

Man say, a year on the inside.

What you study on doin'?

Get me a train to Memphis, maybe Chicago.

Make me some of them Victrola records on the Bluebird

or OKeh label.

Hey, Huddie, we got $14 and four cents.

$14 four bits in the snuff can.

Now, half's yours.

GUARD: Time's up.

[GATE UNLOCKING]

Money ain't gonna do me no good on no Chain Gang.

[SIGHS]

With $14...

[BREATHING SHAKILY]

I can get me a regular one-way ticket to Memphis.

$14.

Huddie, you keep the bottle, okay, you hear?

Hear?

Look, now I'll see ya.

[SNORING]

[THUDDING]

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[MAN COUGHING]

[COUGHING]

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

HUDDIE: ♪ Bring a little water, SilvyYah, yah!

♪ Bring a little water now

♪ Bring a little water, Silvy

♪ Ev'ry little once in a while

Huddie!

♪ Ev'ry little once in a whileYeah.

Huddie!

♪ Don't you see me comin'?

♪ Don't you see me now?

♪ Don't you see me comin'

♪ Ev'ry little once in a while

♪ Ev'ry little once in a while

Brought you some water.

Ow!

[BOTH CHUCKLING]

♪ Don't you hear me comin'?

♪ Don't you hear me now?

♪ Don't you hear me comin'?

♪ Ev'ry little once in a while

♪ Ev'ry little once in a while

Oh, someday I aim to take you a long way from here.

'Way from all this white man's trouble and this white man's land.

♪ Bring a little water, Silvy

♪ Bring a little water now

♪ Bring a little water, SilvyAhh!

♪ Ev'ry little once in a while ♪

Ain't you gonna get ready?

For what?

For de dance at the Kingston place.

I ain't goin'.

[LAUGHS] What you talkin' 'bout?

Ain't no particular pleasure watchin' all them womens climbin' all over you.

[LAUGHS] They can't help it.

Pshaw!

I can just sing as sweet and tender.

I don't pay 'em no mind now, do I?

Anyway, it's too dangerous.

Sheriff ain't but a few miles away.

Nobody 'round here know me by my name.

I'm Walter Boyd.

Ain't no sheriff lookin' for no Walter Boyd.

Sure.

And when you get to playin' on that ol'

twelve-string guitar,

you ain't study about being no Walter Boyd.

Ain't nothin' matter but bein' King of Music.

How long you think it's goin' be,

'fore that sheriff hear 'bout you

and your fame get spread all around?

Well, there's gonna be friends there,

uh, Alex Griffin and Will Stafford, they's all friends.

Time they get that whiskey in 'em, friend don't mean nothin'.

Oh, listen at ya.

Oh, honey, ya stay with me tonight.

Don't you go.

[CHUCKLING] Oh.

They countin' on me for the music.

And we can use that extra money

if I'm ever gonna get you outta here.

Two or three greasy dollars

and a bellyful of corn whiskey,

that's all you're gonna get.

"Two or three greasy dollars

"and a bellyful of corn whiskey."

Well, them "two or three dollars"

will buy you a brand-new travelin' dress.

I love you.

[DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES]

[HUDDIE WHOOPS]

[VOCALIZING]

I had this thing going...

Come on, boy, play it.

HUDDIE: ♪ Dekalb blues, Lawd ♪ Dekalb blues, Lawd

♪ Make me feel so bad ♪ Make me feel so bad

♪ Dekalb blues, Lawd...

[LAUGHTER]

♪ Make me think about

♪ The good times I've had

[LAUGHS] Yeah!

♪ She longed for the powder and the string and comb

[LAUGHS] Lord!

♪ Dekalb womanGet away from me.

♪ Would not have a home ♪

Spent all my money on that store dress for that gal

and she spend all her time with anybody come along with two legs in his pants.

She spent most of her time listenin' to ol' Walter here singin',

that's what she done.

[SHUSHING]

Hey, Walter, how 'bout that time you went outdoors to pee?

Huh?[SHUSHING]

What you talkin' 'bout?When you went out to pee!

That ain't all you was doin' with that thing

out of your pants.

Not with Alex's gal just beggin' for it!Shh!

You prong my gal and you laugh in my face?

Watch out, Walter!

[GUNSHOT]

[GASPS]

It's your fault.

What'd you make me do that for?

What'd you go and mess with me for?

[PANTING]

Walter Boyd done killed Alex Griffin!

What'd you do that for?

Huh?

Huh?

[SOBBING]

We was just friends, man.

We's all good friends.

[SOBBING] Oh!

Oh!

LOMAX: How long?

HUDDIE: Thirty years.

There you go.

LOMAX: That's a lotta years.

[WHIP LASHING]

Law say you're supposed to stop whippin' when the blood come.

[SCOFFS]

They don't pay no mind here in Sugarland.

[LASHING CONTINUES][MAN GROANING]

[TRAIN HORN TOOTING]

Ally George, he the trusty.

He ain't got no leg irons,

how come he walk all cripped up like that?

Him and three others done cut their hamstrings

to keep from goin' out in the field.

He shoulda cut his throat.

Move it!

[HORSE NEIGHS]

What's wrong with the Bossman?

Stomach gripes.

Too much whiskey last night.

When his gut gets to him, stay outta his way.

[WHIP LASHING]

Move it on, move it!

Well he ain't gonna lick me with no whip.

Yeah.

Sure.

Oh![GROANS]

What's the matter, old man?

You all right?

Come on, get movin', old man. Get movin'!

You goddamn son of a bitch, you!

You black bastard, you!

Put down that hoe, Walter Boyd.

Put down that goddamn hoe!

Nigger, I said put down that hoe!

Dick licker, Henry, Foster!

Get in there, and move your ass!

Get that hoe![GRUNTS]

Hey, Walter, it ain't no use.

You're just gonna get whipped.

Walter, put down the hoe.

Put it down.

[MUFFLED GROANING]

[LASHING CONTINUES]

[WINCES]

How many is that?

[STRAINING] Fourteen.

What the hell...

Go get 'im, go get 'im.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[NEIGHS]

Hey, Boss!

Walter Boyd's runnin', Boss!

BOSS: Where'd he go?

He went out through there, I tried to stop him.

[WHINNYING]

Come on here. [WHISTLES] Let's go.

[BARKING]

Come on here, Vic. Let's go, Vic.

Come on here, Vic. Come on here.

Come on!

[PLATES RATTLING]

Stop with that noise!

[GUNSHOT]

Next one's goin' in somebody's black ass!

[HUMMING]

You men sit down!

Sit down!

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water

[DOGS BARKING]

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water

♪ In them long hot summer days

♪ Ol' Riley, he's gone

♪ Ol' Riley, he's gone, long gone

♪ Like a turkey through the corn

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water Here, Rattler, here

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water Here, Rattler, here

♪ Ol' Riley's gone like a turkey through the corn

♪ Now, here, Rattler, here

♪ Ol' Riley's gone like a turkey through the corn

♪ Here, Rattler, here ♪

[CROWS CAWING]

[GOAT BLEATING]

Child, get in the house.

Get in the house.

What you want, sonny?

You gonna help me get these chains off, ol' lady?

Oh, yeah, that be's what they say.

Come 'round here botherin' a body.

[SCOFFS]

Any time o' day, just come a-runnin'.

Don't care nothin' about no manners. No, sir.

Lutie, bring the ax and wedge.

Hurry, child.

[DOGS BARKING]

Well, look at that. [CHUCKLING]

They ain't makin' the chains like they used to.

[CHUCKLES]

If you listen careful, sonny,

you can hear them dogs back there where you come from.

[CHUCKLING]

You get the shovel later, Lutie, you bury them, right?

[BARKING CONTINUES]

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water Here, Rattler, here

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water Here, Rattler, here

♪ Ol' Riley gone like a turkey through the corn

♪ Here, Rattler, here

♪ Ol' Riley gone like a turkey through the corn

♪ Here, Rattler, here

[BARKING]

♪ Rattler come when I blow my horn

♪ Here, Rattler, here

♪ Rattler come when I blow my horn

♪ Here, Rattler, here

♪ Toot, toot, toot Here, Rattler, here

♪ Toot, toot, toot Here, Rattler, here

[BARKING]

Come on!

♪ Here, Rattler, here, Rattler

♪ Here, Rattler, here

♪ Here, Rattler, here, Rattler

♪ Here, Rattler, here

[DOGS BARKING]

[WHISTLES] Come on.

[WHISTLES]

[WHISTLES]

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water Here, Rattler, here

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water Here, Rattler, here

[DOGS BARKING IN DISTANCE]

[WHISTLES] There's something going on there.

[BARKING]

[SCREAMS]

Get down from there!

No!We're takin' you back to camp.

No!Come on down, Walter.

We're goin' back to camp.

No!

[THUDS]

[GROANS]

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water

♪ Ol' Riley walked the water

♪ In them long, hot summer days ♪

Walter.

Walter!

Here are your vittles, Walter.

Hey, let go, let go, let go!

I brung your vittles, ya ol' fool.

I hear you holler on me.

"Boss, Walter's runnin'!"

When I get you, I'm gonna kill you.

You hear me.

When I went down, I knowed I wasn't gonna make it.

And the Boss was comin'.

It didn't matter to you one way or the other, so I hollered.

Saved myself a lickin'.

In times like these,

you got to live the way you got to.

I look at it this way.

That ol' white man don't care if I live or die.

Fact is, he'd just as soon I die.

Every day, I say to myself...

"Forget him!"

Ain't gonna die.

Ya suit your ways to the situation.

Some other time, you can chonk that white man on his head.

But now, you just study on livin' till tomorrow.

You gonna learn.

Now you take these peas

and you eats every crumb

and bide your time.

That's the way you live.

'Course when they wants to kill you, just livin' is winnin'.

Here.

Here!

[COUGHING]

Can I help you?

WES: I come to get my boy.

Come with me.

Captain, here's that Ledbetter fella.

All right, send him in.

[COUGHING]

Have a seat.

Thank you.

So you're Walter Boyd's father.

That's right.

He my boy.

Your name Ledbetter?

Wesley Ledbetter?

Well, Walter was a stepson.

That's how come he got the name Boyd.

All right, all right.

Walter Boyd is good enough.

Now...

what can I do for you?

I took 15 acres of good bottom land

and I sold it to Mr. Braithwaite over in Mooringsport.

I got the money right here.

Every dollar.

Captain...

You take this here money

and you turn my boy loose.

Hold on, old man. I can't take your money.

I ain't...

Asking for no mercy or nothin'.

You take it, hear, Captain!

My wife died last corn-plantin'

and I need my boy back on the farm.

Listen to me, ol' man, it don't work that way.

You can't buy your boy free.

Your boy's been sentenced to 30 years

under the laws of the sovereign state of Texas.

I can't turn your boy loose.

Now, you just take your money and run on home, hear, uncle?

I ain't no kind o' kin to you, Captain.

You want me to bring him in so's you can see him?

No.

I just as soon as not see him here.

Captain, I'd like to leave some money for him then.

No cash money.

That's against all regulations.

[COUGHS]

[COUGHING]

Supposin' I left some money for you to give to him...

Listen, I told you...

Hear...

Hear me!

You take it

and get my boy the kind of guitar he plays.

Don't cost but $15 or $20 in a hock shop.

If that's all I can do for him,

well, so be it.

All right, Ledbetter.

Anything you want me to tell him?

No.

No, there ain't nothin' you can tell him for me.

Anything I got to hand down to my boy I already done.

Just goodbye.

Ain't likely I'm gonna see him again.

[THUMPING]

[GUITAR PLAYING]

HUDDIE: ♪ Irene, goodnight

♪ Irene, goodnight

♪ Goodnight, Irene Goodnight, Irene

♪ I'll kiss you in my dreams

♪ Sometimes I live in the country

♪ Sometimes I live in town

♪ Sometimes I have a great notion

♪ To jump in the river and drown

♪ Irene, goodnight

♪ Irene, goodnight

♪ Goodnight, Irene Goodnight, Irene

♪ I'll kiss you in my dreams

♪ You caused me to weep

♪ You caused me to moan

♪ You caused me to leave my home

♪ The last words I heard her say

♪ I want you to sing me a song

♪ Irene, goodnight ♪

GUARD: Walter Boyd, Governor Pat Neff's here.

The Captain wants you to sing for him.

Come on, we'll take your chains off.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

What's his name?

Walter Boyd.

Hey, you!

You sing me a song now, ya hear?

[CHUCKLES]

♪ Mary, sweet Mary

♪ 1923

♪ The judge took my liberty away from me

♪ 1923

♪ The judge took my liberty away from me

♪ I'm your servant, compose this song

♪ Please, Governor Neff, let me go back home

[LAUGHS]

[CROWD LAUGHING]

♪ I'm your servant, compose this song

♪ Please, Governor Neff, let me go back home

♪ Goin' back to Mary Oh, Mary

[LAUGHTER]

Ain't nothin' can sing like a darkie

when he puts his mind to it.

Ah, great.

♪ Please, Governor Neff, be good and kind

♪ If I don't get a pardon, will you cut my time?

[LAUGHING]

♪ Please, Governor Neff, be good and kind

♪ If I don't get a pardon, will you cut my time?

♪ If I had you, Governor Neff, like you got me

♪ I'd wake up in the mornin' and set you free

Look there, playin' darkie for the white folks.

♪ If I had you, Governor Neff, like you got me

♪ I'd wake up in the mornin' and set you free ♪

You know, I'll bet he's been makin' that song up for the last week.

[LAUGHTER][STRUMMING CONTINUES]

That's like one of 'em.

They'll think of every way in the world

to get out of payin', you know that.

Shoot.

[APPLAUSE]

Well, ol' Walter, [CHUCKLES]

you know I could give you a pardon.

But then... [LAUGHING]

I wouldn't have you down here to sing for me

when I came down next time.

[LAUGHTER]

Listen to this.

Ol' Walter, you know what I'm gonna do?

Tell you what I'm gonna do for you.

Just 'cause I like your singin' so much.

[LAUGHING]

Last thing I do while I'm in office,

put your pardon papers on my desk.

Yes, sir, I'm gonna set you free.

[LAUGHING]

Here.

Have one of Captain Freeman's 15-cent cigars.

[GOVERNOR PAT LAUGHING]

[GOVERNOR PAT SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

Gov'nor goin' to turn me loose.

Pig shit!

Are you callin' me a liar?

[CHUCKLES] I said to that Pat Neff, I said...

"You redneck cracker chicken plucker."

[LAUGHTER]

I said, "You goin' to turn me loose!"

He say, "Yes, yes, yes, yes!"

Bastard ain't gonna turn nobody loose.

You a damn fool, shufflin' your feets in the dirt for him,

playin' nigger.

Ain't gonna do you no good.

[GRUNTING]

Like you said, you suit yourself to the situation.

And that son of a bitch is goin' to turn me loose!

[GUITAR STRUMMING]

Walter Boyd!

Get your ass over here, the Captain wants to see you.

Captain sir?

Walter, you go on home.

We can't waste no more vittles on you here.

What's the matter with you?

Do you hear me?

Pat Neff's out of office,

Ma Ferguson's the new governor.

He left the pardon paper behind like he said.

You go on home, Walter.

[LAUGHING]

Open it up.

Take it easy, Walter.

♪ Yon come Miss Rosie

♪ How in the world do you know?

♪ Well, I knows her by the apron

♪ And the dress she wore

♪ Umbrella on her shoulder, a piece o' paper in her hand

♪ Well, she's gonna tell the gov'nor

♪ Turn loose my man

♪ Let the Midnight Special shine the light on me

♪ Let the Midnight Special

♪ Shine its ever-lovin' light on me

♪ If you ever go to Houston

♪ Boy, you better walk right

♪ Well, you better not squabble and you better not fight

♪ Or that sheriff will arrest you

♪ And he will take you down

♪ And that judge will sentence you penitentiary bound

♪ Let the Midnight Special shine its light on me

♪ Let the Midnight Special

♪ Shine its ever-lovin' light on me ♪

Huddie!

That's...

That's Huddie Ledbetter, that's who.

That's you.

Eula?

[GIGGLES]Eula?

[CHUCKLING] Miss Eula!

Lord!

I guess there's nothin' more pitiful

than a broke ol' whore, is there?

Oh, you all right.[CHUCKLES]

Come, sit. Come.

Come.

Oh.

[CHUCKLES]

Lord!

Oh!

[WINCES]

There ain't no more Fannin Street no more.

[CHUCKLES] No.

I can see that.Yeah.

Sheriff Tom Hughes, gone.

Sheriff Tom Hughes. [GRUNTS IN FRUSTRATION]

Well, that's good.

[SIGHS]

Since you left, I tell you,

nobody play no music here, y'know?

Ain't nothin' here on Fannin Street no more.

It used to be the place.

Nobody remembers.

Ain't nothin' in the world harder to remember

than the sweet taste of honey

when you was young.

Oh.

You know, I think...

I think I might just open me another house.

The way things is goin'...

Yeah, that's what I'll do.

I'll...

God almighty! You're still a hard man, Leadbelly.

What you doin' all these years?

I been doin' lots of time.

Lots of bad time.

You know, I guess I'm gonna do what you...

You told me to do way back ago.

Ol' Lead's goin' home.

Thank, you, Jesus.

Yes, ol' Lead's goin' home.

Uh-huh.

Say, you still got your ol' guitar?

I still picks a little. [CHUCKLES]

Uh...

I got somethin' I kept...

All these years I kept for you.

It's two of your favorite picks.

HUDDIE: You take care now, you hear?

♪ Good mornin', blues

♪ Blues, how do you do?

♪ Good mornin', blues

♪ Blues, how do you do?

♪ Well, I'm doin' all right

♪ Good mornin' How are you?

♪ Lay down last night

♪ I was turnin' from side to side

♪ Oh...

♪ Turnin' from side to side ♪

[MISS EULA'S VOICE] ♪ Good mornin', blues

♪ Blues, how do you do?

♪ Good mornin', blues

♪ Blues, how do you do? ♪

[CHILDREN CHATTERING]

Amy!

You better come on here, or Mama's goin' to whip you.

Amy, come on!

Betcha, I know who you is.

You sung at a Sukey Jump on a Saturday night at Collinses.

Green Corn,

Grey Goose

and Yellow Gal.

The Collinses?

You wasn't even born yet, girl. How you know that?

My mama told me.

[CHUCKLES] What's your mama's name?

Miss Margaret Hayes.

Mar...

Lawd today!

What's your name?

Amy.

[CHUCKLES]

Amy.

Amy Judd.

Matt Hayes wouldn't own me when he married Mama

because I was a woods colt.

[CHUCKLES]

Your mama tell you about me?

Uh-huh.

She said you were the best songster 'round Caddo Lake before you went off.

[CHUCKLES]

And...

You was in the penitentiary.

What's it like there?

Hard work mostly.

But I was number one roller on the number one gang.

That's good?

It's a way of stayin' alive.

Keeps you from thinkin'.

'Bout what?

HUDDIE: 'Bout home mostly.

Hey, where you goin'?

Don't go up there.

Hey, Ma!

Come on, get in the house, hurry up.

Get in the house. Hurry up.

Henry, Henry!

Here!

What do you want here?

Nothin'.

This here used to be my daddy's land.

This here used to be our house.

No more it ain't.

Belong to Mr. Braithwaite.

I know you.

You Huddie Ledbetter.

You been in a penitentiary in Texas.

This used to be my daddy's land, that's all.

You go on now, hear?

Land don't belong to no Ledbetter no more.

Mr. Braithwaite own it.

I sharecrop for him.

I know 'bout you. You a murderer.

You go on now, hear?

Ain't nothin' for you here no more.

You got no claim.

This here been Ledbetter land since the War.

You get away from here. You don't belong here.

♪ Black girl, black girl

♪ Where will you go?

♪ I'll go where the cold winds blow ♪

Whatcha gonna do now?

Don't know.

Mama say you sure know how to play that guitar.

[CHUCKLES]

Well, ain't nobody can outpick and outholler me,

now that's for sure.

I was the king of, uh...

King of what?

Uh, somewhere...

Somewhere in this world I'm gonna...

You want to be king to me?

[CHUCKLES]

Hey! Hey!

Mr. Braithwaite!

That Ledbetter fellow was here messin' around the house.

Lookin' all over the place.

Yeah, I told him to get the hell outta here.

Where'd he go?

Down the road, straight ahead.

Y'all get home, it's gettin' late now.

I'll be talking to you later.

Go! Go, now, and don't look back.

How do you do there, gents?

You some kind of tough nigger?

You goin' back to jail, ol' boy.

[GROANS]

[MEN GRUNTING]

[GROANS]

Come on!

HUDDIE: That's the way it all happened.

Songs and everything else.

Tom.

[CLICKS BUTTON]

Huddie...

Time to go back.

What you goin' to do with all them songs?

Well for one thing, we'll take 'em to Washington to the Library of Congress.

What for?

We collect songs.

Like they was butterflies or somethin'?

[CHUCKLES] Somethin like that.

Then you goin' to kill 'em.

You goin' to stick pins through 'em and kill 'em.

They'll be dead for sure then.

Songs got to fly free like the butterflies.

Well, that's why we write 'em down and put 'em on record

so they won't be forgotten.

You got my whole damn life there.

My mama, my papa...

And everything that ain't gone yet...

'Cept me singin' about 'em.

You ain't goin' to stick no pins in my songs.

Hide 'em in some Washington library.

They be dead for sure then.

I gotta get outta here.

Sing my papa alive,

else won't be nothin' left of him.

GUARD: Professor, you through with that boy?

LOMAX: Just a minute.

Professor...

Couldn't we take his pardon song,

the one he sang for the Governor?

We'll be in Baton Rouge next week

and well, it worked in Texas with Pat Neff.

Now listen, Mr. Lomax,

you can take my song to that Governor O.K. Allen,

but I ain't gonna stand for him in the dust

like I did for that Governor Neff in Texas.

Huddie, we can't promise you anything.

Well, I ain't askin'!

Six months I be turned loose from here under the Hog Law.

I be free.

Be my own man.

[SNIFFLING]

I'm gonna sing my songs in your Washington Congress Library

and in Memphis and Chicago and New York!

I will.

Come on, boy.

[ENGINE STARTS]

Hey, you!

Move your ass!

Six more months.

That's all, just six more months.

And after seven years,

you ain't broke my body,

you ain't broke my mind,

and you ain't broke my spirit!

♪ Go down, Ol' Hannah

♪ Don't you rise no more

♪ Well, if you rise in the mornin'

♪ Bring Judgment Day

♪ You oughta been on the brazis

♪ Nineteen and ten

♪ They was drivin' the women

♪ Like they do the men

♪ Oh, the sun was shinin'

♪ And the men was flyin'

♪ Oh, the cap'n was a-hollerin'

♪ And the men was dyin'

♪ Go down, Ol' Hannah

♪ Doncha rise no more

♪ Well, if you rise in the mornin'

♪ Bring Judgment Day ♪