Post 109: 'GOODNIGHT IRENE'

Goodnight Irene seems to be a folk song that had obscure origins in Victorian times. However, in 1932 the American blues singer Huddie Ledbetter developed and recorded it, possibly even claiming some part in its composition. The tune became widely-known about twenty years later, when other musicians made successful recordings of it.

The Chorus is sometimes played by trombonists (for fun) during performances of the rag called Panama: it perfectly fits the chords (when transposed into Ab) of the penultimate strain.