These three chain-gang songs - \"Looky Looky Yonder\", \"Black Betty\" and \"Almost Done (Yellow Woman\'s Doorbells)\" were recorded as an a capella trilogy by Lead Belly in 1939, though John and Alan Lomax were recording renditions of \"Black Betty\" by prisoners as early as 1933, for the Library of Congress, including one by a prisoner known as Iron Head (real name - James Baker).The origins of the song \"Black Betty\" are lost in the mists of time, and a \"black betty\" has been variously interpreted as an 18th Century flint-lock rifle, a bottle of whiskey (originating in the border area of England and Scotland), a prostitute, a whip and a prison wagon. It was also the name with which members of the Ringwood Folk Club christened my old black guitar!\n\n\"Black Betty\" was recorded in 1964 by Odetta, together with \"Looky Looky Yonder\", and by Harry Belafonte and Koerner, Ray and Glover in the same year. Since then the song has been given new life as a rock song. In 1976 it was recorded by Starstruck, a rock band, but did not take off until the following year, when it was recorded by Ram Jam, which included Bill Bartlett, one of the original Starstruck members. It became a big hit, but several Civil Rights groups organised boycotts of the song because they felt it was insulting to African American women.\n\nSince then it has been recorded by Nick Cave (1986), Sheryl Crow, Tom Jones (2002) and Meat Loaf (2006). In 2004, the Australian band, Spiderbait, had a big hit with their cover of the song.\n\n\"Yellow Women\'s Doorbells\", also known as \"Almost Done\", \"On a Monday\"and \"Take These Stripes (From Around my Shoulder)\", has been recorded by several folk groups and singers. Some notable recordings are by The Weavers, Ry Cooder and Johnny Cash.\n\nA \"yellow\" girl was a common term for a prostitute, generally of mixed race. The gist of the set of songs seems to be thatthe cause of the prisoner\'s crime and consequent imprisonment was a woman (shades of Adam and Eve) and so, when he gets out of jail he is going to keep well away from women of this type. african, almost, american, chain, done, doorbell, folk, gang, jam, leadbelly, looky, odetta, prison, ram, song, women, yellow, yonder