Ram Jam
Ram Jam was an American rock band formed in New York in 1977, prominently known for their hit single "Black Betty" in 1977.
Overview
The band consisted of Bill Bartlett (guitar), Howie Arthur Blauvelt (bass), Pete Charles (drums), and Myke Scavone (lead vocals). Also, Jimmy Santoro, who toured with the band in support of their debut album, joined on guitar for the follow-up album. Bartlett was formerly lead guitarist for bubblegum group The Lemon Pipers, while Blauvelt played with Billy Joel in several bands: The Echoes (also renamed The Lost Souls and then The Commandos), The Hassles and El Primo. Maxx Mann, one time singer with Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Kings of Christmas, was recruited by producers Kasenetz/Katz to front a version of the group in the 1990s.
Career
Early days
Bill Bartlett went on from the Lemon Pipers to form a group called Starstruck. Starstruck originally including Steve Walmsley (bass) and Bob Nave (organ) from the Lemon Pipers. Walmsley left the band and was replaced by David Goldflies (who later played for years with Dickey Betts and Great Southern, and the Allman Brothers). While in Starstruck, Bartlett took Lead Belly's 59 second long "Black Betty" and arranged, recorded and released it on the group's own TruckStar label. "Black Betty" became a regional hit, then was picked up by producers in New York who formed a group around Bartlett called Ram Jam. They re-released the song, and it became a hit nationally. The Ram Jam "recording" was actually the same one originally recorded by Starstruck, the band at that time composed of Bartlett, lead guitar and vocals, Tom Kurtz, rhythm guitar and vocals, David Goldflies, bass, David Fleeman on drums. The rest of the tracks on the first studio album containing "Black Betty" was played by the Ram Jam lineup. The song caused a stir with the NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality calling for a boycott due to the lyrics.
Ram Jam (album)
Ram Jam was the debut studio album released by Ram Jam in 1977. The first track on the album, the single "Black Betty", is Ram Jam's best known song. It went to #7 on the UK singles chart in September 1977. The album reached #34 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart in the United States. The band was re-christened "American Ram Jam" for the UK market to avoid confusion with a UK band with the same name.
In 1996, the album was reissued on CD as Golden Classics with a bonus track, "I Should Have Known".
In 2010, the track "Black Betty" became part of the internet meme based on the AC Transit Bus fight. Clips (both audio and visual) from the video of the fight were inserted into the music video, most notably the "bam-balam" being replaced with "amberlamps".
Track listing
Podcasts:
Ram Jam
ALBUMS
- Golden Classics released: 1996
- The Very Best Of released: 1990
- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram released: 1978
- Ram Jam released:
The Very Best Of
Released 1990- Black Betty
- Let It All Out
- Keep Your Hands on the Wheel
- Right on the Money
- All for the Love of Rock'n'Roll
- 404
- High Steppin'
- Overloaded
- Hey Boogie Woman
- Too Bad on Your Birthday
- The Kid Next Door
- Turnpike
- Wanna Find Love
- Just Like Me
- Hurricane Ride
- Saturday Night
- Runway Runaway
- Please, Please, Please (Please Me)
- Gone Wild
- Pretty Poison
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Black Betty
by: Ram Jamwhoa, black betty (bam-A-lam)
whoa, black betty (bam-A-lam)
Black betty had a child (bam-A-lam)
The damn thing gone wild (bam-A-lam)
She said "It weren't none of mine" (bam-A-lam)
The damn thing gone blind (bam-A-lam)
I said oh black betty (bam-A-lam)
whoa, black betty (bam-BA-lam)
whoa, black betty (bam-BA-lam)
whoa, black betty (bam-BA-lam)
She really gets me high (bam-BA-lam)
You know that's no lie (bam-BA-lam)
She's so rock steady (bam-BA-lam)
She's always ready (bam-BA-lam)
whoa, black betty (bam-BA-lam)
whoa, black betty (bam-BA-lam)
Whoa, black betty (bam-BA-lam)
Whoa, black betty (bam-BA-lam)
She's from birmingham (bam-BA-lam)
Way down in alabam' (bam-BA-lam)
Well' shes shakin' that thing (bam-BA-lam)
Boy she makes me sing (bam-BA-lam)
Whoa, black betty (bam-BA-lam)
Whoa, black betty
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