Goodnight, Irene
American folk song
"Goodnight, Irene" or "Irene, Goodnight" (Roud 11681) is a 20th-century American folk standard, written in 34 time, first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1933. A version recorded by The Weavers was a No. 1 hit in 1950. Pete Seeger of The Weavers has characterized it as Lead Belly's "theme song".
The lyrics tell of the singer's troubled past with his love, Irene, and express his sadness and frustration. Several verses refer explicitly to suicidal fantasies, in the line "If Irene turns her back on me / I'll take morphine and die" and more famously in the line "sometimes I take a great notion to jump in the river and drown", which was the inspiration for the title of the 1964 Ken Kesey novel Sometimes a Great Notion and a song of the same name from John Mellencamp's 1989 album, Big Daddy, itself strongly informed by traditional American folk music.
Origin
In 1886, Gussie Lord Davis published a song called "Irene, Goodnight". The lyrics of the song have some similarities to "Goodnight, Irene" to suggest that Huddie Ledbetter's song was based on Davis' lyrics. There is also a degree of resemblance in the music despite some differences, such as their time signatures, to indicate that the two songs are related. According to Ledbetter, he first heard the core of the song, the refrain, and a couple of verses from his Uncle Terrill.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Goodnight, Irene” as american folk song. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as american folk song. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2511971. The first chronological checks are 1933, 1950, 1964 and 1989.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Goodnight, Irene”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Goodnight, Irene primary sources, Goodnight, Irene archive and Goodnight research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Goodnight, Irene”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Goodnight, Irene” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.