Goodnight Irene

Composer: Huddie Ledbetter & John A. Lomax         Original performer: Leadbelly (1934)
Recording date: Between April 2011 and 2014
Recording location: Germano Studios, New York City, USA
Producers: Keith Richards & Steve Jordan               Chief engineer: Dave O'Donnell
Mixers: Dave O'Donnell, Keith Richards & Steve Jordan


Line-up:

Drums: Steve Jordan
Acoustic guitars (incl. 12-string): Keith Richards 
Cavaquinho (Brazilian mandolin): Keith Richards 
Lead vocals: Keith Richards 
Background vocals: Keith Richards, Steve Jordan, Bernard Fowler & Blondie Chaplin


Well Irene, goodnight Irene, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

Last Saturday night I got married
Me and the wife settled down
Now me and my wife we are parted
I think I'll go out on the town

Cause sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in the town
Sometimes I take that great notion
To jump in the river and drown

Irene, goodnight Irene, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

I love Irene, God knows I do
I'll love her till the seas run dry
If Irene should ever turn me down
I'd take morphine and die

 Irene, goodnight Irene, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

Stop rambling, stop your gambling
Stop staying out all night
Go home to your wife and your baby
And stay by your fireside bright

So Irene, goodnight Irene, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I'll see you in my dreams


 

TrackTalk

I always had that hankering to do Irene - I think maybe Tom (Waits) doing Shenandoah a few years ago, the great American folk song, and being involved in that - suddenly I've got a 12-string in my hand and it's time for Irene.

- Keith Richards, June 2015


For some reason, I wanted to do one of those American folk songs and renew it. In a way, it's a bit of a historical album. I didn't even realise that 'til I'd finished it.
- Keith Richards, July 2015


(A)fter we had four or five tracks down, somebody sent me a huge book on Leadbelly. At the same time, my guitar man, Pierre de Beauport, arrived at the studio with this 12-string guitar. I was sort of getting a message - Leadbelly, the King of the 12-String...
- Keith Richards, September 2015


Goodnight Irene is one of those songs that I've known forever. I've heard really good versions - like Leadbelly's - and millions of bad ones. So I went back and checked the original lyrics and they were pretty heavy: I take morphine and die - suddenly you're not in The Kingston Trio's version anymore! I tried to get close to the original, lyric-wise, and then 12-string it. I got a lovely little Brazilian mandolin that gave it that hurdy-gurdy sort of touch. It's a wonderful instrument.
- Keith Richards, August 2015


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