MovieChat Forums > Leadbelly (1976) Discussion > Pardon Song (to the governer)

Pardon Song (to the governer)

posted 19 years ago by rbellamy37
5 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone know the name of the song (in the movie) that Ledbelly sang to the governer? (Asking to to be pardoned, in song)? ....The scene where the gov tossed Ledbelly a 1/2 smoked cigar, and Leddy roasted his fingertips with the lit cagar, in protest...
...Led Zeppelin & Nirvana (to name a few) capitalized on Mr. Leadbetters' 'Heart & Soul'... It's cool to keep his tunes alive for us younger generations, but ya can't fix perfection!

[–] poetoflamancha 19 years ago

I don't know that the song had a title. The historical fact is that Lead Belly wrote and sang it especially for the Gov. on that occasion, but whether he recorded it later with an 'official' name, I can't say. But I remember it went something like:

"If I had you, Governor,
Like you got me,
I'd open up them prison gates
and set you free."

[–] Lucky777s 19 years ago

Yes, it really is a song, and oddly enough it's called "Governer Pat Neff". Go to buy.com and do a search for that song and it will come up.

"When you want something you've never had, you've got to do something you've never done."

[–] goodnight_irene 18 years ago

Sometimes its called Sweet Mary as well. Great song....

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mmeyer-8 13 years ago

It's actually called "Governor OK Allen" and is definitely on a few compilation CDs I've seen.