"1950 singles" . . "Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles" . "2be2de52-156f-4361-a728-75ed1b69f6a2" . "Frank Sinatra songs" . "Jerry Lee Lewis songs" . "Little Richard songs" . "-0.437204"^^ . "Jim Reeves songs" . . "USQY51205334" . "5"^^ . "United States National Recording Registry recordings" . . "Johnny Cash songs" . "Dr. John songs" . "false"^^ . . "Goodnight Irene" . . "Goodnight Irene" . "Lead Belly songs" . "Nitty Gritty Dirt Band songs" . "Lead Belly" . "false"^^ . "5714dee725ac0d8aee537c65" . . "false"^^ . "%22Goodnight, Irene%22 or %22Irene, Goodnight,%22 is a 20th-century American folk standard, written in 3/4 time, first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1933.The lyrics tell of the singer's troubled past with his love, Irene, and express his sadness and frustration. Several verses make explicit references to suicidal fantasies, most famously in the line %22sometimes I take a great notion to jump in the river and drown,%22 which was the inspiration for 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." . "Football songs and chants" . "148000.0"^^ . "134281"^^ . . . . "American folk songs" . "20th-century songs" . "2011-12-05"^^ . . "english" . "-0.730401"^^ . "The Weavers songs" . "2"^^ . "76851" . . "Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients" . "Ernest Tubb songs" . "Red Foley songs" . "Moon Mullican songs" . "John Sebastian songs" . . "Jo Stafford songs" . "Pop standards" . "15225170" . "Number-one singles in the United States" .