This week’s selection is the incredibly silly Black Betty, the Bambu-lamb by Makerworld contributor Halfway_Engineered.
At first glance, this would appear to be a pretty straightforward black lamp 3D print, named “Betty”. The Bambu Lab logo appears on the side of the critter, ready for multimaterial printing.
Slightly amusing, yes?
Well, there’s a lot more to the story here.
Older readers know where this is going, but for the rest, know that in the late 1970s there was a short-lived American rock band, Ram Jam. The group had but one hit song, “Black Betty”.
At the time the song was incredibly popular and many people sang along. However, the words were a bit ambiguous. Here’s the song itself:
And here’s the lyrics:
Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam
Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam
Black Betty had a child, bam-ba-lam
The damn thing gone wild, bam-ba-lamShe said, “I’m worryin’ outta mind,” bam-ba-lam
The damn thing gone blind, bam-ba-lam
I said, “Oh, Black Betty,” bam-ba-lam
Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lamWhoa, 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-lamShe’s so rock steady, bam-ba-lam
And she’s always ready, bam-ba-lam
Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam
Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lamGet it!
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-lamWell, she’s shakin’ that thing, bam-ba-lam
Boy, she makes me sing, bam-ba-lam
Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam
Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam, yeah, yeah
Aha, now we see what’s going on. The Bambu Lamb fits!
The song is quite interesting. Ram Jam merely made a cover of an earlier song, originally written by Lead Belly.
As you might notice, the lyrics are strange and it’s really not clear at all what’s going on. The Wikipedia article describes several theories of what it all means, some of which are quite dark. But for listeners in the 1970s it was a mystery and the words were basically meaningless.
In my head, the Black Betty earworm never properly registered the “bam a lam” words, because they don’t mean anything. In fact, the song doesn’t really
Now when I hear this song, I will always hear it as “Bambu Lab”. Or rather, “Bambu Lamb”.
Thanks, Halfway_Engineered, for clearing up an audio puzzle that has surely messed with people’s minds for decades.
Via Makerworld
