This is about a man who finds out his wife has been cheating on him. He goes out into the cold night and is killed in an accident.
Nirvana covered this on their 1993 Unplugged In New York album. Kurt Cobain introduced it by saying, "This song is by my favorite performer." Earlier that year, Cobain had been offered one of Leadbelly's guitars for $50,000, although Cobain exaggerated the cost when introducing the song.
This was also one of the few songs Cobain played in public with his wife, Courtney Love. They performed it on September 8, 1993 at Club Lingerie in Los Angeles.
The first "recent" cover version was by The Four Pennies under the title "Black Girl." It made the UK charts in October 1964 and rose to #20, but got nowhere in the USA.
According to the Brendan Ryan catalogue and discography of the Ukulele Man's work which was commissioned by the George Formby Society, he recorded this song on January 29, 1933, for the Decca and Rex labels. It was co-written by Jack Cottrell (who wrote "Chinese Laundry Blues") and Bud Bennett. Along with "Chinese Laundry Blues" it was performed by George in the 1934 film Boots! Boots! (thanks, Alexander Baron - London, England)
