Original subtitles

[wind whooshing]

[bell ringing]

[gritty psychedelic music]

[crow cawing]

- [Mike] Good morning, America.

Here's a crazy new piece of breaking music news.

You won't believe what just came across my desk,

a new album of material about to be released

between jazz legend Miles Davis

and his one-time wife, Betty Davis.

Yep, the Betty Davis, extreme funktress

and the Queen of Jazz Fusion.

If this isn't musical history, I don't know what is.

♪ F-U-N-K

♪ Funk, funk y'all, funk

♪ Ow, help me, nigga, now, help me ♪

♪ I was born with it

♪ I will die with it

[quirky electronic music]

[crow cawing]

♪ Sing, sing. - I love [laughing], I love.

[phone ringing]

- [Betty] Miles, naw, we're fixing

to get ready to get it on now.

- Well, good. [Betty laughing]

- For a long time, Betty was just an enigma

for many people.

Betty was very much immersed

in this explosive, creative, cultural world of Andy Warhol

and obviously, Miles Davis.

When she left the music industry, she just vanished.

I mean, she wasn't, some artists,

they'll come back and they'll do reunion tours or concerts

or things of that sort, or they'll give interviews.

But Betty was, her reputation for being reclusive

was almost mythological in the ways

in which people would talk about it.

An Army Reserve DJ who put out a series of interviews

with different stars in the R & B and soul music world,

and one of the people that he interviewed was Betty Davis.

And this was, I don't know if I have a year,

oh, sorry, there we go, air date July 21st, 1974.

Betty's reputation, you know, in more recent years,

and by recent years, I mean recent decades,

is that she's very reclusive,

she doesn't like to give interviews.

And there are written interviews

that have been done with her from back in the 1970s.

But really, outside of hearing her on her own records,

this interview with Al Gee is, again,

one of the very few examples I can think of

of any kind of footage you can find, really,

of Betty, in her own voice, in this moment

in which her career is still on the upswing.

♪ You've gotta do it

- [Al] That's Betty Davis.

Betty writes, produces, and directs and,

[Betty giggling] hey, I guess you do

a little bit of everything in terms of your music, huh?

- Yeah. - Betty, how's come

we haven't really had an opportunity to see you perform?

You've been recording for quite a while.

- [Betty] People, they only see the surface part

of the music business, you see.

They don't know what's goin' on.

And it's not all glamor, you know.

And it's not all star lights.

I've known a lot of musicians,

and I know a lot of pain that--

- I see. - Mm.

- [Al] Well, if you had to categorize your music

in a word, could you, what would you say?

- [Betty] Mm, I'd just say it was raw.

[gritty psychedelic music] [audience applauding]

- In House, 1976 [laughing], wow.

"Seeing Betty Davis for the first time

"is like seeing your first X-rated movie

"when you were expecting Walt Disney.

"The audience at New York's Bottom Line

"is staring straight ahead in mute shock.

"The innuendo of illusion that has come to represent

"the rock concert stage is here denuded

"to a hot night in the bordello

"where a long-legged, deliciously devourable female

"sings lusty songs."

♪ I've got a feeling

♪ That I'm gonna give your children ♪

♪ Funky like a donkey

♪ When you feel it get down with it now ♪

♪ Ah, yeah

- [Vernon] She was just something

that people had never seen before.

♪ Walk on, walk on

♪ Walk on, walk on

♪ Walk on, walk on

♪ Oh, I've got a feeling

♪ That I'm gonna give your children ♪

♪ Funky like a donkey

♪ Oh, I've got a feeling

- Her audience was really appalled at her performance

because it was very sexual.

♪ And it's gonna get, uh

♪ And you gonna feel good

♪ So get get ready now, get ready ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm gonna walk right down ♪

♪ Walk on, walk on

♪ Get down, walk on, walk on

♪ Get that walk

♪ Walk on, walk on [crowd roaring]

♪ Walk on, walk on

♪ Walk on, walk on

- And we as a people will-- ♪ Get down, walk on

- We were really just coming out of the Civil Rights era,

so black people wanted to still present

a certain image of themselves.

♪ Baby love, baby love

- [Vernon] You know, the Supremes, the Temptations,

all these groups wanted to present

a very polished, genteel image.

♪ Let's do some kissin' and makin' up ♪

♪ You know I love you

- We're civilized, we're just like you.

See, we dress nicely, we wear tuxedos, we wear nice dresses,

we wear high heels, our hair is done, we're just like you.

♪ Baby love, ooh, baby love

- That was the image that they wanted to present

to the world.

So for Betty Davis to turn the tables,

sing such suggestive songs and dress the way she dressed

was something that was really hard to accept.

[gritty funk music]

♪ Gals, he's a fine, fine thing ♪

♪ Ain't he fine

♪ Lord knows he sure is fine

♪ Ain't he fine

♪ Gals, I can't help myself

♪ She's gonna do it

♪ She's gonna do it

- I thought that the time had come

when we were really are liberated,

but she showed that really, we weren't.

♪ And when my goose gets loose

- So she basically sacrificed herself to pave the way.

♪ I'm gonna do it 'til the cows come home ♪

♪ And when my goose gets loose

♪ He's gonna know I'll still be gettin' it on ♪

♪ With him around, now

♪ Move it, move it

♪ I'm gonna move it slow like a mule ♪

♪ Gonna move it, gal

- [Betty] Da da, and then you go down.

If you can keep going da da, da da,

you know, like that, you know.

- Okay. - And like, chop it.

You know, whatever you do, just chop it, you know.

It'll be better for you to get that guitar thing

'cause the guitar will help you.

You know, that it'll--

- I figure it'll fall into my--

- Okay. - when he was here.

- I'll just have to-- - I'll know exactly

what to play.

- Okay. - I'm gonna just--

- Play it through once. - Okay.

- I don't wanna overplay. [Betty laughing]

- One, two, three, ready go. - I could never overplay.

- Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.

[gritty funk music]

♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa

- You know, this is not a rehearsal, that's a track.

♪ Walk on this soul

- This is the first song we did, by the way.

"Walkin' the Road" was the first,

very first song we worked on.

♪ I've got a fever

♪ That I'm gonna give your children ♪

♪ Funky like a donkey

♪ Men, feel it, get down with me, men ♪

- So we're gonna look for,

if there are any rehearsal tapes,

which would be cassette, right, back in those days,

we're talking like early '70s,

from the sessions with Betty, right?

[laughing] And I could see if I could find it.

You know, after we did the first record,

her life seemed like it was changing,

and things were getting intense.

And then, you know, years went on,

and then she disappeared.

I mean, really disappeared.

Then after decades go by, you know, talked to her,

but she was very, very quiet

and very withdrawn at that time.

So whatever did happen over the years,

I still had no,

but at least I knew, well, she's alive, she's there.

And you know, it's been heavy,

or it's been deep, you know.

[traffic whooshing]

[sirens blaring]

[music box handle creaking]

[music box tinkling]

[cassette button clicking]

[cassette tape rattling]

- [Betty] One, two, three, recordin'.

How do I begin after so long without talkin' about it?

[crow cawing]

Let me begin with Crow.

I first met Crow on the mountain,

the mountain that changed everything.

There's always been a bird inside me.

It used to sit outside my window when I was a girl,

me feedin' the hogs across the cornfields.

Then, that little bird was orange and bright,

but it grew into crow, black crow.

Crow who has always been with me, even now.

Crow brought me Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed,

Chuck Berry, Bessie Smith.

Crow brought me Jimi and Miles and the whirlwind.

[wind whooshing] [crow cawing]

There it all began, the beginning of being different,

like a piece of sugar cane, sweet to the core.

[introspective music]

[train roaring]

[train crossing bell ringing]

- [Phil] Why do you think Betty

cut herself off and disappeared?

- [Elnora] Pardon me?

- [Phil] Why do you think Betty

sort of wanted to be alone and cut herself off?

- She was only alone in person, she was only alone,

she loved to be alone.

She read a lot.

She loved to be alone,

but she was extremely close to her father, extremely.

And her father died first.

And I don't think Betty Gray

ever got over her father's death.

She never got over it.

This is Betty here.

She was an unusual person back in those days.

[breath whooshing]

[introspective music] - Recordin'.

[cassette tape rattling]

When I think about it now,

I know many people tried to find me,

wanted to ask me questions.

Before a time in my life, Crow and I,

we really didn't know how to speak.

[poignant music]

Now, I'm old.

But I feel I reached the top of the mountain,

and from there, I can see clearly the path I have taken.

[introspective music] [cassette tape rattling]

I still remember the record player in Daddy's cupboard,

him lifting me upwards,

and me singing on our kitchen table.

Then the southern breeze would come in my window.

Outside, black hands sweatin' in the cornfields,

lemonade on the sidewalk,

segregation, black and white.

The policeman, always white.

[gritty blues music]

[train roaring]

Dad, my daddy, leaving to work the furnaces,

steel sparks a-flying, and his strong back bent.

All the voices falling over each other

and evenings with Grandma tappin' time,

spinnin' her snuff and boogeying to Elmore James.

♪ I'll wake up soon in the morning ♪

- [Betty] And me, me just wantin' to write

that first little burnin' in my heart.

And at 12 years old, I wrote my first song

"Bake a Cake of Love."

The neighbors complained, came a-shouting

asking me to be quiet, but I didn't care.

I lifted my voice in song.

♪ I'm gonna write a letter

♪ Gonna call every town I know

♪ I'm gonna write a letter

♪ Gonna call every town I know

[introspective music]

- [Phil] How long have you,

how many years have you known Betty?

- Let's just say over 50 years [laughs], seein' as I'm 55.

No, but it's been a long time.

I think what she wanted to do was already in her head,

that women have feelings, too,

that women can stand up and be equal to men,

and expressing themselves.

And that was something that women didn't have,

women didn't voice.

[poignant music]

I can't remember exactly how we met,

but I do know we became fast friends,

and Betty attended church with me.

And after church, I always went to Betty's house.

And I spent Sunday afternoons there.

She wrote songs all the time.

I remember one time in particular, she called me,

and she said, "Connie, I just wrote this song,

"and I wanna sing it to you."

And so I knew what to expect by then,

and she sang, she started singing.

I put the phone down.

Five minutes later, I came back,

and Betty was still singing.

They were the longest songs.

And she was in talent shows here in our hometown,

so I think that this whole notion

that she could get up on stage and not be inhibited

just was a manifestation of the kind of love and care

and adoration from her grandmother and her father.

She chose independence,

and that was something that women didn't have.

[crow cawing]

[wind whooshing]

- [Betty] The road out of Pittsburgh, I was 17,

my bag in hand, little notebook of songs,

and Daddy's crushing hugs.

Crow was with me on the journey.

Crow was the heartbeat,

beatin' a rhythm into those city lights.

New York, New York.

[sultry jazz music]

♪ Yeah

♪ I'm goin' uptown to Harlem

♪ Gonna let my hair down in Harlem ♪

♪ If the taxi won't take me, I'll catch a train ♪

♪ I'll go underground, I'll get there just the same ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm goin' uptown to Harlem ♪

♪ Gonna let my hair down in Harlem ♪

- [Betty] I enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Technology.

By day, I found work as a model.

Clothes were an expression of who we were,

but the nights, the nights was where I came alive.

♪ I'm gonna party for days in Harlem ♪

♪ Leave the downtown ways for Harlem ♪

- [Betty] I felt the fire of others.

♪ 'Cause I'm goin' uptown

- [Betty] All the time, I was ripe.

I stood on the sidewalk

and sung the Chambers Brothers my song, "Uptown to Harlem."

They took it then and there.

I was a songwriter at last.

♪ I'm going make it to the Cave and the Shadow Park ♪

♪ I'm goin' to uptown faces and down to swat ♪

♪ I'm gonna make it to the play, I'll stand red-goosed too ♪

[crow cawing]

[wind whooshing] [cassette tape rattling]

- [Betty] I met Jimi in the Village, Jimi Hendrix.

He understood Crow, saw Crow right away.

Then one night, I was in the Blue Note with a friend.

[audience applauding]

There was this trumpeter onstage with a straight suit.

I didn't care much for his jazz mind.

When I saw his shoes, I dug those shoes.

And I told him so right there and then.

[jazzy trumpet music] [cymbals crashing]

Me and Miles were married in '68.

He got me a limo,

and I filled the trash with his suits.

[audience applauding]

[train roaring]

[mellow jazz music]

- We're here today to look at this connection

between Betty Davis as muse

and Miles's turn to the electric era.

[mellow trumpet music]

Everybody really was trying to create a soundscape

that matched the intensity

of the cultural, political moment

[sirens blaring]

that paralleled what was going on politically,

you know, as far as Black Panthers, Civil Rights movement,

the assassinations that were going on, the Vietnam War.

- I'll stand as necessary for days

in front of these big, hard buildings.

- At the point at which they met, he was about 40.

And you know, Miles was just kinda really obsessed

with not growing old, not growing stale,

you know, artistically.

[mellow trumpet music]

Jazz had really become this music that had lost ground

in the black community.

But among younger, there's Motown,

you know, Stack, psychedelic generation,

didn't know anything about it.

♪ Got it bad

♪ Dance, dance, dance all night ♪

♪ Oh, yeah

♪ We gonna do it now ♪ Dance, dance, dance

♪ Have a good time

♪ Dance, dance, dance ♪ Go on and do it all night

♪ Dance, dance, dance ♪ Go on, go on

♪ Get those up

♪ Get in there

♪ Oh, let's give Carlos a shout ♪

♪ On that wah wah pedal now

♪ Clap, clap your hands to the rhythm ♪

♪ Clap, clap your hands, let it go ♪

♪ Clap, clap your hands to the rhythm ♪

♪ Okay, so come on

♪ Now, move your feet in time with the beat ♪

- I just imagine, Miles comes home, you know, from a gig,

and Betty's blastin' "Voodoo Child" on the stereo set

and dancin' around the house.

[gritty psychedelic music] [audience applauding]

Betty had a huge influence

within a very short period of time

on not only the way Miles played

and what he was listening to,

but even the way he dressed.

You know, Carlos Santana talks about how, you know,

seeing the transition.

You know, Miles kind of retiring the Italian suits,

and then here comes the fringe and the leather

and the turquoise and the big shades

and leather pants and platform shoes and all of that.

[jazzy trumpet music]

What Betty allowed Miles to be was just bolder

in his conception of his own music.

[psychedelic trumpet music]

When he makes this leap into bringing in

louder electric guitars and electric basses

and drummers playing back beats,

it's really a testament to a sense of freedom

and just ballsiness that Betty brought into his life

and into his music.

- [Miles] One, two, three, four.

- [Greg] Betty, Jimi into Miles [laughing].

[cassette tape rattling]

- [Betty] Miles was pure energy.

Sometimes light, but also dark.

He was driven, inspiring, and also angry.

Every day married to him was a day I earned the name Davis.

[moody piano music]

Miles introduced me to Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky

and told me to perform.

He wanted Crow and me to fly.

Don't just write, Betty, don't have no more, go sing.

[gritty psychedelic music]

♪ I said if I'm in luck I just might get picked up ♪

♪ I said I'm fishin' trick

♪ And you can call it what you want then ♪

♪ I said I'm wigglin' my fanny

♪ Ha ha, oh man, get down

♪ I want you dancing, I'm a doin' it, doin' it ♪

♪ Get down

♪ This is my night out

- Hi, Damon, how are you?

- Good, how're you doin'?

- So good to see you, come in.

- Two legs. [Winona giggling]

- Betty was always this lady with flair and class,

and just ever so fashionable [laughing].

And I think it was at the Bottom Line

she invited me to come down to her show.

One of, I guess, one of the first shows that she did.

When I walked in, and she walked out onstage,

my mouth dropped.

♪ I'm gonna write it down

♪ Tell 'em anything you wanna now ♪

[gritty psychedelic music]

♪ I ain't nothin' but a nasty gal, now ♪

♪ A hey, hey

♪ I said you said I was a bitch now ♪

♪ Uh huh, didn't ya, didn't ya

♪ You said I was a witch now

- And then when she started singing,

♪ I'm gonna tell 'em why

- the raunchiness of these songs that she was belting out

in this deep, gravelly voice,

I was just taken aback.

No, this is not Betty, this is not Betty [laughing].

Yes, so her alter ego was on that stage.

[introspective music]

I'm sure that what Betty did as a performer,

every woman would love to do.

What she wanted to say in her performance,

there were no other women doing it.

When you're ahead of your times,

it can also mean that you're ahead of your country.

And they're just not ready or willing

to accept who you are.

And, you know, let's not forget, she is a black woman.

So she started off the race from behind the rest.

[funky psychedelic music]

♪ I woke up this morning

♪ I was feelin' so bad

♪ I didn't know what was wrong

♪ I had a pain in my head

♪ My mind was so troubled

♪ From what I did not know

♪ I took a look at my face in the mirror ♪

♪ And lo and behold

♪ The blues was there, I said, the blues was there ♪

[cassette tape rattling]

- [Betty] Since I was a girl,

I always had something inside of me that had to come out,

a kinda restless feeling.

I asked my grandmother if I had to just fit in

and be like I was told,

be sweet and pretty for the boys.

Grandma, she didn't say nothin'.

She sat down and played me "The Women of the Blues."

♪ I want all you women to listen to me ♪

♪ Don't trust your man no further than your eyes can see ♪

♪ I trusted my man with my best friend ♪

♪ But that was a bad bargain in the end ♪

- [Betty] Women who sang about how they felt inside,

who were struggling to make ends meet

in their lives with men.

Women who sang about things that were not right,

work, relationships, and race.

Old women who sang it real.

♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog ♪

♪ Been snoopin' 'round the door ♪

♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog ♪

♪ Been snoopin' 'round my door

♪ You can wag your tail

♪ But I ain't gonna feed you no more ♪

♪ Well, I'm tellin' ya

- [Betty] I have never let my being black

interfere with what I wanted to do.

You should always know who you are

and just do what you have to do.

♪ Sit down

♪ On my second couch

♪ Smoke a little hash

♪ Ah, let's talk about it

♪ Let's get

I first discovered Betty

when I was desperately looking for some kind of blueprint

for what I was doing and what I knew I wanted to do.

♪ And talk foolish games

- So when I was skimming around looking for, you know,

a goddess to pray to, you know, on the internet,

I found this picture of her.

And, you know, she was wearing, like,

I think it was a zebra-detail body suit

with like the feathers on the shoulders,

and she had her hair big,

and she just looked so powerful.

She's like straddling this bike,

and I was just like, whatever she's selling, I'm buying.

[Militia laughing]

♪ Aces high

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh

Women's place in music still seems like a struggle now,

especially if you're doing rock and roll.

There's like this saying, it's so funny.

People say, like, "Men get on stage

"and they sing about what they wanna do to you.

"And women get on stage,

"and they sing about what's been done to them." [laughing]

And it's so true.

And I feel like for a long time,

I don't know, maybe women have felt like it's safe

to, like, be victims onstage

or their messages of victimhood,

and that's not, just not what people like Betty's about.

♪ Ow, did I leave some love and ♪

Betty, by no intention of her own,

just by being herself,

has been, really, a beacon of hope to a lot of people.

♪ He was a big freak

♪ I used to beat him with a turquoise chain, yeah ♪

♪ When I was his woman, well, I pleased him ♪

- Betty Davis, she was pushing against the grain

because the objectification of women via men

and their fantasies was very real,

whereas Betty owned hers in a way that was atypical.

I mean, songs like "Big Freak,"

that's like so powerful and challenging

to the system of thinking where women's place should be.

♪ When I was his woman

♪ Well, I pleased him

♪ I'd lead him to the tip

♪ When I was his mistress

♪ Ooh, ooh, I gave him cheap thrills ♪

♪ When I was his princess

♪ Silk and satin and lace I'd wear for him ♪

♪ He was a big freak

♪ Flim, flam, floozy, fantasy

- Betty didn't speak from a space of oppression.

She expressed herself based on knowing who she was

and what she deserved.

[introspective music] [cassette tape rattling]

- [Betty] I left Miles.

His genius gave and took from me,

but my smile had become false.

I told no one of how Miles was violent.

Crow hid my pain, so I wrote and sung my heart out,

three albums of hard funk.

I put everything there.

The doors in the industry kept closin',

always white men behind desks tellin' me to change,

change my look, change my sound.

"Change your music, Betty."

I needed to fit in, or else no contract, no silver dollar.

I learnt that stars starve in silence.

Crow and I, we found ourselves alone.

[introspective music]

- I got some pictures here from the early days,

and as you see, of course, you know Betty,

and you have myself.

For three months, a 78.

We stayed in the Carver Wood Hotel and rehearsed.

♪ And I don't wanna love you

- [Fred] And rehearsed.

♪ 'Cause I know how you are

- She went to town, and we didn't have the manager.

♪ Stayin' away from you

- And she was doin' most of the stuff on her own.

♪ And that's why I haven't called you ♪

♪ 'Cause I know you could possess my body ♪

- [Fred] When things weren't happening right,

she always had it in mind,

it was somewhere in the back of her head

the phrase, "If I was a man, if I was a man."

I think she was fed up, I really do.

I think she was fed up.

If you're somebody like Betty,

it's all Betty or it's no Betty.

And it got to the point where there was no Betty.

[introspective music]

[phone ringing]

- [Phil] Is that, is that Desmond?

- [Desmond] Yup.

- [Phil] Hey, I'm a filmmaker trying to find out

about Betty Davis, the funk singer.

Sorry to call, I heard you used to know her?

- [Desmond] Oh, it's been a long, long, long time.

- Okay. - What is this for?

- [Phil] We're trying to find out what happened to Betty

to sort of piece her story together.

You used to, like, hang together,

or what was the relationship?

- [Desmond] Yeah, yeah, I mean we met,

we'd go out, hang out for a while,

and it was right before she kind of disappeared.

Well, when she was getting a little more,

when her issues were piling up.

I didn't see her as much 'cause she was retreating.

So I remember she had moved from one place

to another place,

and when she moved to the last place, she was,

it seemed like she was trying to hide away.

[melancholy music]

But as I saw her, I could see there were a lot of,

she had some issues that were,

that were starting to weigh on her.

Between Miles Davis, that's a heavy thing,

to be Mrs. Miles Davis.

And also her own musical contribution

she felt was not appreciated.

And I thought, I mean, now in retrospect,

I think that I didn't know her nasty gal persona.

So when I later really found out

what her whole performance thing was,

it really struck me because she said to me something like,

"Well, you know, I'm a very sensitive girl."

And so that was her real person, that was her,

but her persona, this nasty gal,

you can't get further away from that, the split.

[phone ringing]

[answering machine beeping]

[cassette tape rattling]

- [Betty] London, trying to survive.

Playing where I could with no record deal.

And then Mommy called. [phone ringing]

♪ I'm just a child [answering machine beeping]

That phone call, spinning pain.

Those strong arms lifting me upwards.

He was dead.

I returned to Pittsburgh, but all color had gone.

Now the voices inside me, voices never stoppin' in my head.

[phone ringing]

[answering machine beeping]

Strange faces I did not know.

They put a lock on my door.

There, I lost music, gone, a void, shame.

My heartbeat changed.

I could no longer hear Crow.

[wind whooshing]

- She adored her father,

and so I think that that really had a,

of course, it would have an impact on anyone.

But the impact was greater on Betty

because it kind of affected some stability,

some mental stability.

And from that time forward, there was a change.

[bell chiming]

- [Betty] I could not remember how long I was in the void.

But in Japan, I found the mountain,

the men who said nothing, the bells, the wind.

Two monkeys, one with a dead baby, my baby, wind.

[wind whooshing]

- I think that, I think she sort of lost herself.

[poignant music]

I know that she didn't write for a long time,

so I'm sure that she was in a deep sense of depression.

I don't know who was around her at that time,

but I know that she was basically on her own.

She's a very strong woman.

Might have been a sad woman for a moment,

but I'm hoping that that sadness is slowly dissipating.

I look forward to seeing her

in the very near future.

[introspective electronic music]

- Hey, hey, hey.

- Well, you're still trouble. - Hey.

- You're on time, bro.

[band members laughing]

- [Band Member] Hello.

- We'll take a break. - Get back on.

[bass string reverberating] [band members chattering]

- Yeah. - Two weeks?

[band members chattering] - Yeah, man.

- Look at that. - That was her homecoming.

- [Band Member] Man, look at that.

The last time I saw Betty, I guess so many years ago--

- [Band Member] Never heard from her.

- Yeah, nineteen years, seem like.

- Yeah, really--

- Been a long time.

[phone ringing]

- Please answer the phone.

- It's Carlos, Fred, and your cousin, Larry.

- And Nick.

Pick up the phone.

- [Betty] Hello?

- Betty, when's the next gig, baby?

[band members laughing]

- Hello, baby.

- [Betty] Is this Fred?

[band members laughing]

- Of course, you know it is [laughing].

- [Betty] Happy New Year!

- Hey, the same to you, doll. [band members chattering]

- And this is Nick.

- [Betty] How've you been?

- I can't complain, sittin' here with the rest of the guys

in the band.

- [Betty] Who's there?

- [laughing] The band.

- The whole band. - The whole band?

- Yup. - Carlos is here.

- Nick. - Is Carlos there, too?

- Sure is. - And your cousin, Larry.

I'm here, too.

- [Betty] Larry and Nicky, too?

- Yes, yes, yes. [band members laughing]

- You sound exactly the same. - Same.

- Exactly. - You sure do, babe.

Now Betty, I miss you, I'm tellin' you the truth, babe.

I miss you, I ain't no-- - I miss you, too.

- So you doin' all right, baby?

- [Betty] Yeah, I'm doin' okay.

- Everybody wanna know where Betty is.

- Yeah.

- We wanna do one more thing with you, at least, you know.

We'll come to your house and record.

All these new recording things they got now,

you ain't got to leave the kitchen.

- That's right. [band members laughing]

[Betty laughing]

- Just cook some spaghetti.

- And Betty, you ain't gotta go through

what you have to go through with record companies no more.

- No more. - 'Cause they ain't

real important no more, you know what I'm sayin'?

- We'll sell her at the chart [band members laughing]

at the top.

- You understand what I'm sayin'?

Social media in now, you can do a lot of things with music.

- Well, look, Betty.

- [Betty] Yeah.

- When we left Bogalusa, what happened, baby?

- [Betty] Well, well, it was nice talkin', everybody.

[band members laughing] - They was broken bro.

- Say, hey, look.

It's about time you came home for a minute, ain't it?

- Well, what can I say? [band members laughing]

- I'm too old to travel.

[band members laughing]

- But we'll come pick you up.

- [Band Member] Yes, that's right.

- [laughing] Okay.

[gritty funk music]

[introspective music] [cassette tape rattling]

- [Betty] People tell me I've paved the way,

that I was part of a struggle.

Well, I'm happy about that.

I'm happy my music is still alive.

For a while in my life, I flew high and strong.

[crow cawing]

But the struggle to break through hurt me.

Everyone wanted me to be something I wasn't.

♪ I'm just a child

♪ Trying to be a woman

♪ And you

♪ Oh, you are a strange one

♪ Trying

♪ I love you, I love you, I love you ♪

♪ But it's so hard for me to be me ♪

♪ I wish I could give to you

In the end, I found I could only be myself.

♪ I'd be free

♪ I'd be free

♪ I'd be free

♪ Oh, then I could be me

♪ I'm just a child

♪ Trying to be a woman

- But if I wanna leave one thing behind,

I wanna say that bein' different is everything.

It is the way forward.

[gritty psychedelic music]

♪ You just shut off the light

♪ Ooh, let the good times roll, child ♪

♪ I said I said take me, make me do anything you want ♪

♪ Don't you answer your phone

♪ Just let it ring

♪ You just shut off the light

♪ Ooh, we're gonna boogie like a fool, child ♪

♪ I said, I said we got a feelin' now ♪

♪ Baby, let's keep it

♪ Don't you answer that door

♪ Just let them knock

♪ Just shut off the light

♪ Ooh, we're gonna get right down, child ♪

♪ I said, I said don't you fret ♪

♪ I'm not playing hard to get

♪ You say you want it and you got it now ♪

♪ They say I'm different

♪ 'Cause I'm a piece of sugar cane ♪

♪ Sweet to the core, that's why I got rhythm ♪

♪ My great grandma didn't like the foxtrot ♪

♪ Nah, instead she'd spit her snuff ♪

♪ And boogie to Elmore James

♪ Spit on

♪ They say I'm different 'cause I eat chitlins ♪

♪ I can't help it

♪ I was born and raised on 'em, that's right ♪

♪ Every mornin', I'd have to slop the hogs ♪

♪ And they'd be gettin' off humpin' to John Lee Hooker ♪

♪ Get it on

♪ They say I'm different 'cause I'm a piece of sugar cane ♪

♪ And when I kick my legs, I got rhythm ♪

♪ My great grandpa was a blues lover ♪

♪ He'd be rockin' his moonshine to B.B. King and Jimmy Reed ♪

♪ Rock on now

♪ And that's why they say I'm different ♪

♪ And that's why they say I'm strange ♪

[wind whooshing]

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