text:  " The Bourgeois Blues " is regarded as one of Lead Belly 's best original works , but it also drew controversy . There is doubt over the song 's authorship , with some scholars contending that Lead Belly was unlikely to have written a work in a genre new to him without a collaborator . Questions have been raised over his role in the American Communist Party and whether he and the song were used to further the party 's political goals . 
  