In response to one of these incidents , a friend of Lead Belly 's , variously identified as either Lomax or Mary Elizabeth Barnicle joked that Washington was a " bourgeois town . " Though Lead Belly did not know what the word " bourgeois " meant , he was fascinated by the sound of it , and after its meaning was explained to him he decided to incorporate it into a song about the trip . The song came together quickly ; one account claims that it only took a few hours for Lead Belly to write it . Lomax liked it because it was partly based on what happened in his apartment .