Another Stagger Lee roundup.

(Other Stagger Lee posts can be found here, and here)

Taj Mahal




Wilson Pickett




Jerry Reed's odd, heavily sanitized version. Billy and Stack have a quarrel over a broad, then make-up. No one gets murdered, no one even gets shot.  Sorry Jerry, but if you're going to cover Stagger Lee, someone needs to end up dead.

 

NCBS Murder Ballads Project. 2. Stagger Lee pt 1

Stagolee was a bully man, an' ev'y body knowed,
When dey seed Stagolee comin', to give Stagolee de road,
O dat man, bad man, Stagolee done come.


- Stagolee, 1911, Journal of American Folklore



Stagger Lee. AKA Stackolee. Stack O'Lee.  Armed and extremely dangerous.  Shot a man over a Stetson hat.  A bad, bad, man.

Stagger Lee, like many of the songs on Murder Ballads has a wealth of lore and history that predates Nick Cave's gritty, often vulgar version.  There's even an (excellent) website dedicated to it.  For a more detailed history of the song, I recommend you go there.

 Mississippi John Hurt's version, which for some is the definitive Stagger Lee.

Another version recorded by Hurt in 1964

 

Lloyd Price's version, which was the first version of Stagger Lee that I ever heard.  It's a really upbeat version.  Nothing like a dancing the night away to a tune about cold blooded murder.



Even Woody Guthrie gave the tune a go.

 


The website www.staggerlee.com lists 428 versions of Stagger Lee.  428.  To hell with "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."  This is the quintessential American song.  "So, if this is an American song," you might be thinking, "who does that fucking Australian think he is?"
Guess you'll have to wait for pt 2.

She's Making Whoopee In Hell Tonight

While Lonnie Johnson disliked the "blues" label, "She's Making Whoopee in Hell Tonight" is a fine example of that genre.  Recorded in 1930, the complex guitar playing and it's dark, chilling lyrics, make for a truly wicked little song.  The next time someone claims that nobody ever sung about "bad things" before 1965, point them to this little ditty.

You been gone all day, set to make whoopee tonight 

I'm gonna take my razor and cut your late hours, 

I will be serving you right 

The undertaker's been here and gone, I gave him your height and size 

Undertaker's been here and gone, I gave him your height and size 

You'll be making whoopee with the devil in hell tomorrow night  

Of course to claim that this song, is no different than modern murder songs, would be wrong as well.  Lonnie Johnson seems to take no real joy in the act.  He's become her slave, and the only way to free himself from her cruelty is to kill her.  He'll be happy to see her dead, but killing her with his razor seems to be a means to an end.  Still the act of using a razor makes me think, he really wants her to suffer, like the way she's made him suffer.  Nasty, brutal stuff.

Told you, next time you go out, please carry your black dress along 

'Cause a coffin will be your present and hell will be your brand new home 

Another way that "Whoopee" differs from songs like "I Used to Love Her", is that in some, albeit, twisted way fear of female power plays into it.  She's not simply disposable trash that's killed because her lover has tired of her, she's killed because she holds power over him.

You made me love you, just got me for your slave

He can't simply leave her.  The only way he can free himself is to kill her.  While the view of a woman as a dangerous enslaver of men, is not exactly feminist, the image brings a complexity to the song, that so many new songs lack.

Day of Rest - St. Louis Blues

Back in the days before the internet became a vast treasure trove (and sometimes a junkyard) of various media,  my parents had a CD encyclopedia (hey that rhymes!).  I was listening to a lot of Janis Joplin at the time, and one of the biographies I was reading mentioned that Bessie Smith was a huge influence on her.  So I looked her up.  There was an entry, with a sound file.  I clicked it.  It was just a 20 second sample, but when I heard it, I was done for. I'd never heard anything like it. It was heartbreaking and beautiful.  I've been a fan ever since. 

That one little clip, inspired a fascination with blues, jazz, ballads sung and recorded many years before I was born.  A fascination, and a love which still lasts today.

Thanks Bessie

Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground

For 9/11

Day of Rest: Shine on Me

I've decided to devote Sunday to subjects that are a little "happier" then what's usually discussed on this blog. For August 1st's Day of Rest, it's Blind Willie Johnson's Shine on Me:

Enjoy!