Saturday Song - Stagger Lee, Stack-O-Lee, etc
Hey, it's songday. Today I pick a song that I believe warrants it and publish an assortment of the covers of that song by various persons and or groups. Pick a few that are new to you and have a listen. It is also, of course, an open thread to talk about anything you feel like.
Today's song is: Stack O' Lee, Stack A Lee, Stagger Lee, etc.
Remember this R&R hit? The studio execs actually found it controversial & demanded some edits.
Lloyd Price
Ma Rainey
Furry Lewis
Mississippi John Hurt
Long "Cleve" Reed & Little Harvey Hull - Down Home Boys
Cisco Houston
Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group
Woody Guthrie
Amy Winehouse
Jesse Fuller
Pete Seeger
Champion Jack Dupree
Dave Van Ronk
The Journeymen
Johnny Rivers
The Righteous Brothers
Jim Kweskin
Dr. John
Doug Sahm (Sir Douglas Quintet)
Beck
Dave "Baby" Cortez (yeah, really, "Happy Organ" Dave Cortez)
James Brown & His Famous Flames
Wilson Pickett
Taj Mahal
Pat Boone -- This is actually pretty funny
Dion - ditto
The Youngbloods
Niel Diamond - heh, why not
Huey Lewis & The News
The Levon Helm Band
Grateful Dead
Comments
Based on a true story
Happened in St. Louis (at about the same time as "Frankie & Johnnie"). Immortalized in the Anthology of American Folk Music, by Harry Smith. You found a few versions I don't have
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Pat Boone did Dr. John's version
no favors....
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
One thing I find fascinating is that in some versions
Billy is a cheat, and in others Stack is simply a sore loser.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
One of the joys of folk music
it can easily be changed to fit the lesson desired by the storyteller.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Nothing to do with Stagger Lee, but also based on true story:
I "knew" someone (virtually) who claimed to know the woman, and identified both the grocery store and the liquor store. (Grocery was the old Eisner's at ... uh ... Neil and Green, I think.) I can't think her husband was super happy to learn about the state of her heart on the radio, but somebody else told me that Fogelberg was kind of self-absorbed and narcissistic, as so many of those sensitive singer-songwriters are (are you listening, Joni Mitchell?).
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
The Clash...
does a short tribute to Stagger Lee at the beginning of "Wrong 'em Boyo":
which is itself a cover of the old ska song by the Rulers with a similar tribute:
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Happy New Year, el, I am already in 2017
just wanted to wish you good health and happiness for another year to come along.
Thank You for all your music offerings. I needed that. German TV New Years celebration shows ... oh jeez, I am lucky to find something better around here.
Happy New Year to you too, mimi, thanks for dropping by.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Wow.
I grew up on the Lloyd version and Pat Boone version. Later in life, I represented a guy who killed a man who won the pool game. I knew the victim.
He did very short time, got into drug dealing, is now one of the dead ass victims in a capital murder case.
My Stagger Lee ...and this is my life...saw me at a convenience store in town. We hugged. He was working, I chided him about staying honest and clean.
There are Stagger Lee stories all over.
My Stagger Lee got shot down by Mister Big, and in time, we will have songs about the Big Man in the drug trade.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Joe Buzzard...
may have one of the oldest (78) copies that you can listen to here:
http://oldhatrecords.com/cd1004.html
21. ORIGINAL STACK O’ LEE BLUES Long Cleve Reed & Little Harvey Hull-Down Home Boys
from wiki
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thanks for the info. I think that 78 is in the playlist.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
it is indeed...
I missed it when I scanned through them. However, you should check out the other cuts Joe has at the link.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”