Stagger Lee
"Stack O' Lee Blues" | |
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Victor | |
Songwriter(s) | Ray Lopez (credited on single) |
"Stagger Lee", also known as "Stagolee" and other variants, is a popular American
Background
The historical Stagger Lee was
On Christmas night in 1895, Shelton and his acquaintance William "Billy" Lyons were drinking in the Bill Curtis Saloon. Lyons was also a member of St. Louis' underworld, and may have been a political and business rival to Shelton. Eventually, the two men got into a dispute, during which Lyons took Shelton's Stetson hat.[5] Subsequently, Shelton shot Lyons, recovered his hat, and left.[6] Lyons died of his injuries, and Shelton was charged, tried, and convicted of the murder in 1897. He was paroled in 1909, but returned to prison in 1911 for assault and robbery. He died incarcerated in 1912.[7]
The crime quickly entered into American folklore and became the subject of song, as well as folktales and toasts. The song's title comes from Shelton's nickname—Stag Lee or Stack Lee.[8] The name was quickly corrupted in the folk tradition. Early versions were called "Stack-a-Lee" and "Stacker Lee", while "Stagolee" and "Stagger Lee" also became common. Other recorded variants include "Stackerlee", "Stack O'Lee", "Stackolee", "Stackalee", "Stagerlee", and "Stagalee".[9]
Early versions
A song called "Stack-a-Lee" was first mentioned in 1897, in the Kansas City Leavenworth Herald, as being performed by "Prof. Charlie Lee, the piano thumper".[10] The earliest versions were likely field hollers and other work songs performed by African-American forced laborers, and were well known along the lower Mississippi River by 1910. That year, musicologist John Lomax received a partial transcription of the song,[11] and in 1911, two versions were published in the Journal of American Folklore by the sociologist and historian Howard W. Odum.[12]
The song was first recorded by Waring's Pennsylvanians in 1923 and became a hit. Another version was recorded later that year by Frank Westphal & His Regal Novelty Orchestra, and Herb Wiedoeft and his band recorded the song in 1924.[13] Also in 1924, the first version with lyrics was recorded, as "Skeeg-a-Lee Blues", by Lovie Austin. Ma Rainey recorded "Stag O'Lee Blues", a different song based on the melody and words of "Frankie and Johnnie", the following year, with Louis Armstrong on cornet, and a version was recorded by Frank Hutchison on January 28, 1927, in New York, and is included in Harry Smith's famous Anthology of American Folk Music (Song 19 of 84).[10]
Before
The version by Mississippi John Hurt, recorded in 1928, is regarded by many as definitive.[10] In his version, as in all such pieces, there are many (sometimes anachronistic) variants on the lyrics. Several older versions give Billy's last name as "De Lyons" or "Deslile". Other notable pre-war versions were recorded by Duke Ellington (1927), Cab Calloway (1931), Woody Guthrie (1941),[10] and Sidney Bechet (1945).[15]
Lloyd Price R&B version
"Stagger Lee" | ||||
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ABC-Paramount | ||||
Songwriter(s) | Lloyd Price, Harold Logan (credited on single) | |||
Producer(s) | Don Costa | |||
Lloyd Price singles chronology | ||||
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Chart performance
Lloyd Price version
Chart (1959) | Peak position |
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UK Singles ( The Official Charts Company)[18]
|
7 |
US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
US Hot R&B Sides (Billboard)[19] | 1 |
All-time charts
Chart (1958-2018) | Position |
---|---|
US Billboard Hot 100[20] | 260 |
Other post-war versions
- In 1950, a version of "Stack-a-Lee" by R&B chart.[17]
- The song was covered by Pat Boone
- Fats Domino
- Ike and Tina Turner,
- The Righteous Brothers
- Champion Jack Dupree released a version in 1958 named "Stack-O-Lee" on the album titled Blues From The Gutter.
- James Brown
- Wilson Pickett (whose version made number 22 on the US pop chart)
- Johnny and the Hurricanes (whose instrumental is called "High Voltage")
- Dave Van Ronk on his 1962 album Dave Van Ronk, Folksinger
- Tom Rush on his 1963 album, "Blues, Songs And Ballads"
- Ballads From Deep Gap
- Taj Mahal on the 1969 album Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home.
- Tommy Roe's 1971 version of the song went to number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the Canadian Singles Chart.
- Pacific, Gas & Electric included the song under the name "Staggolee" on their 1970 album Are You Ready?;[21]
- The Youngbloods released a version of the song on their 1971 album, Good and Dusty.[22]
- In 1972 Dr. John included a version on his album Dr. John's Gumbo.
- The Grateful Dead frequently played and eventually recorded a version of the tale which focuses on the fictionalized hours after the death of "Billy DeLyon", when Billy's wife Delia tracks down Stagger Lee in a local saloon and "she shot him in the balls" in revenge for Billy's death.[23]
- Christian Rock musician Larry Norman wrote new lyrics using a bluesy version of the tune called Nightmare #97 about a religious experience where the narrator is caught up to heaven. It was recorded in 1977 but not published until 1981 in the album Something New Under the Son.
- The Clash used some lyrics for their intro to their song The Wrong 'em Boyo from the 1979 album London Calling.
- A version by Porky's Revengesoundtrack (1985).
- Bob Dylan included a version of "Stack A Lee" on his 1993 album World Gone Wrong.
- An extended version appears on Reach Up And Touch The Sky.
- Four Chords And Several Years Ago.
- Neil Sedaka recorded the song in 1983 for his album Come See About Me.
- In 1996, "toast poem" on Stagolee.[24]
- The Black Keys recorded a song entitled "Stack Shot Billy" on their 2004 album Rubber Factory.
- In 2005, Chris Whitley and Jeff Lang recorded their own arrangement of the song, called "Stagger Lee", ultimately released on their 2006 CD Dislocation Blues.
- In the 2007 film Black Snake Moan, Samuel L. Jackson's character sings a boastful version of the song from Stagger Lee's perspective, titled "Stackolee". This version is based on R. L. Burnside's rendition which can be heard on the album Well, Well, Well.
- Modern Life Is War recorded a hardcore punk version for their 2007 album Midnight in America.
- Josh Ritter recorded a version of the tale titled "Folk Bloodbath" on the album So Runs the World Away. In his version, Stagger Lee killed a man named Louis Collins, and 'Hangin' Billy Lyons was the judge who sentenced Stagger to hang.
- Neil Diamond released a version in 1979 on the album titled September Morn
- Justin Townes Earle released a version titled "Same Old Stagolee" on his 2017 album Kids In The Street.
- Three For Silver recorded an original titled "The Recurring Stagger Lee Blues, Pt. 1" on their 2019 release, "Blue Ruin." In their version, Stagger Lee and Billy are two self-aware characters forever fated to repeat their murderous relationship as they reappear in song after song.
- In 2011 Snakefarmincluded song called "Staggerlee" in their album "My Halo In Half-light".
Popular culture
- The song is sung by an African-American prisoner in Jack Black's autobiography You Can't Win.[25]
- In 1949 an episode of the radio anthology series program Destination Freedom, written by Richard Durham, retold the "Tales of Stackalee".[26]
- The song "Wrong 'Em Boyo" by the Jamaican rocksteady group the Rulers begins with a quotation from "Stagger Lee": "Stagger Lee met Billy and they got down to gambling / Stagger Lee throwed seven, Billy said that he throwed eight." The song was notably covered by the Clash on their 1979 album London Calling with an additional lyric to finish the verse: "So Billy said, 'Hey Stagger! I'm gonna make my big attack / I'm gonna have to leave my knife in your back.'"
- Stagger Lee was the masked persona of wrestler Junkyard Dog, who donned the name and mask in 1982 due to an angle where he was forced to leave his wrestling territory for 90 days.
- The version by Pacific Gas & Electric, was included on the soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino's film Death Proof, the second portion of the 2007 double-feature Grindhouse.
- Blues musician Keb' Mo' performs his version in a scene from the 2007 film Honeydripper.
- In Percival Everett's 2001 novel Erasure and its 2023 film adaptation American Fiction, black literature professor Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, becomes frustrated with the success of books that exploit and sensationalize Black American poverty, violence, and crime, and writes a satire of these books, first titled My Pafology and then retitled Fuck, under the pseudonym "Stagg R. Leigh", and must then deal with the effects of his book being taken seriously by everyone and becoming wildly successful.
- In John Hornor Jacobs' 2019 horror novella My Heart Struck Sorrow, a 1930s ethnomusicologist travels the South recording variants of "Stagger Lee," some of them diabolical.
- Killer Mike spoke about him on Hell of a Week with Charlamagne tha God on Comedy Central on October 8, 2022.
- "Stagger Lee" sung by Lloyd Price was featured in the film "Shag: The Movie" in 1989. It was also featured on its soundtrack.
See also
- List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1959
- List of number-one R&B singles of 1959 (U.S.)
References
- ^ B-side artist listed as "the Virginians"
- ISBN 978-0674028906.
- ISBN 0674028902.
- ISBN 978-0674028906. Brown summarizes what little is known about the club as follows: "The Four Hundred Club was a 'social club,' but such clubs always had a moral front. (...) The Four Hundred Club may have been a type of black-and-tan club, catering to an interracial clientele, and as such would have been under pressure from reform policies." Brown cites a contemporary source from the newspaper St. Louis Star-Sayings, in which a member of the club states: "Mr. [Stack] Lee was our captain."
- ISBN 978-0674028906. Based on the statements of witnesses, Cecil Brown retells the incident as follows: "Then Lyons grabbed Shelton's Stetson. When Shelton demanded it back, Lyons said no."
- ISBN 0674028902.
- ISBN 0674028902.
- ISBN 0674028902.
- ^ Buehler, Richard E. (1967). "Stacker Lee: A partial investigation into the historicity of a Negro murder ballad". Keystone Folklore Quarterly. 12: 187 and note. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e "History". StaggerLee.com. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ^ Marshall, Matt (May 9, 2011). "A Brief History of Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons". American Blues Scene. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ Buehler, Richard E. (1967). "Stacker Lee: A partial investigation into the historicity of a Negro murder ballad". Keystone Folklore Quarterly. 12: 187–191. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ "Herb Wiedoeft's Cinderella Roof Orchestra". Red Hot Jazz. Archived from the original on 2011-01-05. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
- ^ Handy, W.C. Handy (1926). Blues, an Anthology.
- ^ "1945–1946 – Sidney Bechet | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
- ^ Breihan, Tom (January 29, 2018). "The Number Ones: Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
And in 1959, the New Orleans R&B singer and former Army serviceman Lloyd Price took one of those versions to #1....Instead, it's a total blast of a song, a spirited New Orleans rumble...
- ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–1995. Record Research. p. 12.
- ^ "officialcharts.com". Official Charts. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 470.
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- ^ Are You Ready? in Discogs Retrieved 21 Oct 2019
- ^ The Youngbloods, Good and Dusty Retrieved June 12, 2015
- ^ "The Annotated "Stagger Lee"". Arts.ucsc.edu. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ "Largehearted Boy: Book Notes – Derek McCulloch ("Stagger Lee")". Largeheartedboy.com. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- OCLC 1301911524.)
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link - OCLC 1323028307, 44432637for cassette and audio CD availability of the episode
External links
- The full text of five variations of "Stagger Lee" at Wikisource
- Stagolee and John Henry: Two Black Freedom Songs?