American folk song
"Stack O' Lee Blues"
|
---|
|
B-side
| "Stavin' Change"
[1]
|
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Released
| 1923
(
1923
)
|
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Recorded
| Camden, New Jersey, April 18, 1923
|
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Length
| 3
:
21
|
---|
Label
| Victor
|
---|
Songwriter(s)
| Ray Lopez (credited on single)
|
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"
Stagger Lee
", also known as "
Stagolee
" and other variants, is a popular American
folk song
about the murder of Billy Lyons by "Stag"
Lee Shelton
, in
St. Louis, Missouri
, at Christmas 1895. The song was first published in 1911 and first recorded in 1923, by
Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians
, titled "Stack O' Lee Blues". A version by
Lloyd Price
reached number one on the
Billboard
Hot 100
in 1959.
Background
[
edit
]
The historical Stagger Lee was
Lee Shelton
, an African-American
pimp
living in
St. Louis, Missouri
, in the late 19th century. He was nicknamed Stag Lee or Stack Lee, with a variety of explanations being given: he was given the nickname because he "went stag" (attended social events unaccompanied by a person of the opposite sex); he took the nickname from a well-known riverboat captain called Stack Lee; or, according to
John
and
Alan Lomax
, he took the name from a riverboat owned by the Lee family of
Memphis
called the
Stack Lee
, which was known for its on-board prostitution.
[2]
Shelton was well known locally as one of the Macks, a group of pimps who attracted attention through their flashy clothing and appearance.
[3]
In addition to those activities, he was the captain of a black Four Hundred Club, a
social club
with a dubious reputation.
[4]
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
[
edit
]
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
World War II
, the song was commonly known as "Stack O'Lee".
W.C. Handy
wrote that it probably was a nickname for a tall person, comparing him to the tall
smokestack
of the famous steamboat
Robert E. Lee
.
[14]
By the time W.C. Handy wrote that explanation in 1926, "Stack O' Lee" was already familiar in United States popular culture, with recordings of the song made by pop singers of the day, such as
Cliff Edwards
.
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
[
edit
]
Lloyd Price
recorded an
R&B
rendition of the song as "Stagger Lee" in 1958, and it rose to the top of both the R&B and US pop charts in early 1959.
[17]
Although his version uses similar lyrics to previous versions of the song, his rendition features a different melody and has no lyrical refrain, making it shorter than previous recordings of the song. Price's version of the song was ranked number 456 on
Rolling Stone
'
s
500 Greatest Songs of All Time
list, and also reached number 7 on the
UK singles chart
. Price also recorded a lyrically toned-down version of the song that changed the shooting to an argument between two friends for his appearance on
Dick Clark
's
American Bandstand
.
[10]
Chart performance
[
edit
]
Lloyd Price version
[
edit
]
All-time charts
[
edit
]
Other post-war versions
[
edit
]
- In 1950, a version of "Stack-a-Lee" by
New Orleans
pianist
Archibald
reached number 10 on the
Billboard
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"
- Doc Watson
on his 1967 album
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
the Fabulous Thunderbirds
can be found on the
Porky's Revenge
soundtrack (1985).
- Bob Dylan
included a version of "Stack A Lee" on his 1993 album
World Gone Wrong
.
- An extended version appears on
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
1981 live album
Reach Up And Touch The Sky
.
- Huey Lewis and the News
recorded "Stagger Lee" on their 1994 album of R&B covers,
Four Chords And Several Years Ago
.
- Neil Sedaka
recorded the song in 1983 for his album
Come See About Me
.
- In 1996,
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
included a song called "Stagger Lee" on their album "
Murder Ballads
". Not a cover version of the classic song, but instead an alternative and darker version of the tale itself, the references are evident: set in 1932, a still alive Stagger Lee now owns a
Colt .45
(instead of the 'original' .44) and carries a deck of cards; he also still has his Stetson hat, which is now, of course, "old". Also Stagger Lee still has problems in bars, and ends up shooting not only a bartender, but also another rival also called Billy. This version retakes a street
"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
Snakefarm
included song called "Staggerlee" in their album "My Halo In Half-light".
Popular culture
[
edit
]
- 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.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
B-side artist listed as "the Virginians"
- ^
Brown, Cecil (2004).
Stagolee Shot Billy
. Boston: Harvard University Press. pp. 43?45.
ISBN
978-0674028906
.
- ^
Brown, Cecil (2004).
Stagolee Shot Billy
. Boston: Harvard University Press. p. 23.
ISBN
0674028902
.
- ^
Brown, Cecil (2004).
Stagolee Shot Billy
. Boston: Harvard University Press. p. 43.
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."
- ^
Brown, Cecil (2004).
Stagolee Shot Billy
. Boston: Harvard University Press. p. 23.
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."
- ^
Brown, Cecil (2004).
Stagolee Shot Billy
. Boston: Harvard University Press. pp. 21?29.
ISBN
0674028902
.
- ^
Brown, Cecil (2004).
Stagolee Shot Billy
. Boston: Harvard University Press. pp. 34?36.
ISBN
0674028902
.
- ^
Brown, Cecil (2004).
Stagolee Shot Billy
. Harvard University Press. p. 102.
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
.
- ^
Black, Jack (2021).
You Can't Win
. Vancouver, BC: Must Have Books.
ISBN
978-1-77323-797-8
.
OCLC
1301911524
.
- ^
MacDonald, J. Fred
, ed. (1989).
Richard Durham's Destination Freedom
. New York: Praeger. p. x.
ISBN
0275931382
.
Also see
OCLC
1323028307
,
44432637
for cassette and audio CD availability of the episode
External links
[
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]
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Albums
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Singles
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Related articles
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