Stagger Lee Saturdays - Dr. John, Part Two

Sorry I crapped out on y'all last week -- it was just too busy for me to get anything done here. Luckily, I've got a lot lined up all this month. (Also, you'll wanna go back to the post of two weeks ago and read the comments -- new stuff has come to light.)

It's been a while since I did a month of double Stag posts, but it's time again, so I can keep the numbers up. Today, we're gonna hear two more takes from Dr. John (learn a little about Dr. John and find his first version here, or on this compilation).

In 1973, the year after his first release of "Stagger Lee," Dr. John recorded a live show on radio, which luckily is in wide circulation. (You can get the whole marvelous thing at Captains Dead -- don't forget to click the link at the bottom for the second half.) This live track is similar lyrically and musically to the version on Dr. John's Gumbo. We're going "tee-na, na-na!"

Thirty-one years later, Dr. John mixed up a new version of the Stag legend for his album N'Awlinz: Dis Dat or D'udda (which album includes guest performances from B. B. King, Randy Newman, Willie Nelson, etc etc). He wrote in the liner notes:

"There was a many a pimp named Stak, and many a card hustler named Stakdollar ... An epic saga of death and char-ack-ters."

As befits the new version, this song has an (apparently) original title spelling. We'll hear more about Stack A Dollar next week, too...

Now, before I give you links, here's what I have planned for the rest of this month. If I can manage it, each Saturday this month will have two versions of Stag for your listening enjoyment. Download 'em, trade 'em, collect 'em all! Each Sunday this month will feature a Silly Sunday track from the same artist -- swing by tomorrow to find out who it'll be! Finally, I got to see Dr. John live last week, and the show blew my ears off. Come by Tuesday or Wednesday, and I'll post a review and some more tracks from Mac. Now, those MP3s:

Dr. John - Stagger Lee (live 1973)
mirror 1 -- mirror 2
Dr. John - Stakalee
mirror 1 -- mirror 2
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