Stagger Lee Saturdays: Fruit Jar Guzzlers

I apologize for the silliness of the picture to the right there, but we know pretty much nothing about Fruit Jar Guzzlers (wiki AMG), except that they recorded their version of Stag in about 1928. I read about this version in Cecil Brown's excellent book Stagolee Shot Billy, which you should all buy immediately. The book is excellent, painstakingly researched, and for the most part easy going, even for the folkloric layperson such as myself. (The book was published by Harvard University Press, but the references to obscure folklorological and sociological terms are kept to a minimum, and the storytelling to a maximum.)

Anyway, here's this week's version of Stag, complete with authentic 1920's static.

Fruit Jar Guzzlers - Stack-O-Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays: The Best of Stagger Lee

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pride and no small amount of trepidation that She'll Grow Back presents a compilation entitled "Talkin' Bout The Baaad Man: The Best of Stagger Lee."

The choices made to cut this down to under 80 minutes, or one CD's worth, were hard and are likely to be controversial. (I intend to remedy this with further volumes of "the best.") Hopefully, most of you will find your favorite version of Stag on this collection. If not, that's what the comments section down there is for. I'm not writing up special liner notes for this; I've written up each song in its own post, which you'll find links to below. Arranged chronologically, these 22 tracks embody the main themes of Stagger Lee the ballad, the folk song, the blues song, and the rocker.

Tracklisting:

1926: Ma Rainey
1927: Frank Hutchison
1927: Furry Lewis
1928: Cliff Edwards
1928: Mississippi John Hurt
1944: Woody Guthrie
1950: Archibald
1951: Tennessee Ernie Ford
1958: Lloyd Price
1963: Dave Van Ronk
1966: Ike and Tina Turner
1968: Taj Mahal
1968: Wilson Pickett
1972: Dr. John
1979: The Clash
1993: Bob Dylan
1996: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
1998: R. L. Burnside
2004: The Black Keys
2005: Chris Whitley and Jeff Lang
2007: Samuel L. Jackson
2008: Keb' Mo'

Zip file

Stagger Lee Saturdays - Tennessee Ernie Ford

Tennessee Ernie (Official Wiki AMG) is best known as the guy who recorded "16 Tons," and quite a few gospel records we all saw marketed on late-night television. Four years before his massive hit with "16 Tons," and seven years before anyone ever had a hit with Stag, Tennessee Ernie (still then working on a weekly radio show) recorded his take on Stag.

Remember how I said that Tommy Roe's version of Stag was relentlessly upbeat? Well, so is Tennessee Ernie's, but don't hold that against him. This is a finger-snapping, foot-stomping boogie-woogie that'll stick in your head for days. Days, I tell you.

I've been planning a "best of Stag" compilation for a while now. I'd been holding off on posting such a thing for two reasons: Lloyd Price and Tennessee Ernie. Next week, I won't be putting up a new version, but you will get a CD's worth of the best of Stag, in chronological order. Stay tuned!

Tennessee Ernie Ford - Stack-O-Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays: The Boppers

Here's something entertaining. The Boppers (Google translation of Swedish Wikipedia -- translation of official site) were a Swedish group who specialized in covers of American rock and roll or doo-wop songs from the 1950s and 1960s.

For some reason, they covered Lloyd Price's censored, nonviolent version of Stag. I can only assume it's because their language skills were not so great -- the lyrics here at their official site indicate that they misunderstood a few words. When I first heard this version, I assumed this version was tongue-in-cheek, satirizing the castration of Stag achieved by Price's censor. The lyrics here say that Stag and Billy were "hugging" in the dark (not arguing, as Price's censor would have it). And though the action here still revolves around Stag's girlfriend, Billy clearly calls Stag not his "best friend" but rather his "boyfriend."

This album has apparently been out of print since 1983, so for the second week in a row I can't provide a buy link. Instead, the link goes to The Boppers' official store where you can buy T-shirts and CDs and what is clearly the must-have item: $5.00 hot pants.

The Boppers - Stagger Lee
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John Cale - Antarctica Starts Here

Well folks, you're all lucky. It's ten minutes till bedtime for me, since I'm gonna go and (gulp) see Watchmen on opening day. I haven't seen a movie on opening day since... um... uh... Payback maybe?

I didn't think about putting this file up until five minutes ago, and you're all very lucky to get to hear this, since I imagine the majority of Watchmen fans don't know this song, though they've read a quote from it over and over again. So here you are: John Cale's "Antartica Starts Here," from what might be my favorite of his solo albums.

John Cale - Antarctica Starts Here
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John Prine - Paradise

Hi, folks. I don't talk politics on this blog, as you're no doubt aware. But I do like the Coen Brothers, and this ad just premiered this week, and last night I was listening to John Prine (official fansite Wiki AMG), and well, the blogpost wrote itself. Even if coal emissions are scrubbed completely, and then hidden away securely, we still have to rip up the land to get it out.

I'll be monitoring the comments on this very severely, so astoturfers shouldn't even bother -- a comment not about the song or the QUALITY of the commercial will be deleted. Go argue science somewhere else.

John Prine - Paradise
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