Stagger Lee Saturdays - Spencer and Spencer

Here's a tie-in post. This ties in Stagger Lee with my recent series of posts on Break-In Records. Spencer and Spencer were actually Dickie Goodman, king of the break-in records, and Detroit DJ Micky Shorr.

A bit of clarification before you download: This isn't actually a break-in record per se, using song lyrics as dialogue. In fact, it only samples two records: Lloyd Price's then-current hit version of Stag, and Stan Freberg's epic takedown of Lawrence Welk. The Freberg record was still very well-known in 1959, two years after its release, and in fact this uses a few of the same jokes ("The Lemon Sisters," a similarly deadly impression of Welk, and even the same sound effect to signify the crushing of Welk's accordion). This whole thing feels like Freberg Lite to me, reusing the diction correction of Stan's "Sh-Boom" and the running back into the studio of his "Day-O." But, in all fairness, even Freberg Lite is still funnier than the SNL parodies of Welk they've been doing lately.

So, to sum up, this isn't the funniest novelty record of 1959, or the funniest version of Stag. But it's good for a few giggles, and if you're a completist of Freberg, Stagger Lee, or even Welk parodies, it's essential listening.

Spencer and Spencer - Stagger Lawrence
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Frank Morey

Frank Morey (official AMG FB MyS profile) is a Massachusetts blues-folk type of guy, with a perfect gravelly voice. Like Waits and Wolf before him, he uses his voice to express not just beauty but pain and anger and wrecked ennui and all sorts of other things, and even occasionally that beauty but through a cracked window.

This version of Stag has a slow, tuning-up kind of start, but soon begins swinging hard and loose. Then it turns into a medley, with quotes from "Delia" (the two songs share a few lines in the folk canon), and in between there and the end there's also a rambling a capella break and a big finish, and a little coda at the end.

There are no screaming guitars, or drum solos, but this is rock and roll at its finest: take traditional American music from a couple of different sources, get a few talented people in a room and have them run through it, with the freedom to do what they want and follow their own musical ideas.

It's too bad I "discovered" Frank Morey right this second -- as of this writing I don't have the money or the time to invest in five new albums from a completely new-to-me artist, but I really really really want to. (His MySpace and Facebook pages also include a mindblowing cover of Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song" I might be sharing sometime soon, but you shouldn't wait. Click and listen.)

Frank Morey - Stack O'Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Foghorn Stringband

Foghorn Stringband (official bio AMG MyS FB) are an old-timey bluegrass band from Portland, OR. They just completed a major European tour and have their whole summer planned out (including a folk fest next weekend -- if you're in the area, I'm jealous).

This is fast and furious (in a slightly different way from this take on Stag), and the speed and energy the band put into this are almost punishing -- I can't imagine any group of five people keeping this up live for an hour. This is from the band's major label debut in 2005, and their devoted network of fans have kept them touring ever since.

The main original lyrical motif in this version is that we can't find out exactly what time of day the shooting happened -- but it was rainy.

Foghorn Stringband - Stagger Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - The David Bromberg Band

Hi, everyone! I'm finally back, after a nice sabbatical. I had all sorts of musical and real-life adventures, and I'll be back next week with a post about some of that. Sorry about the wait for this return.

David Bromberg (official wiki AMG discography) is a Philly-born multi-instrumentalist, probably better known as a backing player for people like Bob Dylan, John Prine, Tom Rush, Ringo Starr and Jerry Jeff Walker. He currently lives in Wilmington, Delaware, where he occasionally performs live but also runs a violin-making business.

This is an amazing rendition of Stag, with a lovely Dixieland feel and quite a few jokes we've never heard before.

The David Bromberg Band - Mrs. DeLion's Lament
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Hogman Maxey

I've mentioned field and prison recordings before in our discussions of Stag, and here's a take on the song from 1952, in Louisiana State Penitentiary. That same year saw a protest by 31 inmates, who intentionally cut their own Achilles' tendons to protest the inhumane work program.

Matthew "Hogman" Maxey (AMG see also) was recorded by Harry Oster in Angola, and as you'll see at that AMG link, never recorded anything outside of a prison environment.

This version isn't particularly dynamic; from the enthusiastic strumming of the same few chords over and over to Maxey's almost monotone delivery of the verses, it's almost hypnotic. I feel like I have to point out again that I can't imagine the cruelty and misery these prisoners underwent on a continuing basis, the mind-numbing evil banality of wake-work-eat-sleep day after day. The fact that these people managed to find an outlet for creative expression cheers me up, but in a hollow sort of way (much like the too-little-too-late instrumental flourish at the end of this song).

Hopefully tomorrow's Silly Sunday post will find me in a better mood.

Hogman Maxey - Stagolee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Long Cleve Reed and Harvey Hull

Long Cleve Reed and Harvey Hull were also known as The Down Home Boys, and other than that I can't find anything else about them. They recorded a few other sides for a couple of labels, but this record is why they'll be remembered. Not this recording; this record.

This record is incredibly rare -- there's only one copy still extant, and it's worth at least $30,000. (That makes it one of the most valuable records ever.)

I like this -- it feels to me like the best folk music, like something dug out of the dirt and pushed into a primitive shape. The harmony vocals duet with the surface noise to instantly transport me to the past, a time when my ancestors were growing tobacco or cotton in Georgia's red dirt and on weekends they could supplement their income by entering a small record label and singing into microphones.





...wow, I'm more tired than I thought. But it's Saturday, and if I don't finish this now it won't get posted in time. Let's just say I love this recording, and leave it at that.

Long Cleve Reed and Little Harvey Hull - The Original Stack'O Lee Blues
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Dom Flemons

Dom Flemons (official MySpace AMG) is better known as one-third of Carolina Chocolate Drops, who are currently on tour promoting their new album. (Sadly, I don't think I can make the Atlanta show -- what with the wedding and honeymoon I have very few spare pennies around here right now. Too bad; what I've heard of the album is fantastic.)

This is a high-energy take on Stag (and yet another featuring Furry Lewis' "When you lose your money" moral). Dom puts everything he has into this song, and I can just imagine how much fun it must be to see him do this live.

Stag's adventures in hell continue in this version too -- one unusual lyric is that the earthquake we occasionally hear about isn't caused by Stag tormenting Billy down in hell -- it's just Stagger Lee with his John B. Stetson hat.

Dom Flemons - Stackolee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Champion Jack Dupree

Champion Jack Dupree (wiki discography bio MySpace AMG) was a New Orleans-born boogie-woogie blues piano player, who at various times in his life was also a painter, a cook, a POW, and a very good boxer. (For more about boxing and Stag, see here.)

This is a N'awlins-sounding poppy blues take on Stag, recorded the same year as Lloyd Price's huge hit, but not sharing much in common with that. This is from Dupree's biggest hit album, Blues From The Gutter, which also includes recordings of "Junker's Blues" and "Frankie and Johnnie."

Dupree namechecks Louis Armstrong in this song, and in fact the two of them were raised in the same orphanage home (Armstrong had family to live with, but was sent to the home several times for delinquency). Another lyric to note is that the gambling is glossed over in one line, but Billy begs Stag for a two whole verses. (Not quite as sadistic as Broke Toe Rezo's version, but still...)

Champion Jack Dupree - Stack-O-Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Margaret Walker

This is Dr. Margaret Walker (wiki bio poetry selection). She was born in Alabama in 1915, went to school in New Orleans, and worked as a poet and professor right up until her death in 1998. Her take on Stag was originally published in 1942, when Walker was still a young woman, recently employed by the New Deal's Work Progress Administration and its Federal Writer's Project (alongside Richard Wright). This is a transcription of dialect, and Walker reads it as such in both recordings below. (Both source albums also include recordings of Walker's poem about "John Henry," another legendary black American story also told in dialect.)

Walker recorded her poem twice for Folkways, the record label that also released Harry Smith's epic Anthology of American Folk Music, and a lot of the recordings of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Leadbelly. The first time was in 1954, twelve years after she published the poem -- at the time she was living in Jackson, Mississippi with her husband and their four children. Twenty-one years later, she returned to Folkways to record three albums, one of which included her poem about Stag.

I've included both of them here, so you can hear how the two versions are different -- the text is identical in both, but the delivery varies. The first one is faster, and Walker makes the cartoon birds flying around the cop's head funnier. The second is clearly the voice of an older woman -- this version spends a little more time (going a little slower) when we hear how Stag escaped the lynching meant for his hide, and the tale of how Stag haunts New Orleans.

Walker is pretty important as far as poets go, and this post clearly hasn't done her justice -- click on that poetry link at the top to read more, or go down to the buy link and support the work of Folkways while listening to more from her.

Margaret Walker - Bad Man Stackalee
(1954)
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(1975)
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Broke Toe Rezo

Broke Toe Rezo (archived official AMG) is another guy who's only released one album, so again there's not much about him online. From what I can tell, he claims he broke his toe hopping a train, and he also helps rebuild trains. He's just a train kind of guy.

This might be the most sadistic version of Stag we've ever heard, maybe even moreso than Nick Cave's badass version. Stag doesn't personally tell Billy Delion's wife to look at the hole in Billy's head, but he puts his body on a train. He puts his body on a train!

I'm not sure if this is, in fact, Broke Toe's natural singing voice (it sounds like he drops out of it at one point), and I'm not sure if I like it, but this man plays a crazy guitar. This is amazing slide blues work, some of the best we've heard in any version of Stag.

Broke Toe Rezo - Stagger Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Patrick Whelan

Patrick Whelan (official site) is an Irish-born folk-blues musician who has since moved to London and, ultimately, Pennsylvania to ply his trade.

He's only released one album, so there's little about him online outside of his official site. This version is credited to Mississippi John Hurt, though it doesn't sound a lot like Hurt's 1928 take. (It's from a later version, which I haven't posted here yet.) This is also another version where the hat is magical, which we don't hear about often enough for my taste.

Patrick Whelan - Stagolee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Sidney Bechet

Sidney Bechet (official tribute wiki AMG) was a master clarinetist and saxophonist, though today you'll only hear him on the clarinet. I don't upload a lot of instrumental versions of Stag, since I'm more interested in the lyrical changes between versions than the musical ones.

But this is a nice mellow take on the song, featuring one Art Hodes on piano. The discography on that tribute site tells us it was recorded in New York City in February of 1946.

At the risk of repeating myself, my wedding is soon, and I'd imagine posts will be kind of light on the ground around here for a few weeks. I'll try to get some in the pipeline, but that's never worked out before.

Sidney Bechet - Old Stack O'Lee Blues
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Bobby Pratt and the Rockers

Howdy, all. Sorry for the recent slack -- not a very auspicious start for this blog in the New Year. (I'm blaming it on residual Christmas burnout.)

Here's a raucous rockabilly take on Stag, modeled loosely on Lloyd Price's then-current hit., with some seriously wailing saxophone.

The album today's track comes from is a compilation of radio recordings by various (unknown) artists, featuring covers of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and others, along with vintage ads for Sinclair Oil and Pepsi and some local businesses. Good stuff all around.

Bobby Pratt and The Rockers - Stagger Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Billy Glenn and Shelley Taylor

Well, ladies and gentlemen, Christmas is over. I hope you all had a good one, and that everyone got lots of good swag. Since Christmas is done, and today's Saturday, that means it's time for Stag to return to the blog!

Here's 2009's final version of Stag, and boy is it ridiculous. You'll hear Billy Glenn (official) singing the story of Stag, with interjections and organ by Shelley Taylor (see also).

Did I mention this is silly? I found it via WFMU, of course.

I've got at least one more post before the year's out, so be sure to come back, and become a fan on Facebook if you like.

Billy Glenn and Shelley Taylor - Stagger Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group

Here's another version of Stag that mentions the original Christmastime setting.

Ken Colyer (official wiki AMG) was a British jazz musician, one with a fondness for all traditional forms of music. Many people consider him the link between jazz and skiffle.

This is a lot slower than the other two skiffle versions of Stag I posted a few months back, but was recorded in 1956 as well. Lyrically, it's different, and has a nice funny battle between the prosecutor and Stag's own lawyer.

Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group - Stack O'Lee Blues
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - The Grateful Dead 2

Remember last year when I posted the studio take on Stag from the Dead? Well, as I mentioned in that post, the original real-life shooting took place on Christmas Eve, but there are almost no versions of the tale which mention that.

So I can have a Christmasy Stagger Lee post, here's a nice live take from Jerry and the band. (via) This is a little funkier than the studio version, with some twisted, tortured guitarwork. Overall, a nice solid live take on the song, with not as much extended jamming as you might expect.

(I might have one more seasonal Stag up my sleeve for this year, but no promises. Stag will definitely return in January if not before...)

The Grateful Dead - Stagger Lee (live Nashville, December 16, 1978)
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - John Cephas and Phil Wiggins

John Cephas and Phil Wiggins (official wiki AMG) first met in the mid-70's, and played together till Cephas died this March. This delectable take on Stag is from their 1986 album Dog Days of August.

The guitar sparkles; the harmonica makes my heart speed up a little. Cephas' vocals duel with the harmonica for notice, and alllllllmost win out.

Lyrically, there's not much here we haven't heard twenty times before, but there's a joy in distillation of everything good about a song. This is classic Stag, bluesy, folky, violent and dark and dangerous.

December's coming up, folks. Are you ready for Christmas music? It's starting soon.

John Cephas and Phil Wiggins - Stagger Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Tim Hardin

Tim Hardin (wiki AMG MySpace fansite) was a rare major-label musician who served in Vietnam. The country of Vietnam, that is; actually, he left the Marines way back in 1961, long before US combat troops were deployed in the country.

In 1963 and '64, he recorded some demos for Columbia Records, which they declined to release. After all, bluesy folksingers were a dime a dozen in those days. In 1967, after Hardin had proven himself as a commercial songwriter and artist for another label, Columbia licensed the tracks out, though the tracks clearly didn't sound like Hardin's current output. (Hardin is, of course, best known as the guy who wrote "If I Were A Carpenter.")

This version of Stag is pretty clearly the template for the last two versions I've posted, including the surprise ending I like so much about last week's.

Tim Hardin - Stagger Lee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Ewen Forfar

Ewen Forfar is a local Edinburgh folkie. He plays a couple of days a week at the Royal Oak Folk club, which released a compilation CD last year. That CD is the source of today's recording of Stag.

This starts out, musically and lyrically, to be pretty much the same as last week's version of Stag, but the last verse is very different, with a brutally funny surprise, and the news of Stag's ecologically progressive transportation choice.

If you're in Edinburgh, apparently the Royal Oak is the place to hear folk music, and if you're in luck Ewen might play Stag for you.

Ewen Forfar - Stagolee
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Mark Berenson

Mark Berenson (official AMG) is a local Colorado musician, who's recorded one album split between covers ("Trouble In Mind," "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out") and originals. (Plenty of samples on the official page -- check it out.)

This is the New Orleans version of the song, where every step you take, you're steppin' in Billy DeLyons' blood. But there's also information on Stag's duel of words with the sheriff, and his adventures in hell. (You'll hear another, very similar take on this next week.)

Mark Berenson - Stagolee
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