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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Thurl Ravenscroft and Stan Jones - Grand Canyon

Stan Jones (AMG wiki Disney-centric bio), if the back cover of this album can be believed (click through to read it, then click to the AMG link to read a different version of the story), was a simple park ranger, until one day he coincidentally met some Hollywood types. They suggested he seek fame and fortune, and the rest is history.

He's best known these days, of course, as the writer of "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky." Here's a track from his 1958 Disneyland Records album (via), with narration and some vocals from our patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft.

(This record was only available at Disneyland and national parks, so it's pretty hard to come by these days. The buy link currently goes to one copy for $92, though you can get the whole schmear -- and another Jones/Ravenscroft album, plus lots of other things -- at that via link.)

Keep coming back, folks -- I still have more vacation-themed things for you this week.

Thurl Ravenscroft and Stan Jones - Grand Canyon
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Stagger Lee Saturdays: Lloyd Price Month

So the story goes like this: Dick Clark didn't like the violence in Lloyd Price's hit version of Stag. So he asked Price to go back in the studio and re-record it. Time and time again, Clark is accused of this, but I've never seen any proof, or a definitive statement from anyone who was there, or anything I'd trust. Price appeared on Bandstand and sang Stag unbowdlerized, with the shooting intact, so I question just how much of the blame for this rests on Dick Clark's head.

This version has no Stetson hat, no killing, not even any gambling or drinking. Here Stag and Billy argue, not over cheating at dice or politics, but over Stag's girlfriend. These lyrics are so terrible, I have to assume they're at least a little tongue-in-cheek. Stagger Lee, the badass to end all badasses, is turned into a little whiny bitch in this version: "I don't wanna see him no more"??

Musically, I still like this version -- since it was recorded at basically the same time, with as far as I can tell the same musicians, it doesn't suffer from the usual curse of rerecordings. (And boo hiss for rerecordings!) Instead it suffers from the curse of the well-meaning censor. (Also, boo hiss for well-meaning censors!)

Come back next week to hear a much later rerecording...

Lloyd Price - Stagger Lee (nonviolent version)
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Stagger Lee Saturdays: Lloyd Price Month

Lloyd Price. (official wiki AMG) I know it seems a little ridiculous, doesn't it? I've been posting versions of this song for almost a year now, and I've never posted Lloyd's from 1958. The first version I ever heard, the first version to become a hit.

Sorry, Lloyd. To make it up to you a little, the entire month of February, I'm posting nothing but your versions of Stag. I have four excellent, each somewhat different, versions lined up. First, the classic 1958 original recording of Stag.

I have to admit -- I have no perspective whatsoever on this. This was the only version of Stag I heard until I was about 16, so for me, this version is, definitively, the song in its purest state. I know for a fact that that's silly and probably wrong, but I cannot step back from this at all to comment on it. Let me just say this: in 1958, African-American singers, with the sole exception of Nat King Cole, did not have Caucasian vocalists backing them up. That, plus the poppy jazzy instrumentation, helped make this upbeat murder ballad a huge success.

Next week, we'll hear the infamous "nonviolent" version...

Lloyd Price - Stagger Lee
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Guestpost: The Chipmunk Song

My good friend Ken is a record-collecting maniac. I met him through our work on Muppet Wiki, where he spent a LONG time helping to whip the record categories into shape. He knows far more than any one person should about records, especially the ones made for kids, and so for his guestpost here he decided to take you on a musical history trip...

50 years ago today, on December 22, 1958, "The Chipmunk Song" by The Chipmunks with David Seville went to #1, and stayed there for 4 weeks. David Seville (born Ross Bagdasarian) had been recording music at Liberty Records for a few years (mostly pop instrumentals), when in 1958 he had the idea for a novelty record using sped-up vocals. The result was "Witch Doctor", which hit #1 for 3 weeks on April 28, 1958. For a follow-up, he conceived the idea of 3 harmonizing chipmunk brothers singing about what they wanted for Christmas. The finished record became the fastest selling single in history until the arrival of the Beatles. This led to more Chipmunk singles and albums, as well as a prime-time cartoon show. For the last half century, the song has never been out of print, and has appeared in virtually every possible format: 78's, 45's, LP's, cassettes, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks, CD's, and downloads. The Chipmunks also became instantly recognized cartoon characters on all kinds of merchandise, ranking up there with Disney characters, the Muppets, and the Peanuts gang. Bagdasarian died in 1972, but his son and daughter-in-law have kept his memory alive, by creating new Chipmunk cartoons, as well as reissuing the old songs.

Mark here again. Since it's a Monday, and I can't help myself, I've included three more versions of this song. After the original version, you hear a clip of the song at half-speed, so you can hear just how Bagdasarian acted the three parts. Then, just for giggles, I sped it up a lot, so David Seville sounds like a Chipmunk himself. Finally, The Lost Dogs bring in some recording tricks of their own, and manage to make new, genuinely funny comedy out of a decades-old novelty song.

Link to Zipfile
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Multiple Mondays - Merry Christmas, Baby

I owe Charles Brown an apology. By all rights, and in the tradition of Multiple Mondays, his picture, or one of his album covers, should be over there to the right. (Keep reading to learn why I photoshopped a Santa hat on Chuck instead.)

You see, waaaaay back in 1947, rhythm and blues singer Charles Brown met a songwriter named Lou Baxter, who wanted him to record a song called "Merry Christmas Blues." Brown reworked the song and took it into the studio, where his usual collaborators, Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, provided the backing track. (Apparently it's actually Brown on the celeste, not an instrument you hear often on blues records.) Since then, Charles Brown rerecorded the song at least ten more times for about as many labels. I've included a version he did with Bonnie Raitt down below as a sample.

In 1958, Chuck Berry recorded his
version (the single included his new song "Run Run Rudolph" -- talk about a double A-side!). Chuck's version of this song is prime cover territory -- Johnnie Johnson's tinkly piano stands in for the celeste, while Chuck's almost-mournful guitar chills the happiness of the lyrics, showcasing the mellowness of this song. Also, Chuck doesn't include Brown's lyric "all lit up like a Christmas tree" -- this is a mellow version for cuddling by the fire with your baby, not rocking out or even swaying in time to the music. My good friend Steven Rusling suggested this song as his guest-post, and also sent along that alternate take down below, which just got released ten months ago in a massive box set I'm drooling over.

This post contains eight versions out of literally dozens and dozens that've been recorded. You get to hear B. B. King blast through the song, Ike and Tina rave it up, and Elvis starts out slow then builds to a rocking climax. Otis Redding's version is probably the happiest record he ever made. Next year I'll probably post a part two, and I'll inflict Mae West's version on you then. (I have a lot of good versions too, but hers will burn into your brain, like the rest of her full-length Christmas album.)

Johnny Moore's Three Blazers with Charles Brown
Chuck Berry (released take + alternate version_
Ike and Tina Turner
Elvis Presley
Otis Redding
B. B. King
Bonnie Raitt and Charles Brown

Zipfile