^ The Isleys also did a version, I'll post the video at a later time lol

I always thought this was a weird song.

phunkdaddy said:

I always thought this was a weird song.

This was a traditional folk song based on a true story. I think the original title was Stagolee. Over the years the lyrics have varied though. There's another folk song about this woman who was killed in the 1800's and the trial of the suspected killer, but I can't think of the name of it right now.

http://www.staggerlee.com/

The song tells the story of a murder. On Christmas Eve, 1895, in a St. Louis saloon, "Stag" Lee Shelton, a black pimp, shot William "Billy" Lyons. Eyewitnesses say Billy snatched Stag's Stetson hat. Boom, boom, boom, boom went Stag's forty-four. You don't mess with a man's hat.

The events of that night were immediately cast into song. Like a game of Chinese Whispers it swept through the South, following railway lines and paddle steamers of the Mississippi. Told and retold. Sung and resung. Changing a little bit each time. Reality slipped away and the myth was created.

"Stagolee was, undoubtedly and without question, the baddest nigger that ever lived. Stagolee was so bad that the flies wouldn't even fly around his head in the summertime, and snow wouldn't fall on his house in the winter."

– Julius Lester, "Black Folktales."

Like any great myth, the true origins are shrouded. We must delve beyond recorded history.

The history of the song tells many stories. It is an anthem of the dispossessed. It expresses fear of the scary black man, the evolution of modern music, culture theft from black to white, hero worship of the outlaw, the origins of a legendary character and the writing of a Myth.

No other song has so transcended its humble beginnings and been re-invented in so many genres, in so many media and by so many artists.

I'm ashamed to admit I have never heard of Lloyd Price

have only ever known one version and thats Tina's love the song

shellyk84 said:

I'm ashamed to admit I have never heard of Lloyd Price

have only ever known one version and thats Tina's love the song

He's a Rock N Roll Hall of Famer that gets overlooked due to his peers at the time.

Chuck Berry

Sam Cooke

Ray Charles

Little Richard

Jackie Wilson

James Brown

Little Willie John

Bo Diddley

Fats Domino

LittleBLUECorvette said:

James Brown

James recorded Stagger Lee also.

MickyDolenz said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

James Brown

James recorded Stagger Lee also.

JB recorded every song ever, lol.

Timmy84 said:

^ The Isleys also did a version, I'll post the video at a later time lol

My favorite version.

AlexdeParis said:

Timmy84 said:

^ The Isleys also did a version, I'll post the video at a later time lol

My favorite version.

Man have I got a thread for you by the way!

http://prince.org/msg/8/350881

Wilson Pickett has a version too:

Well geez what the hell is it with this song that everyone back in the

day wanted to record this. It 's not that good imo. Who else has

a version Gene Chandler?

phunkdaddy said:

Well geez what the hell is it with this song that everyone back in the

day wanted to record this. It 's not that good imo. Who else has

a version Gene Chandler?

I doubt it.

phunkdaddy said:

Well geez what the hell is it with this song that everyone back in the

day wanted to record this. It 's not that good imo. Who else has

a version Gene Chandler?

The Clash sings a couple of lines at the beginning of this song.