October 14, 2004
Stagolee killed Billy Lyons over a Stetson hat.
100 years of narrative, legend, and myth.
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I keep meaning to buy that book. And this site looks excellent. Cheers.
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Great site. Been a fan of the Dylan and Nick Cave versions for years. A friend of mine actually burned a cd of versions of this song in chronological order.
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Wait. This song is about African-Americans? I always imagined they were white and I can't find anything in the lyrics either way (and boy oh boy, are there ever a lot of different lyrics to this song.)
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A song for the ages.
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I love the song and the backstory, and this site is well done. Let me recommend Greil Marcus's amazing book Mystery Train, which has an in-depth investigation of the Stagolee story and an annotated list of recordings. (See also y2karl's MetaFilter post.)
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"How the hell can I arrest him, he's twice as big as me?" Another version of the song: ~8MB mp3 by the Grateful Dead with the story re-told by Robert Hunter, live in late '78. Jerry & Co. recorded and released "Stagger Lee" on Shakedown Street.
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My absolute favorite version of this song is on the Angola Prisoners' Blues CD. I heard it once on the Dick Spottswood Show one Sunday afternoon. I can't pinpoint exactly why, but I listen to that song about once a week.