October 14, 2004

Stagolee killed Billy Lyons over a Stetson hat. 100 years of narrative, legend, and myth.
  • I keep meaning to buy that book. And this site looks excellent. Cheers.
  • 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.
  • 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.)
  • A song for the ages.
  • 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.)
  • "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.
  • 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.