My recent comment:
>>>The number of "our era" pop songs being used in commercials right now is staggering! (kk)
Inspired Chuck Buell to write this ...
Absolutely Staggering, Lee!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCPutYaGFlE
"Based on a True Story!'
But then, you already knew that … and it’s probably why some stations, although while not a "banned song," were leery of playing it! Still, a Four-Week Number One Forgotten Hit in 1959!
CB!
Which inspired ME to dig out THIS from The Forgotten Hits Archives ...
And a Top 20 Hit multiple times after that …
Wilson Pickett (as “Stag-O-Lee”), #17 in 1967
Tommy Roe (as “Stagger Lee”), #19 in 1971
Here’s how WE covered its history (from The Forgotten Hits Archives) …
‘60’s FLASHBACK
Stagger Lee
Stagger Lee (also recorded as both Stack-O-Lee and
Stag-O-Lee) was first recorded in 1923 by blues / folk artist Mississippi John
Hurt. The song tells the story of a murder that took place on Friday, December
27th (most often erroneously remembered as occurring on Christmas Eve) at The
Bill Curtis Saloon in St. Louis, Missouri, back in 1895. According to legend,
"Stag" Lee Shelton, a cab driver (and black pimp), shot and killed
William "Billy" Lyons with his 44-caliber revolver after Billy
snatched Stag's Stetson Hat. The story (as documented in The St. Louis
Globe-Democrat in their issue dated Saturday Morning, December 28, 1895) read
as follows:
"William
Lyons, 25, colored, a levee hand, living at 1410 Morgan Street, was shot in the
abdomen yesterday evening at 10 o'clock in the saloon of Bill Curtis, at
Eleventh and Morgan Streets, by Lee Sheldon. (NOTE spelling: Sheldon's
CORRECT name was Shelton but it was misspelled throughout the newspaper
article) Sheldon, a carriage driver, also colored, lives at North Twelfth
Street.
"Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. Both parties,
it seems, had been drinking and were feeling in exuberant spirits. The
discussion drifted to politics, and an argument was started, the conclusion of
which was that Lyons snatched Sheldon's hat from his head. The latter
indignantly demanded its return. Lyons refused, and Sheldon drew his revolver
and shot Lyons in the abdomen. When his victim fell to the floor, Sheldon took
his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away.
"He was subsequently arrested and locked up at the Chestnut Street
Station. Lyons was taken to the Dispensary, where his wounds were pronounced
serious. He was removed to the city hospital. At the time of the shooting, the
saloon was crowded with negroes. Lee Sheldon is also known as "Stag"
Lee."
Lyons eventually died from the gun shot wounds inflicted that night. Shelton
was tried and convicted and ultimately served prison time for the crime. In
fact, he died in prison in 1912 of tuberculosis.
Although a total of five similar murders occurred that SAME day in St. Louis,
for some reason the story of THIS murder spread and grew ... soon embellished
and set to song. (Clearly, not only do you not tug on Superman's cape or spit
in the wind or pull the mask of the ol' Lone Ranger ... but you ALSO do not
mess around with Stag Lee's Hat!!!) In fact, Lee Shelton's "badness"
grew at one point (according to Julius Lester's "Black Folktales") to
near mythical proportions:
"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 the snow wouldn't fall on his house in the winter."
Most historians consider the Mississippi John Hurt version to be the most
definitive, as it recounts most of the elements that eventually appeared in
most of the musical retellings of the tale.
The first CHARTED version of Stagger Lee occurred in 1950 when an artist called simply Archibald (actually, a guy from New Orleans named Leon Gross) hit The Top Ten on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues Chart. This was the first time the common melody associated with this tune came into our consciousness.
Nine years later, in 1959, Lloyd Price would top both Billboard's R&B Chart as well as their Pop Chart with his rendering. (This is the version that Chuck Buell is referring to above … the provided YouTube link will take you there.) His rocked-up version would become the biggest hit version, going all the way to #1 on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart.
DIDJAKNOW? - 1: Dick Clark was so concerned about the song's
description of a murder that he had Price cut another version for airing on
American Bandstand!!!
He needn't have worried ... it was the original, unedited "scary"
version that topped the charts!!!
DIDJAKNOW? - 2: Lloyd's cousin was a guy named Larry Williams,
who also served as Price's driver and valet. When he, too, got interested in
music, Lloyd got him an audition with Specialty Records, where he recorded the
'50's rock and roll classics Short Fat Fannie and Bony Moronie. The Beatles
(and John Lennon in particular!) thought enough of Larry's recordings to record
three of his compositions: Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Slow Down and Bad Boy … thus immortalizing
them for the next several generations to come with their own versions of these
tunes.
DIDJAKNOW? - 3: The background singers
on Lloyd Price's version of Stagger Lee were none other than The Ray Charles
Singers, a move Price says was calculated to help him cross-over to a white
record-buying audience. (P.S. It
worked!!!)
In 1967, The Wicked Wilson Pickett cut a GREAT soulful version that went all
the way to #17 on The Cash Box Chart. (It remains yet ANOTHER Top 20 Hit
COMPLETELY ignored by oldies radio today ... and that's a shame because it's a
GREAT version!!!)
And, in 1971, bubblegum star Tommy Roe cut probably the most "vanilla" rendition ever committed to vinyl.
Over the years, versions of Stagger Lee were recorded by artists as diverse as Beck, Pat Boone, James Brown, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Clash, Neil Diamond, Dion, Fats Domino, Dr. John, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Grateful Dead, Woody Guthrie, Bill Haley and the Comets, The Isley Brothers, Tom Jones, Huey Lewis and the News, Jerry Lee Lewis, The McCoys, Memphis Slim, Elvis Presley, Professor Longhair, Ma Rainey, The Righteous Brothers, Tom Rush, Taj Mahal, Ike and Tina Turner, The Ventures and Doc Watson ... as well as literally HUNDREDS of others!
When this piece first ran in Forgotten Hits, we featured a couple of the earliest known recordings, including a 1923 reading by Mississippi John Hurt and the first CHARTED version by Archibald (Part 1 and Part 2), a Top Ten Hit on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues Chart back in 1950. Today, we’ve added to this list the Lloyd Price #1 Hit version (as well as his “cleaned-up” version that he recorded for “American Bandstand”), the Wilson Pickett soulful hit and the Tommy Roe damn-near bubblegum version.
And by the way, the legend of Stagger Lee lives on ... in his song “Shoulder Holster” from his “Blue Moves” album, Elton John sings "It was just like Frankie and Johnny ... and it was just like Stagger Lee" ... and in the (then) recent film “Black Snake Moan,” actor Samuel L. Jackson's character sings a little bit of the song. And, although we may have kidded about it in original piece, I've just GOT to believe that Jim Croce was at least in SOME way inspired by the escapades of Stagger Lee when he wrote his #1 Hits “You Don't Mess Around With Jim” and “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” Suffice to say, Stagger Lee's fame was widespread and legendary.
Wanna do MORE research on this tune??? You'll find ALL kinds
of referrals for Stagger Lee on the web ... just google that title and over 100,000
references will pop up!!!
In fact, it's now speculated that part of the reason the story of Stagger Lee
spread as quickly (and as widely) as it did was due to a song called “The Bully
Song,” first featured in the Broadway Musical “The Widow Jones” back in 1895,
about three months BEFORE the murder of Billy Lyons took place at Bill Curtis'
Saloon.
In those original lyrics, we're warned:
"Have you heard about that Bully that just
came to town?
He's down among the niggers, layin' their bodies down.
I'm a-lookin' for that bully and he must be found."
It's believed by some that Stagger Lee's name was later inserted as the source
of some of the nasty deeds performed by The Bully ... and that as the legend
grew, more and more evilness was attributed to The Stag Man over time.
Meanwhile, with literally HUNDREDS of recorded versions of the song in
existence, Stagger Lee's reputation for "badness" grew over the years
... so much so that in one version, Stagger Lee appears in hell after he is
executed and is SO bad that he takes control of The Devil's Kingdom!!!
Rolling Stone Magazine (when naming “Stagger Lee” one of the 500 Greatest and
Most Influential Rock And Roll Songs Of All-Time) referred to Stagger Lee as
"the original gangsta"!!! I think they just may be right! (kk)
