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St. James Infirmary/Gambling Barroom Blues/ Gambler's Blues/Chittlin' Cookin' Time In Cheatham County/Old Joe's Barroom
Old-Time Country, Blues, Jazz and Bluegrass song; Southeast US.
ARTIST: from "On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs," by Scarborough, circa 1920.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: Unfortunate Rake (lyrics circa late 1700s); Streets of Laredo/Tom Sherman's Barroom 1879 (lyrics); Let Her Go God Bless Her 1902 (lyrics); St. James Infirmary (circa 1916); Those Gambler's Blues (1920s- printed Sandburg 1927); Chittlin' Cooking Time 1936 (lyrics attributed to Arthur Smith)
RECORDING INFO: St. James Infirmary [Laws Q26/Sh 131a]
Leisy, James / Songs for Pickin' and Singin', Gold Medal Books, sof (1962), p122
Silverman, Jerry (ed.)/ Art of the Folk-Blues Guitar, Oak, Sof (1964), p26
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963), p427 [1920s] (St. James Hospital)
Lynn, Frank (ed.) / Songs for Swinging Housemothers, Fearon, Sof (1963/1961), p244
Best, Dick & Beth (eds.) / New Song Fest Deluxe, Hansen, Sof (1971/1948), p 7
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p103
Silverman, Jerry / Folksingers Guide to Note Reading and Music Theory, Oak, Sof (1966), p51
Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Folk Song Abecedary, Bonanza, Bk (1966), p293 (Saint James Infirmary)
Aronoff, Benji. Two Sides of Benji Aronoff, Prestige PR 7416, LP (1965), trk# A.03 (St. James Hospital)
Baby Gramps. Same Ol' Timeously, Grampaphone 1001, CD (2000), 6
Brothers Four. BMOC (Best Music on/off Campus), Columbia CL 1578, LP (1961), trk# A.04
de Wolfe, Dean. Folk Swinger, Audio Odessey DJLP 4030, LP (196?), trk# B.02
Donald, Laura Virginia (V.). Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p164/# 131A [1918/06/08] (St. James Hospital)
Elliott, Ramblin' Jack. Long Ride, Hightone HCD 8107, CD (1999), trk# 5
Langstaff, John. Nottamun Town, Revels 2003, CD (2003/1964), trk# 14 (St. James Hospital)
Lenihan, Tom. Paddy's Panacea. Songs Traditional in West Clare, Topic 12TS 363, LP (1978), trk# A.04 (St. James Hospital)
Luxon, Benjamin; and Bill Crofut. Dance to Your Daddy, ProArte CDD 364, CD (1985), trk# 4 (St. James Hospital)
Myles, Glenn. Co-op Hootenanny, CCB, LP (1965), trk# B.04
Pierce, Billie and De De. New Orleans Jazz, Folk Lyric FL 110, LP (1960), trk# B.05
Rosmini, Dick. Adventures for 12 String, 6 String, and Banjo, Elektra EKS 7245, LP (1964), trk# A.07 (St. James Drag)
Seeger, Pete. American Ballads, Folkways FA 2319, LP (1957), trk# 11
Smith, Dallas; and the Boys from Shiloh. Still Pickin', Narnian NR 0003-2, CD (2000), trk# 13
Taussig, Harry. Taussig, Harry / Advanced Guitar, Oak, Sof (1975), p 67
Van Ronk, Dave. Your Basic Dave Van Ronk, Kicking Mule KM 177, LP (1983), trk# B.02
Watson, Doc. Doc Watson, Vanguard VSD-79152, LP (1964), trk# B.05 (St. James Hospital)
Watson, Doc. Essential Doc Watson, Vanguard VCD 45/46, CD (1986), trk# 5 [1963ca] (St. James Hospital)
Watson, Doc. Watson, Doc / Songs of Doc Watson, Oak, Sof (1971), p112 (St. James Hospital)
White, Josh. Josh at Midnight, Elektra EKL 102, LP (1955), trk# A.01
White, Josh; Jr.. Sing a Rainbow, Mountain Railroad MR 52791, LP (1979), trk# A.02
Wood, Hally. Sing Out Reprints, Sing Out, Sof (1959), 3, p58 (St. James Hospital)
The list of recordings is huge and includes Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, King Oliver, Artie Shaw, Big Mama Thornton, Jack Teagarden, Billie Holiday, Cassandra Wilson, Bobby Hackett, Stan Kenton, Lou Rawls, The Limeliters, Bobby Bland, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Doc Watson, "Spider" John Koerner, Janis Joplin, The Doors, The Animals, and more recently The White Stripes, the Stray Cats, the Tarbox Ramblers, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, and Tom Jones with Jools Holland. Jazz guitarists Marc Ribot and Ivan "Boogaloo Joe" Jones have recorded instrumental versions.
RECORDING INFO Gambler's Blues [Laws Q26/Sh 131/Me I-A52]
Sandburg, Carl (ed.) / American Songbag, Harcourt, Sof (1955/1928), p228 (Those Gambler's Blues)
Allison, Luther. MusicHound Blues; The Essential Album Guide / edited by Leland Rucker, Visible Ink, Sof (1998), trk# 5
Hinton, Sam. Singing Across the Land, Decca DL 8108, LP (1955), trk# B.01c
Kazee, Buell. Mountain Frolic. Rare Old Timey Classics; 1924-37, JSP 77100A-D, CD (2007), trk# B.22 [1928/01/16] (Gambling Blues)
Limeliters. Fourteen 14K Folk Songs, RCA (Victor) LSP-2671, LP (1963), trk# B.06
Rodgers, Jimmie. My Time Ain't Long, RCA (Victor) LPM-2865, LP (1964), trk# 4 [1930/07/05] (Those Gambler's Blues)
Shepherd, Bill. Country Blues, Revenant 205, CD (1997), trk# 21 [1932/01/29] (Aunt Jane Blues)
Traum, Happy. Traum, Happy / Blues Bag, Consolidated Music, Sof (1968), p88
Van Ronk, Dave. Gamblers Blues, Verve/Folkways FV 9007, LP (1965), trk# 12
Van Ronk, Dave. Dave Van Ronk Sings Ballads, Blues and Spirituals, Folkways FS 3818, LP (1959), trk# B.05
Van Ronk, Dave. Asch, Moses (ed.) / 124 Folk Songs as Sung and Recorded on Folkways Reco, Robbins, Fol (1965), p 53
White, George Washington. Paramount Old Time Recordings, JSP 7774A-D, CD( (2006), trk# D.08 [1932/04ca]
RECORDING INFO: Chittlin' Cooking Time in Cheatham County - Smith, Arthur
Blizard, Ralph; & the New Southern Ramblers. Blizard Train, June Appal JA 056, LP (1989), trk# 9
Blizard, Ralph; & the New Southern Ramblers. Ralph Blizard Fiddles, Blizard 0989C, Cas (199?), trk# 7
Dickel Brothers. Dickel Brothers Volume One, Empty Records MTR 376, LP (1999), trk# A.05
Juggernaut String Band. Greasy Coat, Wildbeest WB 004, LP (198?), trk# 7
McGee, Sam & Kirk. Stars of the Grand Old Opry, Guest Star GS 1505, LP (196?), trk# 1 Smith, Arthur; Trio. Smokey Mountain Ballads, RCA (Victor) LPV-507, LP (1964), trk# 4
Smith, Fiddlin' Arthur; & his Dixieliners. Fiddlin' Arthur Smith and His Dixieliners, Vol 2., County 547, LP (1978), trk# A.02 [1936/02/17]
RELATED TO: Unfortunate Rake; Streets Of Laredo; Dying Crap-Shooter's Blues; When I Was a Young Girl; Bad Girl's Lament; Let He Go God Bless Her; If He's Gone(, Let Him Go);
OTHER NAMES: Gambler's Blues; Those Gambler's Blues; St. James Avenue; Old Joe's Barroom; Chittlin' Cooking Time in Cheatham County; Cuttin' Out; Humblin' Back
Went Down to Mississippi (parody); I Wanted to Die in the Desert
SOURCES: Bob Harwood; I Went Down St. James Infirmary by Robert Harwood; Mudcat;
NOTES: St. James Infirmary is certainly one of the all-time great minor blues songs in history. Much has been written about it including a new book, I Went Down St. James Infirmary by Robert Harwood (much of this material has been gathered with correspondence by Bob Harwood). After debating about including the song in my Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes section I felt that the melody was too significant to be left off; there are so many instrumental and solo versions and it's been played by so many famous fiddlers that it simple must be included here.
A fiddler, Shelly Lee Alley, wrote Jimmy Rodger's version and another famous fiddler Clayton McMichen was featured on the recording (although he only plays a short solo as an intro). Fiddlin' Arthur Smith played the melody and used it for his song, Chittlin' Cookin' Time In Cheatham County which makes the song a bluegrass/old-time country song. Then there's African-American fiddler Leroy "Stuff" Smith's chorus in "St. James Infirmary" (1930) on a rendition by Alphonse Trent and his Orchestra. Fiddler Bob Wills played it as Drunkard's Blues. Clearly it's a melody played by fiddlers in many versions of the song.
Fiddler Rutherford and Foster's 1929 song, "Let Her Go, I'll Meet Her" is another related lyric version which dates back to the late 1800's as "Let Her Go God Bless Her." This is an upbeat bluegrass style song in major and is similar in lyrics only. It's been recorded by JE Mainer, Blue Sky Boys and is related to the Carter Family's Dark and Stormy Weather.
LET HER GO, I'LL MEET HER (excerpt)
- Recorded by Rutherford and Foster, 1929
Oh where did you stay last night
Yes, and the night before
I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines
And shivered when the cold wind blew
Let her go, go, I’ll meet her
Let her go, go , I’ll meet her
Let her go, go , God bless her so
She is mine wherever she may be
A version with music is printed in the Harvard University songs By Eugene Floyd Du Bois, 1902, you can see on-line:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ORU6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA72&dq=%22She%27s+Gone,+Let+Her+Go%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
ORIGINS: St. James Infirmary evolved from the English ballad "The Unfortunate Rake" (AKA "The Unfortunate Lad) which can be traced back to 1790 [Harwood]. Similar lyrics appear in the songs "One Morning In May," "Sailor's Lament' and the "Young Trooper Cut Down in his Prime." According to Harwood, the St. James Hospital probably refers to the one London England- not New Orleans.
THE UNFORTUNATE RAKE (opening stanza)
As I was a-walking by St. James Hospital,
I was a walking down there one day.
What should I spy but one of my comrades,
All wrapped up in flannel though warm was the day.
The song has been traced in the US through the cowboy song, Streets of Laredo also known as Tom Sherman's Barroom: "I went down to Tom Sherman's Barroom...". The Streets of Laredo was copyrighted in 1879 by Francis Henry Maynard under the title "Cowboy's Lament." According to Harwood, a similar song "Bad Girl's Lament" predates Streets of Laredo.
The first closely related early version was collected from a "young Galveston Negro, a student at Straight College, New Orleans" Worth Tuttle Hedden, the collector, said it was rather widely sung among the Negroes in Galveston. John Seley Hospital is (or was) in Galveston. [p. 94, Dorothy Scarborough, 1925, "On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs," Harvard University Press. Facsimile 1963, Folklore Associates, Inc.]
THOSE GAMBLER'S BLUES: The first recording of Gambler's Blues was 'Gambling Blues,' recorded on Jan. 16, 1928 by Buell Kazee. Kazee lyrics are clearly a version St. James but the melody ( a simple waltz in major) is entirely different making this a different song.
Gambling Blues- Buell Kazee
I went down to Joe’s barroom
On the corner of the square
A goodly crowd had gathered
And the drinks were flowing there
I sat down by McKinney
His eyes were bloodshot red
He leaned to me and whispered
And this is what he said
I went down to the infirmary
And looked into a window there
Saw my girl stretched on a white bed
So cold, so pale, so fair
Sixteen coal black horses
Hitched to a rubber-tired hack
Took seven pretty girls to the graveyard
Only six of them came back
Six crapshooters for pallbearers
And a chorus girl to sing me a song
Put a jazz band on my hearse top
Let ‘em play as I roll along
And now my story’s ended
Give me one more drink of booze
And I’ll be on my way boys
For I’ve got those gamblin’ blues.
The first printed version of the song with music (which soon became titled St. James Infirmary) was in Carl Sandburg's Songbag 1927:
"This may be what polite society calls a gutter song. In a foreign language, in any lingo but that of the U. S. A., it would seem less vulgar, more bizarre. Its opening realism works on toward irony and fantasy, dropping in its final lines again to blunt realism. Texts and melody are from the song as given (A) by Henry McCarthy of the University of Alabama, and (B) by Jake Zeitlin and Jack Hagerty of Fort Worth and Los Angeles."
1. It was down in old Joe's bar-room
On a corner by the square,
The drinks were served as usual,
And a goodly crowd was there.
The music in C minor was by Ruth Crawford Seeger, mother of the late Mike Seeger and her step-son Pete Seeger, and is the basic minor blues melody and chords of the song known just a year or two years later as St. James Infirmary. Other versions used the Gambler's Blues title including Jimmie Rodger's classic version and others are listed by meade under this heading including the Dixie Ramblers (Barroom Blues) and Bob Wills (Drunkard's Blues).
ST JAMES INFIRMARY: The song under the title St. James Infirmary was copyrighted by Irving Mills in 1929 under the name- Joe Primrose. From a court case Harwood has traced the song being heard under that title as early as 1916 [Harwood].
The first recording of St. James Infirmary titled Gambler's Blues was by Fess Williams and his Orchestra was in 1927. The first significant recording (2nd recording) was "Saint James Infirmary (Blues)" by Louis Armstrong and others musicians in New Orleans in 1928. The Armstrong recording was: arranged by G. Primrose, Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five, 1928. Hear the recording on-line at http://www.redhotjazz.com/savoy5.html
The song was huge hit and was recorded by many of the top jazz bands with Cab Calloway's version leading the way (there were at least 22 versions recorded in 1929 and 1930). Soon it was a country hit when recorded by Jimmie Rodgers in 1930 as "Those Gambler's Blues." A fiddler, Shelly Lee Alley, arranged Jimmy Rodger's version with slighlty different lyrics and another famous fiddler Clayton McMichen was featured on the recording (although he only plays a short solo as an intro).
Surprisingly he lyrics for St. James Infirmary from Sandburg and later Mills copyrighted version seem to come almost directly from Old Time Gambler's Song found in Songs of the Cowboys. The original edition, by Jack Thorp, was published in 1908. Here's an excerpt (See Version 7 for complete lyrics):
I dreamed I went down to St. James Infirmary
Thought I saw my baby lying there;
Laid out on a clean white table,
So pale and yet so fair.
If she's gone, let her go, God bless her,
For she's mine wherever she may be;
You may search this wide world over
You'll never find another pal such as she
In 1936 Fiddlin' Arthur Smith used the melody for his song, Chittlin' Cookin' Time In Cheatham County (on Victor's Bluebird label circa 1936) which makes the song a bluegrass type song. The song was recorded by Billy Cox in 1937 and remains a bluegrass/old-time standard.
Here are the lyrics to an early collected version of St. James Infirmary by Scaborough:
HOW SAD WAS THE DEATH OF MY SWEETHEART
(from "On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs," by Scarborough, circa 1920)
Obtained from a 'young Galveston Negro, a student at Straight College, New Orleans'. Worth Tuttle Hedden, the collector, said it was rather widely sung among the Negroes in Galveston. John Seley Hospital is (or was) in Galveston. p. 94, Dorothy Scarborough, 1925, "On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs," Harvard University Press. Facsimile 1963, Folklore Associates, Inc.
I went to John Seley's hospital;
The nurse there she turned me around.
She turned me around, yes, so slowly,
An' said, "The poor girl is sleepin' in the ground."
I was walkin' down Walnut Street so lonely,
My head it was hanging so low.
It made me think of my sweetheart,
Who was gone to a world far unknown.
Refrain: Let her go, let her go.
May God bless her, wherever she may be.
She is mine.
She may roam this wide world over
But she will never fin' a man like me.
While walkin' I met her dear mother,
With her head hangin' low as was mine.
"Here's the ring of your daughter, dear mother,
And the last words as she closed her eyes:
"Take this ring, take this ring,
Place it on your lovin' right hand.
And when I am dead and forgotten
Keep the grass from growing on my grave."
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