TRACK TALK #427 Stack A Lee

STACK A LEE
ALBUM : World Gone Wrong (1993)
Recorded : Printemps 1993
Released : 26 Octobre 1993

Une chanson populaire américaine également connue sous le nom de "Stagger Lee".
Elle raconte le meurtre de Billy Lyons par "Stag" Lee Shelton à Saint Louis, Missouri, le jour de Noël 1985.
Le premier texte fut publié pour la première fois en 1911 et enregistré en 1923.
La version de Lloyd Price va populariser le morceau en 1959.
Il existe aussi des versions/réécritures de Mississippi John Hurt, Duke Ellington, Woody Guthrie, James Brown, le Grateful Dead et le Clash.
Aucune performance live de Bob Dylan.



Lyrics
Hawlin Alley on a dark and drizzly night
Billy Lyons and Stack-A-Lee had one terrible fight
All about that John B. Stetson Hat.
Stack-A-Lee walked to the bar-room and he called for a glass of beer
Turned around to Billy Lyons, said "What you doin' here ?"
"Waitin' for a train to bring my woman home."
"Stack-A-Lee, oh Stack-A-Lee please don't take my life
Got three little children and a weepin', loving wife
You're a bad man, bad man Stack-A-Lee."
"God bless your children and I'll take care of your wife
You stole my John B., now I'm bound to take your life"
All about that John B. Stetson Hat.
Stack-A-Lee turned to Billy Lyons and shot him right through the head
Only taking one shot to kill Billy Lyons dead
All about that John B. Stetson Hat.
Sent for the doctor, well the doctor he did come
Just pointed out Stack-A-Lee, said, "Now what have you done ?"
You're a bad man, bad man Stack-A-Lee.
Six big horses and a rubber-tired hack
Taking him to the cemetery, but they failed to bring him back
All about that John B. Stetson Hat.
Hawlin Alley, thought I heard the bulldogs bark
It must have been old Stack-A-Lee stumbling in the dark
He's a bad man, gonna land him right back in jail.
High police walked on to Stack-A-Lee, he was lying fast asleep
High police catched Stack-A-Lee, and he jumped forty feet
He's a bad man, gonna land him right back in jail.
Well they got old Stack-A-Lee, and they led him right back in jail
Couldn't get a man around to go Stack-A-Lee's bail
All about that John B. Stetson Hat.
Stack-A-Lee turned to the jailer, he said "Jailer, I can't sleep
'Round my bedside Billy Lyons begin to creep"
All about that John B. Stetson Hat.