“SJI” & Katrina
September 25, 2007 by nonotes
A while back I wrote about the Bethany & Rufus version of “SJI.” An interesting comment from Bethany Yarrow from this piece in the East Bay Express:
“St. James Infirmary,” about an untimely death, originated as a British folk ballad and eventually became a New Orleans bar song. Yarrow describes the uncanny feeling she got performing the tune in New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina. “It’s about going to the morgue to see your lover,” she says. “It was bone-chilling.”
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a 
