April 21, 2008 by nonotes
T-P Music writer Keith Spera says:
The well-trod “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans” is, like “St. James Infirmary” and “Lil’ Liza Jane, ” a New Orleans standard overdue for retirement.
Due for retirement?
“St. James Infirmary”??
You’re fucking fired.
[Or: The Point of this Site]
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 third version.
And now, this site: A place to collect some of the links, leads, thoughts, and suggestions relating to the song that readers (from Finland, The Netherlands, Australia, Spain, England, Sweden, Canada, and all over the U.S.) have sent me. This may lead to a fourth and significantly expanded version of the essay, some day. Also on this site: Plenty of tangents.
Never heard "St. James Infirmary"? Start here.
The most recent version of my "St. James Infirmary" essay is now a few years old. But it's still a fairly decent overview of what I know about the song, and why I'm interested in it. You can read it either in the book Letters from New Orleans (see below), or in the archives of The Gambit, the New Orleans weekly that published the piece as a book excerpt when LfNO came out.
This site is a partial spinoff of the book Letters from New Orleans, published by the unstoppable Garrett County Press. My interest in "St. James Infirmary" is the subject of one essay in the book. All author proceeds from the book still go to post-Katrina relief efforts, so I think it's okay for me to say: You ought to buy it.
Lottle Liza (ever oscene verse of it) is as much a part of NO street corner culture as Indian song. And to suggest that either classic jazz song be retired, well, he’s an idiot with no appreciation of the culture of the city he is writing about.
The man thinks Rush is still relevant. Enough said.