Some weeks back, friend of no notes Marc “Disquiet” Weidenbaum alerted me to a forthcoming version of “SJI,” from Hugh Laurie — a name, I must admit, that meant nothing to me. But as you may know, it’s a name that plenty of people do recognize, even if they don’t associate it with music: Laurie is an actor, probably best known (in the U.S.) as the star of the popular TV show House. His record, Let Them Talk, is billed as a blues collection, with an emphasis on New Orleans influences. Aside from “SJI,” he sings “Tipitina” and “Buddy Bolden’s Blues,” among others; guests on the record include Irma Thomas and Dr. John. (The best overview of the album I’ve seen is this Mail Online piece.) Albums recorded by actors-not-previously-known-for-singing frequently get knocked around in the press, or ignored. That does not appear to be the case with this one, at least in the UK. (It doesn’t seem to have been released in the U.S. yet, as I type this.) The Yorker: “The first track, ‘St James Infirmary’, immediately shows the adeptness of Laurie’s musical nature. He makes the piano sing, life flowing out into the stillness of the moment, and a pleasure to listen to.” The Independent: “Usually, actors’ albums should be avoided as carefully as pop stars’ movies; but Hugh Laurie’s New Orleans tribute Let Them Talk may be the exception that proves the rule. “Apparently the public is going along with these views, putting Laurie, not long ago, into a UK chart battle with Adele! You can hear Laurie’s take on “SJI” here. It’s billed as being “in two parts,” lasting a total of nearly six and a half minutes. The first part is instrumental, largely focused on Laurie’s own piano playing, gradually joined by other instruments and working its way to a fairly bombastic (to my ears) crescendo; frankly the restrained guitar sounds better to me than the hammering piano. Then it pivots to the second part: a swingy approach, designed to highlight Laurie’s singing. The lyrics follow the most common pattern, no trickiness there — very straight. I like the arrangement in the second part better; Laurie’s voice is interesting, if not exactly charismatic (again, to my ears). Taken together it’s a very respectable version, but nothing I’d call special. By way of HughLaurieBlues.com, I also found this video in which Laurie and producer Joe Henry talk about their approach to “SJI,” apparently the first thing they recorded. It’s pretty standard “behind the scenes” fare, but Laurie is so serious, it’s really rather sweet:
New version: Hugh Laurie (yeah, the guy from House)
June 23, 2011 by nonotes
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Versions | Leave a Comment
“St. James Infirmary”
[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 Essay
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.
The Book
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.
Podcast!
In November 2007 I was invited to do an all-"SJI" episode of the outstanding Podcast The Sounds In My Head. My episode is here. Post about it (with playlist, so, you know, spoiler alert) is here.1. St. James (+ Tangents)
- “I Went Down To St. James Infirmary” blog
- * Betty Boop cartoon with Cab Calloway’s version of “St. James Infirmary.”
- * Dutch radio broadcast featuring many versions of “S.J.I.” Part One.
- * Dutch radio broadcast featuring many versions of “S.J.I.” Part Two
- * Irving Mills overview via The Red Hot Jazz Archive
- * Metafilter August 2005 “Streets of Laredo” discussion
- * Metafilter June 2004 “St. James” discussion
- * Mudcat discussion
- * Tablature
- * The Hot 8: The band I heard play “St. James Infirmary” in the late 1990s
- * The Unfortunate Rake collection on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
- * The Unfortunate Rake lyrics
- * Transcript of S.N.L. with Lilly Tomlin singing “St. James Infirmary.”
- * Unfortunate Lass lyrics
- * Wikipedia entry
2. Other Music (+ So On)
- Alan Lomax Stuff
- Disquiet
- Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine
- Folkways Smithsonian
- Gary Giddins Essay on Louis Armstrong
- Give the Drummer Some
- Home of the Groove
- Louisiana Music Directory Blog (Alex Rawls)
- Music of New Orleans: Music of the Streets; Music of Mardi Gras
- Myshkin’s Ruby Warblers
- Negrospirituals.com
- Soup Greens
- Still Singing The Blues
- The American Folklife Center
- The Florida Folklife Collection
- The Red Hot Jazz Archive
- The Sounds In My Head
- The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong
- WBGO
- WWOZ
3. New Orleans (+ Like That)
Categories
- "St. James Infirmary"
- Announcement
- Announcements
- Antecedents and Variations
- Folk/Tradition
- Friends
- In performance
- Intellectual property
- Irving Mills/Joe Primrose
- Letters From New Orleans book
- Lyric deconstruction
- MLK BLVD
- Movies & Television
- Musical context
- MySpace/YouTube/Etc.
- New Orleans
- Non-musical context
- One song / one album
- Other Music +
- Public Housing
- Q&As
- Questions (and sometimes answers)
- St. James +
- St. James Infirmary (the building)
- Thanks
- The Hot 8
- The Rolling Jelly Series
- The Thing Itself
- Uncategorized
- Versions
Versions
I either own or am familiar with a bunch of versions of S.J.I. and close variations by a variety of artists. Here's a list, in progress. For now I'm concentrating on SJI, rather than its folk antecedents or any of the "Streets of Laredo" thread. Title is "St. James Infirmary" or "St. James Infirmary Blues" unless otherwise noted:
A - B -C
- Aempirei
- Henry "Red" Allen
- Little Pink Anderson
- Glenn David Andrews
- The Animals
- Louis Armstrong (more than once, but the 1928 version is the one I'm partial to); 1967 version discussed here
- Baby Boyz
- James "Iron Head" Baker ("St. James Hospital;" a Lomax field recording)
- Danny Barker
- Count Basie
- "Antoine Batiste"
- Bethany & Rufus
- Bobby "Blue" Bland
- Dock Boggs
- The Graham Bond Organisation
- James Booker
- Elton Britt
- Peter Brötzmann/Die Like a Dog
- Cab Calloway
- Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
- Sister Wynona Carr ("I'm A Pilgrim Traveler")
- Big Al Carson / The Magnificent Sevenths
- Eric Clapton and Dr. John (live)
- Joe Cocker
- Anat Cohen
- Ray Condo
- Harry Connick Jr.
- J. Lawrence Cook
- Scatman Crothers
D-E-F
- Joe Dassin
- Herman Davis ("Barroom Blues")
- The Doors
- Snooks Eaglin
- Ramblin' Jack Elliot
- Bob French's Original Tuxedo Jazz Band & Friends
G-H-I
- Michael Galasso ("Blue"), an amazing piece.
- Red Garland (a nice one)
- Errol Garner
- Benny Goodman
- Andy Griffith
- Arlo Guthrie
- Hall Johnson Negro Choir
- Harlem Hot Chocolates
- Alex Hill and His Orchestra
- Earl Hines
- Mattie Hite ("St. Joe's Infirmary")
- Nils Hoffmann
- Toshiyuki Honda
- The Hokum Boys ("Gamber's Blues," two excellent takes)
J-K-L
- Janis Joplin (mentioned to me by multiple people; I don't have it)
- Dr. John ("Touro Infirmary")
- Tom Jones
- Kansas City Frank and his Footwarmers
- Johnny Kendall & The Heralds (I'm told this was huge in The Netherlands in the 1960s)
- Stan Kenton (twice, I think, one of those as "Gambler's Blues")
- Chris Thomas King
- Spider John Koerner
- Joe Krown
- George E. Lee and his Novelty Singing Orchestra
- Julia Lee
- Blake Leyh, Davis Rogan, Tony Jarvis
- Limelighters
M-N-O
- Magnolia Sisters ("Barroom Blues")
- Colette Magny
- The Main Squeeze Orchestra
- Roger McGuinn
- Jimmy McPartland
- Blind Willie McTell (as "Dyin' Crapshooters Blues," in 1942 and 1956; I prefer the latter)
- Irving Mills and His Hotsy Tosty Gang
- Van Morrison
- Megan Mullally
- The Mumlers
- Nelstone's Hawaiians ("You'll Never Find A Daddy Like Me")
- (Mystic Knights of) Oingo Boingo
- King Oliver
- The Outsiders Featuring Maddie Ruthless
- Kid Ory
P-Q-R
- Moses "Clear Rock" Platt. ("St. James Hospital," a Lomax field recording)
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Yim Yames
- Hot Lips Paige
- Perez Prado
- Lou Rawls
- Jerry Reed
- Della Reese
- Django Reinhardt
- Marc Ribot (Solo guitar instrumental; one of my favorites)
- Tony Rice ("St. James Hospital")
- Jimmie Rodgers ("Those Gamblers' Blues," one of my very favorites; "Gambling Barrooom Blues" is similar)
- Kermit Ruffins
S-T-U
- Artie Shaw
- Archie Shepp
- Frederick "Shep" Sheppard ("Habari Gani")
- Ezra Sims ("Sextet")
- Sin the Tik
- Jimmy Smith
- Snakefarm
- James Solbere
- Muggsy Spanier
- Pete Special/Old Town School of Folk
- Standells
- The Stolen Sweets
- Jack Teagarden (at least two versions)
- Alphonso Trent and his Orchestra
- Triffids
- Trombone Shorty
V-W-X-Y-Z
Dave Van Ronk
- Doc Watson ("St. James Hospital")
- Josh White
- The White Stripes
- Fess Williams and His Royal Flush Orchestra ("Gambler's Blues")
- Cassandra Wilson
- Garland Wilson
- Jackie Wilson
- Marva Wright
- The Ventures
- Frank Zappa ("Ain't Necessarily the St. James Infirmary Blues," a pretty cool take)
Leave a comment