Posted in "St. James Infirmary", MySpace/YouTube/Etc., Questions (and sometimes answers), Versions on December 13, 2007 | 1 Comment »
In the comments to a recent SJI YouTube roundup, a reader brought to my attention the above video. It’s bit of an a 1993 ice-skating competition; the skaters are Grishuk and Platov. And the music to their program is, of course, “SJI.”
I know nothing about ice-skating, but I thought it was kind of cool.
Anyway, the [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Movies & Television, New Orleans, Questions (and sometimes answers), Versions on September 1, 2007 | No Comments »
In response to some recent-ish posts here about “SJI” and the movies, I got a nice note from reader Maria (writing in from South America, proving once again the global appeal of “SJI”), who pointed out two other films that the song has popped in and that I haven’t mentioned. One is Henry and June. [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Questions (and sometimes answers), Versions on July 19, 2006 | Comments Off
Got an interesting reader question, from a jazz singer down in D.C. who apparently prefers to remain anonymous. She asked about versions of “St. James Infirmary” sung by women. There are a handful. First (as she notes) lots of people mention the Janis Joplin version, although that’s one that for whatever reason I’ve not personally [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Musical context, Questions (and sometimes answers), Versions on June 16, 2006 | Comments Off
Extremely dedicated readers of this site may recall a December 2005 post wherein I did my best to answer a question from reader Klaas T. of Amsterdam. He was looking for an old Snooks Eaglin version, and I was able to point him to the 1959 Folkways record, Snooks Eaglin: New Orleans Street Singer. [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Questions (and sometimes answers), Versions on December 30, 2005 | Comments Off
A while ago, Klaas T., of Amsterdam, wrote to ask:
I have been looking for years for a version of St. James Infirmary that I remember having heard on an album by Snooks Eaglin. It was anacousticc version played by just Snooks. Do you know this version that may have been recorded in the fifties, or [...]
[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.
