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Regarding “St. James Infirmary” and other things related to the book “Letters From New Orleans”

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The Burlesque Connection (a Q&A with the former September Rose)

February 16, 2006 by nonotes

A while back, Rosemarie Harmon wrote in with an interesting observation, about “St. James Infirmary.” She is at work on a book, The Moral Career of a Stripper, and said that “St. James Infirmary” was, at one time, “a standard for exotic dancers – before rock ‘n’ roll ht the skin houses.” She continued:

“I worked with a jazz pianist who couldn’t sing a note, she ‘talked’ her way through songs, but she was impressive, going by Mother Light at the time (around 1969/70). She had a lot of a/k/a’s, including Tug Boat Annie, when she worked at the River Queen in Portland. Which brings me to her version of ‘St. James Infirmary’: she said it was a song about a group of poor people who were deliberately infected with venereal disease as part of a scientific/medical experiment. She didn’t say where the Infirmary was, for some reason I heard, or dreamed, or something, that St. James Infirmary was in Western Canada, possibly Vancouver B.C.”

This intriguing information inspired a few questions, which Ms. Harmon graciously answers, below.

Q: You say you “worked with” Mother Light — worked with her in what sense, if you don’t mind my asking?

A: I was an exotic dancer — September Rose — for the better part of 25 years. I had a pretty face and a ninth-grade education, and the welfare dime wasn’t for me. It took two decades to earn a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and then an MFA in creative writing.

I worked with Mother Light in the sense that she tutored me: the green-as-grass strutter who could dance to anything, but who had never heard of four/four time, six/eight time, nothing. She often stopped by the bar where I worked and we’d chat while she sucked down a couple of drinks after her gig was over. She’d played all over the West Coast. She didn’t back strippers anymore, but she told me about the old days, the tough times, when she had to forget her classical/jazz roots and get up on the stand with musicians who couldn’t read music. She’d bang out “Satin Doll” on an out-of-tune piano and be grateful for a paycheck. That is, if the club owner was sober enough to pay up at the end of the week!

She’d always enjoyed the dancers. By telling me her story, she dignified my experience. I learned there were many generations of performers like me — poor folk who worked the fairs, the carnivals, the road houses, supper clubs, burlesque theaters, nightclubs and more, all over America.

Q: Was “St. James Infirmary” a good pick for a burlesque performance?
A: It was usually used for what was then called “floor work,” or a “floor routine”. (Now it is referred to as a “floor show”, which used to mean the entire revue, musicians, chorus girls, singers, the works.) Anyway, as a dirge with a sensual and sorrowful tone, this piece was a natural for the way floor routines were done when exotic dancers posed on fur rugs and couches and used other props during their floor work. This floor work was the /last/ number, the finale, done in a languid, graceful way. There was never any hopping up and down to grab a buck because dancers didn’t work for tips at that time. Pole dancing was a future event.

Mother Light and I mused that “St. James Infirmary” was also about death: “…and I saw my baby there… stretched out on a long white table, so pale, so cold, and so fair…” We thought that death, the long sleep, and the long white limbs of a stripper who was doing her finale (and most strippers were white at that time; women of color were referred to as “novelty acts”) — a dancer so passively displayed probably had a huge appeal to men who were habitués of these skin palaces. They came to see females who were the antithesis of modern woman: no voice, presumably no education, naked and physically vulnerable. Although not necessarily available–which is another theory altogether.

Q: What else might you be willing to say about yourself, and your book?

I left Portland, Oregon and came to the East Coast via a long, lonely Midwest tour, almost exactly 21 years ago. Arrived with that ninth grade education and a trunk full of costumes that smelled like cheap cologne and cigarette smoke. I’m an artist, and I’ve also been a costume designer, a hair dresser. I figure I could write for True Romance magazine and never run out of stories! I loved the people who have become characters in my books. I want to preserve their histories.

The Moral Career of a Stripper is one of four unfinished works. It’s about coming of age in the midst of the women’s movement. I loved the stage and the night life, it was difficult to reconcile my image of myself with the one that the feminists put out: strippers were anachronisms, traitors to the cause of women’s rights. These days I refer to myself as a recovering feminist, although I value and defend most of the dogma. Lots of conflict and confession there!

The other books-in-progress are Dirty Little Girl (as a fifteen-year-old hooker); Lock Jockey, which is told from the perspective of a kid who was a consumer of social services, then as an adult who delivered those services (I was in reformatories for six years, almost all of my adolescence; after I left the dance business I went to work in the human service industry); and From An Ex-Con in Corporate America, which details the experience of me surfacing and joining the hordes of office workers and the nine-to-fivers. It was a pretty startling transition. Trying to tone down the red hair and ankle bracelets (which I still loved), watch the swears and the hearty laughter. All these would be considered creative non-fiction, rather than autobiography.

Q: Thanks for all the answers — and good luck with the book(s)!
A: Thanks for all the questions. . . I love the subject, and the history.

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Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Non-musical context, Q&As |

  • “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

    gambit-cover.jpg

    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)

    • “Class-ifying the Hurricane,” by Adolph Reed Jr.
    • * Why America Needs a City Right Where New Orleans Is
    • After the Deluge: Comic by Josh Neufeld
    • Basin Street Records
    • Culture Gulf
    • Katrina & post-Katrina shots by our friend, photographer Charles Franklin
    • Louisiana Music Factory
    • Washing Away
  • 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)

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