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.
Got more tips, comments, suggestions? Leave a note below or contact me here.
Greetings … just wanted to point out, as a frequent reader of your blog, that my book, “Chasing the Rising Sun: The Journey of an American Song,” about the history of the song “House of the Rising Sun,” was published last month. You had mentioned it in a post last year and I thought you might be interested in checking it out.
Best,
Ted Anthony
Montclair, NJ
Hi,
GREAT site. I’ve not heard many versions of this song – one of my favorites among favorites. I have only seen part of your site, but I don’t see anything about the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s version from Preservation Hall Jazz Band: New Orleans Vol IV (http://www.amazon.com/Orleans-Vol-Preservation-Hall-Jazz/dp/B0000026PH) here, which is strange considering your thoughts on the King Oliver Version. I’m sure you’re familiar with the band itself, so i won’t go into any detail regarding them other than to say you should also check out their newest box set Made In New Orleans: The Hurricane Sessions. It includes loads of classic new orleans printed ephemera as well as a dvd, but the cd itself is the treasure. After the water receded the owner went to Seasaint Studios where the band had recorded for years and found the tape vault had been flooded to nearly the top level of tapes – ruining masters by masters in many cases (paul mccartney and on and on) – – leaving only a row or two of unruined 2″ master tapes including archived unreleased recordings of the preservation hall jazz band. Some of these unfinished recordings were now finished with members of the new band and as such it stands as a testament to the band over the years, plus it’s nice to hear collaborations between members generations apart, over 30 years in the making.
Really – though – the version of SJI on New Orleans Vol IV is amazing.
Meh – i don’t see an edit button – I meant to say i haven’t heard many versions of this song that I don’t like! I’ve indeed heard many – but not as many as you have collected here!
What a treasure for a casual researcher who is now completely hooked on Saint James Infirmary.
Casual, as I was just looking for guitar tabs to Van Morrison’s version I came across on Austin City Limits. In Googling around, the first references I pursued were to Gambler’s Blues and other versions, Arlo Guthrie’s among others, and having lost at poker tonight, I was further intrigued.
Wikpedia informed me, among other things, that the song’s origins were apparently in the “old world”, and that the major changes in the lyrics basically involved shifting the source of the subject’s “blues” from prostitution and / or a lost love to gambling and alcohol. I was further intrigued. And finally, at the bottom of the Wik page, I found where they must have gotten all this – your research.
Thank you, and I look forward to following your pursuit. Hope I can contribute some day. I won’t be surprised if you don’t get into some really old Celtic traditional songs eventually. If the Rake songs were collected in the late 18th century in England, and were old at all, they would likely have already been carried by many Scots Irish immigrants to the states. And the Scots Irish immigrants basically influenced every aspect of the settlement of the South, including its music.
thanks for the tantalizing history behind “St. James Infirmary Blues” which has haunted me for some time. My first hearing of this song brought an unshakeable sense of familiarity, like a memory which I simply could not have. Subsequent listening and versions compel me to try and remember.
blessings.
Thanks for doing all of this research. SJI is one of my favourite songs of all time.
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the Australian singer Chrissy Amphlett (lead singer with the Divinyls) makes several references to SJI in her biography ‘Pleasure And Pain’ published in 2005 or so.
If you would like me to go through the book and pick out the references for you, let me know.
Hi Kerry,
Yes, of course I’d like to hear more about that. Email me at rw@robwalker.net.
I’m very curious to hear!
Cheers. rw
I couldn’t find it listed anywhere on here, so I thought you might be interested to know that Holy Cow did a version of “St. James Infirmary Blues”. Here’s their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/holycowtheband . As of this comment, they have a live performance of SFI on the page.
Hello, I really like your site. I first heard the song in the Betty Boop cartoon and loved it. I thought you might be interested to know of a version I found of it sung by one of my favorite singers, Rufus Wainwright, and his mother and sister. This version seems quite unlike the others, especially the lyrics. Let me know if you’d like the link.
Hello! I’ve just bumped into your research on SJI, while musing over the very same two lines that captured your attention years ago (she can (…) man like me), and simply cannot stop reading.
I should add that my first encounter with the song was a version by the Graham Bond Organisation.
Bond – Hammond organist, alto saxophonist and singer – was a key figure in London’s 60’s jazz, blues and r&b scenes. A member of (father of British blues) Alexis Korner’s Blues, Inc. for some time in the early Sixties, Graham Bond featured many future high-profile musicians in his band, including jazz-fusion guitarist John McLaughlin; drummer Jon Hiseman and the late tenor sax player Dick Heckstall-Smith, founders of jazz-rock band Colosseum; and, last and fame-most, bassist/harmonica player/singer Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, two thirds of world-renowned band Cream (the third being Eric Clapton).
http://www.grahambond.net/singles.html
So much for pop pedantry. Thanks a lot for your dedication!
tex
(EDIT: that smiley was unintentional…
Oh well. I guess it can serve an a posteriori purpose. Add a not-uncalled-for touch of lightness, maybe?)
Wow, I’m really behind on answering these. My apologies. Things have been extremely busy in recent months, with the day job, and other projects.
Belatedly, Here goes:
Robert, thanks very much for that, I’ll check it out soonest, now that I’m out of the woods on the other stuff.
Blaine, I don’t think I’ve ever heard Wainwright’s take. I’ll go find it, but in the meantime if you are still checking back here for an answer all these weeks later: The answer is Yes, I’d love a link!
Texandrea: That’s another new one on me! I’ll see if I can track that down. Thanks for the tip! And an extra smiley never hurt anybody…
I don’t know if you’re still hunting these down, but I’m curious about if you’ve ever heard the Blind Willie McTell version of St. James Infirmary (*not* Dying Crapshooters Blues). I guarantee it exists, as I have heard it twice on David Fulmer’s Americana, but I haven’t been able to track it down beyond that.
Seriously, I don’t listen to the blues, and I hadn’t even heard of Blind Willie before that song, and his version absolutely blew me away. Incredibly moving. I’m posting on a blog trying to find it after all. Any thoughts on locating it?
Craig
Hi,
This is like comming home!
I mean, I thought I was the only one loon out there collecting different versions of the same song!
Your case is even worse!
Hello brother!
I’ll be glad to contribute as soon as I found something new.
I’m pretty bussy now but I’ll follow you up for sure.
btw I see you like the Marc Ribbot version (rightly so). So you will want to check out what Django Reinhart did with the tune.
You can’t find it, let me know
Have fun.
Frey
Hey Craig: I’m not sure I know about that, but it sounds familiar. I do, I’m afraid, sometimes lose track. I’ll have to do some searching through the archives. But the short answer is that if such a thing does indeed exist, I do not own it.
Hi Frey: I know the Django version and wrote about it here:
It’s also in the liner notes for an imaginary CD:
And I THINK (not sure) I included it in the Podcast I did, mentioned in the sidebar.
I need to update the sidebar’s list of versions, it is somewhat out of date, there are several I’ve heard/written about that I haven’t put in there yet.
Thanks!
Great Abner Jay rambling with a St James Breakdown.Didn’t see it on yr sight, hope you like it.
Shannon
SJI has been on my mind a lot since I finally *really* listened closely to one of my 2-dozen versions or so on jazz CDs. My wife found this site and sent me here. It’s great, thanks, but I’m not sure I’m very happy about the English connection, my imagination has always put it in a late 19th century setting in a US city.
You hit the nose on the head re the conflict betw her death, his claim of “I wished it were me instead” and the line about searching the wide world all over. I’ve gone through the same scenarios that you have, but I came up with one you didn’t mention but is the most plausible one for me: the two are together but at the same time are at each other’s throats and after some episode – a fight, or she discovers he also has someone on the side – she commits suicide. To me this resolves the apparent conflicts in the lines.
ALSO: there is a heck of a version of this song by Doc Watson, on a CD with his grandson. There is a heck of a lot of emotion in his voice in a few places that makes me wonder if he was thinking about an actual death, perhaps his son’s?
I should have explained myself a bit better. He was in love with her, after a fashion, anyway, and he became so emotional on seeing her “so cold, so still, so pale” that he wishes he was the one who had died. And carrying that emotion in another direction, he laments that she should have thought of what she had with him, he was as good as she could have hoped for, so why kill herself?
I totally get it, Greg, and that is a good scenario — well, I mean it’s good in the sense that it works as a way to explain the song’s story.
I believe I have that Watson version you’re referring to — Richard Watson is the grandson yes? Good version for sure. And interesting about whether he was thinking about an actual death. That would certainly make sense. It’s an emotional song, or can be.
Thanks for writing!
First, I found this site after listening to a podcast called: Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grown On, titled “The Unfortunate Rake”, a journey based on the album by the same title and released on May 18, 2009.
After a google search, a wikipedia article, a few links and references I landed here and I immediately subscribed to the RSS.
Second, I really enjoy your site and your writings. Naturally, I devoured the essay on SJI.
I thought I saw a book by the same title, but different author. Must do more research. But I’ll order your book on NO as well.
Good going and thank you.
Hi Marco,
Thanks for this, and hope you enjoy the site (I haven’t been as up to date with it lately, but that should change soon.)
Meanwhile the other book you saw was almost certainly “I Went Down To St. James Infirmary,” by Robert Harwood — it’s really good and I recommend it. Search this site for the multi-part Q&A I did with Mr. Harwood, I think you will find it interesting!
I’m developing an audio documentary in partnership with my local NPR station. It follows the history of the Rake cycle, going back well over 200 years. It will include a discussion of SJI and in fact Bob Harwood has recorded content for this project.
Thanks
df
Hey there…just writing to let you know I found another version of this song which you don’t seem to have listed here. It’s by Nelstone’s Hawaiians and called “You’ll Never Find a Daddy Like Me”. It just popped up on last.fm.
Cheers
Craig
Hello,
There’s a version of “Barroom Blues” that’s not on your list. It’s in “Stripped Down” the new Cd (on Arhoolie Records) by The Magnolia Sisters, an all women Cajun band. In the liner notes I read that the band learned the song from another Cajun band, The Alley Boys of Abbeville (that recorded in the 30’s on the Columbia label).
Best.
JP Bruneau
Craig: Thanks for this, I’m on the case.
jp bruneau: Thanks for this also, I’ll check it out as soon as I get done with the Nelstone’s assignment from Craig!
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Hey NO Notes, I’ve been an RSS subscriber for about a year now, and I appreciate all the work you put into my favorite song. So, I thought I’d point out a new SJI release by the Mama Digdown Brass Band from Madison, Wisconsin. They plan in a straight traditional Nola brass band style, with a few modern originals and covers that are really impressive. Their most recent album (as of a few weeks ago) is “We Make ‘Em Say Ooh”, and their version of St. James Infirmary is great. It includes a horn arrangement that my ears tell me is from a hip hop album by Outkast, which may itself be taken from a much older arrangement. I could be wrong about the reference to Outkast, but it is my hunch. I’m not sure if the Mama Dig Down album is available yet on iTunes…
-AJ
PS: I would have emailed this to you directly, but I couldn’t find an email address on your blog anywhere.
Hey there, thanks for the tip! And I guess I need to restore the link to the contact form, that seems to have disappeared somehow. Hmm. Anyway I’ll track down that version, I’ve got several new ones (both new and just new to me) to write about so it’s good timing. Cheers! rw
[…] 14, 2010 by nonotes In a comment on the About page of this site, JP Bruneau wrote: “There’s a version of ‘Barroom Blues’ that’s not on your list. It’s in […]
Here’s an oddity that you may have heard of – didn’t see mention on the site. There was an arty, odd “erotic made-for-cable movie” by Nicholas Roeg called Full Body Massage (wince) that used SJI to great effect at the very end. I forswear interest in the film itself, even though Roeg can be a talented man – but as I remember, it ends with the main character driving away down a hot sunny road and singing the song to herself –
Is St James Infirmary music in the public domain? – R Jackson
I believe that it is now, but Robert W. Harwood has investigated that question more thoroughly:
http://iwentdowntostjamesinfirmary.blogspot.com/
A great website! St. James Infirmary is one of my favourite songs of all time. I have been trying to find the version that was used by Grishuk and Platov for their free dance in the 1993 World Skating Championships. The high notes send chills down your spine. It is absolutely awesome! If you have any information on this particular version I would be most appreciative. You can hear this version on Youtube. I have been searching for this information for over 15 years. Thank you so much ! Laila
I mentioned that ice skating video here:
And asked if anyone knew the version (I don’t). Unfortunately, no replies. Sorry!
Thanks so much for your reply. If you should ever hear, please let me know. I am still trying to find out who played this particular version of St. James Infirmary. The Russian figure skater Maria Butryskaya skates to a version which is very close to it. It is listed as originating from the movie, Once Upon a Time in America, but I was unable to find it on the soundtrack. I still think I can find out from the actual Russian skaters , Gritschuk and Platov, who I think both now reside in the USA and teach skating somewhere on the east coast.
Hello,
I just found your nice blog!
There is a french artist who did a very personal / modern / shoegaze cover of the Abner Jay version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dRJQnwhyx4
Hope you will like it!