St. James Infirmary Blues
From Stripespedia
Contents |
Releases
- The White Stripes (1999)
Other Appearances
- Appeared in the short film Six Shooter (2004)
Credits
Performers
- Jack White: piano, lead vocals
- Meg White: drums, tambourine
Production
- Most famously recorded by Louis Armstrong, Blind Willie McTell and Cab Calloway, among countless others.
- American folksong of anonymous origin, most commonly credited to the songwriter Joe Primrose (a pseudonym for Irving Mills).
- Arranged by Jack White and Meg White.
- Produced by Jack White.
- Co-produced and engineered by Jim Diamond.
- Recorded at Third Man Studios, southwest Detroit.
Meaning
- See the Wikipedia article on the song.
Band Quotes
Trivia
- Bob Dylan used this song's melody in a song entitled "Blind Willie McTell", who himself recorded a rendition of the song under the title "Dying Crapshooter's Blues". Both artists are major influences on the White Stripes.
- Exactly what the hell Jack is singing in the last line of the second verse of this song has been debated. The line in the traditional lyrics that should be here is "Put a twenty-piece jazz band on my tail gate to raise hell as we go along." However, in the White Stripes' rendition, he seems to be singing "Put a little odds on top of that sweet grace." This line, and the entire verse in fact, is a spin on a similar verse from another traditional song, "The Unfortunate Rake". Presumably, Jack sang "Put a little odds on top of that sweet grace", but stumbled with the lyrics a bit.
Lyrics
Oh, Coco...
Well, folks, I'm going down to St. James Infirmary to see my little lady there.
She's stretched out on a long, white table. Well, she looks so good, so cold, so fair.
Let her go, let her go; God bless her, wherever she may be.
You may search this whole wide world over, but you'll never find another sweetheart like me.
Take apart your bones and put them back together. Tell your mama that you're somebody new.
Feel the breeze blowin', tell them all 'look out, here it comes' -- now I can say whatever I feel like to you.
Then get me six crapshootin' pallbearers, let a chorus girl sing me a song.
Put a little odds on top of that sweet grace! Hallelujah as we go along...
Folks, now that you have heard my story; say, boy, hand me another shot of that rye.
And if anyone else should ask you, just tell em' I've got some of those St. James Infirmary blues.
