Stagger Lee – Lloyd Price

 

I only know this song from a mix album I had of rock n roll songs. Back in the 80s they released a series on double vinyl albums that a DJ had mixed together, you only ever heard the first two thirds of each song. The song selection was more of the less well known songs from the 50s and 60s with some odd intersections between them. I found a lot of great songs listening to them. 

This song always struck me as so joyous, but the fun backing covers up a very dark song matter. The way the song bounces along it sounds like it should be a fun song but when you read the lyric you find out it's a about a two gamblers that fall out. One then gets his revenge as he shoots down poor Billy. Then it turns out it's based on real life people it becomes even an odder thing to pen a song about, but old time tunes were often ways of telling stories before radio and TV came along. Then they became hit songs being covered many years later by the pop stars of the day by adding dance able backings to them.

There were some odd song subjects in the 1950s, car crashes and the like, definitely not like the fluffy pop stuff that became the normal a few years after songs like this.

Favourite lyric : I was standing on the corner / When I heard my bulldog bark / He was barkin' at the two men who were gamblin' / In the dark