Copyright © 2002-2005
by James P. Hauser
except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
Stagger Lee: From Mythic Blues Ballad to Ultimate Rock 'n' Roll Record
The AKA Blues Connection: Documenting the Blues Roots of Rock 'n' Roll
The Story of the Black Badman, the Stetson Hat, and the Ultimate Rock 'n' Roll Record
Part 1: The Legend and the Record
The legend of Stagger Lee is one of the most important and enduring stories from American folklore. Although it has had some popularity with the white community, it is a story that comes from the African-American oral tradition. There are many different versions of the tale, but here is the general storyline. Stagger Lee (also known as Stagolee, Stackerlee, Stackalee etc.) gets into a dispute with a man named Billy DeLyon (also known as Billy the Lion or Billy Lyons) after losing his Stetson hat to Billy while gambling. Stagger Lee pulls a gun (sometimes identified as a .45, other times as a "smokeless .44") on Billy who then pleads to be spared for the sake of his wife and children. Showing no compassion at all, Stagger Lee cold-bloodedly shoots and kills his opponent. In the classic older musical recordings of the legend, the authorities are too frightened of the killer to arrest him for his crime. But, in many versions of the tale, he is eventually brought to justice and executed. In certain tellings of the story, Stagger Lee is sent to hell after he is executed or killed, but is so "bad" that he takes control of the devil's kingdom and turns it into his own badman's paradise.
Stagger Lee's myth is kept alive today most noticeably in our music. There are easily over one hundred recordings of this song under various titles such as "Stagger Lee", "Stagolee", "Stack O' Lee Blues", "Billy Lyons and Stack O' Lee", many of them done by famous blues, folk, and rock musicians. The song is most popular today with the rock audience. Bob Dylan, Huey Lewis, and Beck have all recorded various versions of it within the last ten years. But the two most important and most well-known versions of the song--Mississippi John Hurt's "Stack O' Lee Blues" and Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee"--were recorded by black men. Hurt's version, recorded in 1928, is a classic early version of the song in which justice prevails as Stagger Lee is punished for his crime. Price's recording, from the late 1950s, is a classic modern rock 'n' roll retelling of the legend. It is, in a certain sense, the polar opposite of Hurt's because Stagger Lee is not punished for the murder of Billy DeLyon, he is celebrated for it. At least that is what Price's record appears to be if the lyrics and music are taken at face value. But could it be that there was something deeper that was going on with the record than simply celebrating the legend of a badman? Let's take a closer look.
By looking at certain changes in the myth of Stagger Lee as recorded in song between 1928 and1958, and by considering these changes in relation to what was going on in American history during this stretch of time, you can see a major change in the theme of the tale and in its meaning to African Americans. The 1928 version by John Hurt and most other early recordings characterize Stagger Lee as a cruel, ruthless killer. Greil Marcus, who wrote extensively about the myth of Stagger Lee in his critically acclaimed rock and roll book Mystery Train, described Hurt's version of the story as "cautionary". Hurt may have been issuing a warning to stay away from Stagger Lee because he was pure trouble. But he may also have been saying to his fellow African Americans that "ya gotta play it cool, or else you'll end up in jail--or worse". In other words, he could have been warning the African American community to not let the white man's oppression turn its children into bitter, angry young black men. But thirty years after Hurt's recording, Lloyd Price recorded a version of the song which, at least on the surface, seemed to celebrate the murderous exploits of such an angry young black man. Why the drastic reversal? The answer may be seen by looking at the era in which Price's recording was made.
Lloyd Price released his version of Stagger Lee in 1958, in the early part of America's civil rights struggle. For African Americans, the conflict between Stagger Lee and Billy DeLyon may have become symbolic of the black man's struggle for equality with whites. The most important theme of this essay is to show how this struggle was reflected in Price's recording. (The extraordinary way in which Price's record invoked the fight for black freedom will be explained shortly.) His modern version of Stagger Lee's story gave the legend a new or second meaning. It is not clear whether this double-meaning was something which was created intentionally by Price, but there is plenty of evidence showing that at least some African Americans saw Stagger Lee as a black freedom fighter. Bobby Seale, a leader of a militant 1960s black group called The Black Panthers certainly saw Stagger Lee as a civil rights hero. He modeled himself after the legend and he also named his son after him. And in a 1970 jailhouse interview (excerpted in Mystery Train) Seale names four militant civil rights activists as Stagger Lee figures--himself, Malcolm X, and fellow Black Panthers Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver.
Another civil rights connection is made by the great black author James Baldwin who, in his forward to Bobby Seale's autobiography, points out that "an anonymous black woman" (Rosa Parks) was instrumental in helping Stagger Lee to achieve manhood. In his forward, he refers to Stagger Lee as a "black folk hero" (the badman's legend so captured Baldwin's imagination that he wrote a poem titled "Staggerlee Wonders" and he even started a novel about him) and certainly he must have seen Rosa Parks's defiant act of civil disobedience as a heroic Stagger Lee-like feat. To those who tried to belittle her act of courage by claiming that the only reason she refused to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of the bus was that she was too tired, Baldwin certainly must have responded by assuring them that during that particular incident Rosa Parks was--in her determination and resolve--the toughest and ba-a-a-a-dest person on the planet.
There is further evidence of Stagger Lee's civil rights era change in status from badman to champion for black freedom in the 1969 book Black Folktales from Julius Lester. Lester, an African-American writer and folk singer gives a very prominent black versus white dimension to his version of the legend. He does this in several ways. First, he gives the character of Billy DeLyon some qualities that could influence one to see him as a white man. (Traditionally, blacks saw both Billy and Stagger Lee as black men.) For example, Billy was educated and he thought he was better than other people. Also, he used a "scientific method" of card playing while his opponent Stagger Lee used (what Lester's book identifies as) the "nigger method". A second way that the author gives the legend a theme of black versus white is in the actions of the fearful sheriff. He aligns himself with the Ku Klux Klan in order to arrest Stagger Lee for his crime. Finally, the division between blacks and whites also appears after Stagger Lee dies, as he finds that all the white folks are in heaven and all the blacks are in hell.
In continuing to examine Stagger Lee as a hero in the black man's struggle for equality, let's return to Lloyd Price's recording of "Stagger Lee". Although, on the surface, the record does not appear to have a black versus white theme, it does contain what might be a clue for the listener--especially an African-American listener--to see the song in this light. That clue lies in the extraordinary introduction, an introduction which originated with this particular recording of the Stagger Lee legend. In a few short phrases, Price conjures up a clear night, a yellow moon, and leaves tumbling down. You could call it an incantation. Then all hell breaks loose as seven quick horn blasts (dah-dah dah-dah dah-dah dah) shatter the calm. This introduction evokes another song--a slave spiritual titled "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho"--in several ways. For example, the line that completes the intro to Price's record "and the leaves came tumbling down" echoes the spiritual's line "and the walls came tumbling down". This could be explained away as a simple coincidence, but there are a whole string of interesting "coincidences" between these two songs which will be discussed in just a moment.
But for now, let's look at the significance of this spiritual. It deals with a Bible story about a battle at Jericho in which God brought down the city's walls upon the sounding of trumpets and the shouting of a battle cry. To African-Americans, "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" had a special meaning in that this battle was symbolic of the fight to end slavery (Notes 1 and 2). As Price's record was released in 1958 during the early stages of the civil rights struggle, a black man hearing the connection between the two songs could interpret "Stagger Lee's" tumbling down of leaves as symbolic of the walls of segregation tumbling down. If this writer--a white man who has only heard this particular spiritual a handful of times--made the connection, there must have been many African-Americans--especially those that had regularly sung this popular spiritual in church--who also made this connection while the record was climbing the pop and R&B charts in the late 1950s. And it follows logically that to many of these African Americans, Stagger Lee's struggle with Billy DeLyon must have symbolized the black man's struggle for liberation from white oppression.
Now that the significance of a connection between Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee" and "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" has been established, let's continue to explore the links between the two songs. First of all, both of them are quite rousing songs. Each creates a celebratory mood, and this supports the idea that they may be interpreted as being about liberation--"Joshua Fit the Battle" celebrates liberation from slavery and "Stagger Lee" may be seen as celebrating release from white oppression, especially the oppression of the Jim Crow south. As indicated earlier, the seven horn blasts in Price's record transform the calm of the introduction into a wild, rollicking, barrage of sound. Again, this could be heard by some people as a musical representation of the sound of walls tumbling down. The seven horn blasts from the record tie in with the Biblical story of Jericho (from chapter six of the book of Joshua) in two ways. First of all, God brings down the walls of the city upon the sounding of horns or trumpets. Second, the number seven appears throughout the Bible story--seven trumpets of rams' horns were blown by seven priests after circling the city seven times on the seventh day (Note 3). Another link between the record "Stagger Lee" and the Bible story can be found in that the back-up singers shout as they join in with later sets of horn blasts; this parallels the Bible story in that the people who were gathered around Jericho shouted after hearing the trumpet blasts.
And here are several more connections between the two songs. The yellow moon that Price sings about in the introduction to "Stagger Lee" creates a link to the black spiritual in that the city of Jericho was named after the moon. Jericho's name comes from the Hebrew word "yerach" which signifies the moon or the monthly lunar cycle. It also means "to be yellow". (Note 4) It is also interesting to note that, in the lyrics to "Stagger Lee", the line about the leaves tumbling down is immediately preceded by a line describing the moon as yellow, while, in "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho", the line about the walls tumbling down is immediately preceded by a line containing the word "Jericho". Lastly, it might be interesting to note a parallel between Stagger Lee and the Biblical hero Joshua. Stagger Lee was a ruthless man, showing no mercy to Billy DeLyon as he pleaded for his life to be spared for the sake of his wife and children. Similarly, Joshua was absolutely ruthless in conquering Jericho, destroying every man, woman, child, and animal in the city (as recorded in Joshua chapter 6 verse 21).
Now that I have discussed this set of connections between Price's "Stagger Lee" and both "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" and the Bible story of Jericho, let's look at how amazingly well they fit together on Price's record. The beginning of the record is calm as Price sings about the yellow moon on a clear night; this represents the city of Jericho. In the very next line, he sings about the leaves tumbling down, which exactly matches the line about Jericho's walls tumbling down (except for the substitution of the word "leaves" for "walls") in "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho". Continuing on with the line about leaves tumbling down, immediately after the word "down" horn blasts break the calm, symbolizing the horns that were sounded to bring down the walls of Jericho. This first set of horn blasts includes a total of seven blasts, and this number appears throughout the Bible story about the Battle of Jericho. The second set of horn blasts are accompanied by the voices of the backup singers; this matches what happened in the Bible story as Joshua's people began to shout after hearing the horns.
The discussion above either (1) uncovers Lloyd Price's conscious--or subconscious--intention to give his recording of "Stagger Lee" a hidden or double meaning, or (2) details an amazing set of coincidental connections between this record and the song "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho". I believe that the connections between the two songs are explained by both possibilities. First of all, I believe that Price subconsciously invoked “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” with the lyric about the leaves tumbling down, a lyric which he originated and added to “Stagger Lee's" introduction. But I do not believe that any of the other connections between the two songs were manifestations of Price’s subconscious. Instead, these other connections may be instances of what is known as synchronicity.
Synchronicity is a theory of the famous psychologist Carl Jung dealing with the occurrence of coincidences. It’s the idea that although coincidences can not be explained by cause and effect, there is a relationship between the coinciding events that goes beyond mere chance. Synchronicity is a theory of connectedness between things, a connectedness that we possibly do not see because of our limited perception of the world or our incomplete understanding of the nature of the world and the way it works. (With some of today's top scientists proposing theories that worm holes or black holes may be used to travel through time or to alternate universes, it's clear that we have a very limited understanding of the world that we live in.) One of the best-known examples of synchronicity is the long string of coincidences between Presidents John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, some of the most amazing of which are related to the circumstances of their assassinations.
Now let's take a detailed look at the possibility that Price consciously or subconsciously gave "Stagger Lee" a hidden meaning. First of all, it is not likely that he did it consciously because, if that is what happened, he certainly would have revealed this to the music world by now. But is it possible that it was done subconsciously? Let's examine this possibility more closely. It has often been reported that Price got his start in singing by joining a church choir and that his mother also was a gospel singer, but according to an article in the September/October 1999 issue of Living Blues magazine, Price has stated that he never sang in church. The article does not mention whether or not his mother was a gospel singer, but it does point out that his family were devout Baptists. Therefore, even if he and his mother never sang in church, he must have been familiar with the popular "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" through his attendance of church services. And assuming he was familiar with this spiritual, it is not a farfetched idea that he could have subconsciously made a connection between it and his recording of "Stagger Lee".
This kind of thing can certainly happen, and it actually did happen to writer Ray Bradbury. In an afterword to his science fiction classic Fahrenheit 451, he pointed out that years after he had written this story about a society in which books were illegal he realized that he had subconsciously given the name of a paper company, Montag, to the story's principal character and the name of a pencil company, Faber, to another main character. (Although Bradbury did not mention it, Faber is also the name of a British book publisher.) It took Bradbury over 30 years to come to this realization. Lloyd Price recorded "Stagger Lee" almost 45 years ago, and he may still not be aware of the possibility that his subconscious mind guided him to create a link between that record and the old spiritual. (Note 5)
Much of the discussion in this essay focuses on symbolism, and now might be an appropriate time to discuss the importance of symbolism and double-meanings or codes in African American music. Secret codes were important to the slaves because it was a covert way of communicating with each other about things that they wanted to keep from the slaveholders. For example, it is believed that the spiritual "Steal Away" was used by slaves to arrange secret meetings in preparation for the revolt known as Nat Turner's Rebellion. As another example, slaves would sing the spiritual "Wade in the Water" to signal to an escaped comrade to take to the water because the dogs had been put on his trail. Upon hearing the song, slaves on neighboring plantations would take it up in order to forward the message to the man running off to freedom. The use of secret codes was not limited to music. As documented in Jacqueline Tobin's book Hidden in Plain View, special symbols or designs were placed in quilts which served as secret codes to runaway slaves. The quilts were hung outside of houses along the route of the Underground Railroad to indicate that the home was a safe haven for runaways working their way north to freedom.
After the end of slavery, African Americans continued to give double or hidden meanings to their music, including the blues. Bluesman Brownie McGhee, in an interview in Lawrence N. Redd's Rock Is Rhythm and Blues, made the point that when he sings a song about his woman doing him wrong, it is the white man (not his woman) that he is really singing about. Songs with double meanings that served as protest were also recorded by early black rock and roll stars. Evidence of this can be found in rock literature which is sprinkled with writings discussing the idea that Chuck Berry's song "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" was code for Brown-Skinned Handsome Man, and that when Bo Diddley sang "I'm a Man" he was really saying to white America, "Hey, don't call me boy".
Much of the rest of this essay will take the ideas that have already been discussed and explore them more fully. In particular, it will examine how Stagger Lee's legend changed--and how its meaning to African-Americans may have changed--over time, and how these changes were reflected in musical recordings about the legend. In doing this, we will see how the legend of Stagger Lee evolved from that of a badman to a champion for black rights. To set the stage for my discussion of the meaning of Stagger Lee's legend to African-Americans, I will first look at how the law was an extremely oppressive force to blacks living in the Jim Crow south and how this was reflected in the blues music which they created. This essay will also take a detailed look at the Stetson hat and how the conflict over the Stetson in the song "Stagger Lee" may have come to symbolize the African-American struggle for civil rights and freedom. Towards the end of this paper, I will present an explanation of why I consider Lloyd Price's recording of "Stagger Lee" to be the ultimate expression of the rock and roll form. Then I will wrap things up with a discussion of why Stagger Lee's story is alive, well, and still relevant as we begin the 21st century.
Note 1:
Dr. Horace Clarence Boyer indicates, in his liner notes to 1991's 2-CD set Mahalia Jackson: Gospels, Spirituals and Hymns (Columbia / Legacy C2K 47083), that the Bible story of the battle of Jericho was symbolic of the abolitionists' fight to end slavery and of the intervention of God in bringing slavery to an end (also see Note 2). Since trumpets triggered the fall of Jericho's walls, the sound of trumpets and lyrics referencing trumpets were both also seen as signifying the liberation of slaves. For example, Dr. Boyer points out (in these same liner notes) that the angel Gabriel's sounding of the trumpet in Jackson's rendition of "Great Gettin' Up Morning" represented the Emancipation Proclamation. (end of Note 1)
Note 2:
Jerry Silverman, a folk music collector/expert, gives an explanation similar to Dr. Boyer's (discussed in note 1) of how "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" symbolized liberation from slavery. Silverman's explanation, in his collection of songs titled Spirituals, emphasizes God's intervention as he writes that the slaves believed if they were strong (i.e. had strong faith in God), he would step in on their behalf to bring down the walls of slavery just as he did with the walls of Jericho. (end of Note 2)
Note 3:
The number seven has some interesting connections to the hopes of African-Americans for freedom.. Not only is this number crucial to the events of the battle of Jericho, but it also plays an important role in Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee". To be specific, a highlight of the song is the seven horn blasts following the introduction. Also, Stagger Lee rolls a seven while gambling with Billy. By interpreting this number as a symbol of freedom, the seven rolled by Stagger Lee could be viewed as representing the freedom that blacks were given when slavery was abolished, and Billy's claim that the number was actually an eight could be seen as the Jim Crow system rearing its head to force blacks back into bondage. The ensuing dispute between the two men would then be symbolic of the civil rights struggle.
In addition to "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" and "Stagger Lee", the number seven has another connection to freedom in black music. The classic reggae album Two Sevens Clash by the Rastafarian group Culture celebrates a vision of the end of the world with optimistic joy--joy because the apocalypse was seen as bringing liberation to the suffering people of Jamaica. Rastafarians believed that the clashing of the two sevens would take place in the year 1977. July 7, 1977 was anticipated to be the actual date of the apocalypse as it was the day that the four sevens clashed. Just as the battle of Jericho is a story found in the Bible, there is also a Bible story dealing with the clashing of sevens. In Chapter 41 of the book of Genesis, Pharaoh dreams of several sets of two groups of seven clashing [seven kine (or cows) against another seven kine and seven ears of grain against another seven ears of grain]. Again, these clashing sevens have a connection to freedom in that Pharaoh rewarded the imprisoned slave Joseph for correctly interpreting the dream by freeing him from slavery and making him prime minister of Egypt.
Coincidentally, the number seven is also associated with America's symbol of freedom, the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty wears a crown of seven spikes which symbolize the seven continents and the seven seas. (end of Note 3)
Note 4:
According to the The Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary contained in the New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the word "yerach" (listed as word number 3391 in the concordance) means "month" or " moon". The Hebrew and English Lexicon of the New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius defines the word "yerach" as "to be yellow". You can probably find Strong's Concordance in your local library. The New Brown-Driver is much more scarce, but you can still verify that "yerach" means "yellow" by doing a quick Internet search on Google.com. Simply type the words "yerach" and "yellow" in the search box. One of your first hits will probably be a page from www.eliyah.com, a good source which explains these meanings. You can also verify that Jericho comes from the word "yerach" with another Google search. Type in the words "jericho", "yerach", and "moon" in the search box and you should find a bunch of hits indicating that Jericho was named after the moon. (end of Note 4)
Note 5:
Lloyd Price made several interesting comments related to his songwriting and his recording of "Stagger Lee" to Living Blues magazine ( issue #147, September/October 1999). These comments are listed and discussed below.
- Price decided to record a version of "Stagger Lee" based on work he did
related to the badman's legend when he was in the Army. While in Korea,
he wrote a play to entertain the troops which told the story of Stagger Lee.
I believe that it is possible that his stint with the military may have
influenced him into giving a civil rights theme to his recording of "Stagger
Lee". Let me explain. In 1950, General Matthew Ridgeway ordered
the troops in Korea to be integrated. This was one of the very first
signs of the breaking apart of the walls of segregation in the history of
America. Having grown up in the deep south, Price certainly must have
been affected by his experiences in an integrated American Army, and these
experiences may have influenced him to record "Stagger Lee" as a call for and
celebration of black freedom.
- The inspiration for Price's great introduction to "Stagger Lee" about a
clear night and a yellow moon was his Army play. According to Price, the
play had the very same setting and it served as the basis for the record's
introduction.
- Price, who describes himself as having "limited ability" at playing
the piano, got the idea for "Stagger Lee's" horn blasts from a simple
piano turnaround. (Turnarounds are used in the blues as transitional
phrases, signaling the end of one verse and the beginning of the next one.)
- For every song that he wrote, Price gave credit to his business partner Harold Logan as a co-writer, even though Logan did not actually participate in the songwriting. Therefore, it was Price alone who authored the lyrics in the great introduction to "Stagger Lee". (The rest of the lyrics are very similar to those contained in a version recorded in 1950 by another New Orleans R&B musician who went by the name of Archibald.) (end of Note 5)