One of the most interesting things about folk music, to me, is the way it changes over time. Not just in terms of general style, but specifically. By which I mean to say, you have a primarily oral tradition going there, unlike classical music where you're given a more or less concrete piece and told how to play it. Because of this, you can track a specific song back hundreds of years (lyrically, anyway... a hundred and change for actual recordings), and hear how that singular piece has changed with the times.
I find this fascinating (in fact, the same core concept applied to languages is the primary reason I tried to minor in linguistics for awhile). If music is expressive of the human mind and heart, then when we have a song that's been played for a long time, we basically have a map of human growth and diversity over however many years we can track it back. Like analyzing the rings of a tree- a skilled student can learn many fascinating things if they listen close enough. Although to be clear, this is significantly less scientific and more interpretive, as are all things that work on a nonphysical level. I like that better anyway.
Of course, this would be a very boring blog if I didn't give you an example. My favorite example (one that has glazed the eyes of more than one hapless girlfriend) is
Stagolee
Stagolee is a (really) well known murder blues. There are several traditional murder blues songs that've been covered a lot. Frankie and johnny is a good example- I'm guessing that one actually goes back further- but one of the things I like about Stagolee is that the song can be tied concretely to the actual event that spawned it. There's a newspaper report from a 1895 copy of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat that details the events in the song. Basically, according to the paper (I'll paraphrase), the story goes like this:
"Stacker" Lee Shelton (the nickname has a bunch of variations, the most common one being "stagolee")- a pimp and a carriage driver (apparently you could be both)- and his friend William Lyons were gambling in a St. Louis Saloon on Christmas eve. Both were drunk. At some point the conversation devolved into a political argument, at the end of which Billy grabbed Lee's hat off his head. Lee told Billy to return it, and when he refused, Lee pulled a gun, shot Billy in the stomach, and walked away. Lee was arrested and Billy went to the hospital. Billy died of his wound a couple days later. Lee was convicted and died, in prison, of tuberculosis, 17 years later.
No biggie, right? I mean, it sucks, but in the grand scheme of things that shit happens every day. People really really seem to love killing each other (I'll share a couple other choice selections on the subject a bit later), and they'll jump at the opportunity. But that leads us to the other thing I think is cool about this- this is one of the most related stories in music... ever. Hundreds of people have covered it over the past hundred years. So, knowing what the event at the root is, I find it pretty fascinating to look at all the different variations that've sprung up so far.
Time for some examples.
...Is 10 enough?
Trust me, I promise this is the only time I will ever give you so many versions of the same song.... but I think this is so cool, I just can't help it this time. It's worth noting, however, that while I might be inclined to share notes with you about stylistic variations, that's not quite what I'm talking about with the tree rings thing. You can talk about music all day long, and regardless of how eloquent you are, you may still be missing the point. I feel like I've hammered this in so many ways from so many angles in the past, but in the artistic world (most of the world, really) it's the key point. So I'll italicize it this time, just to make it extra clear. It's not about facts, figures, thoughts or analysis- IT'S ALL ABOUT SOUL! So if you really want to understand what I'm talking about, close your eyes, sit back, and just listen.
Mississippi John Hurt
...covered the tune at one point. Although it's unlikely that he wrote it (he was 2 years old when the deed actually went down), his version is generally considered to be the quintessential one.
Herb Wiedoft's Orchestra
...is one of the earliest recordings (1924), although the only thing to link the song, really, is the title.
Furry Lewis
...did a version around 1927, As you can hear, the lyrics, melody, and story all started changing pretty drastically, pretty fast. 15 years after Stagolee was in his grave, his story was already pretty varied. Cool, huh?
Ma Rainey
was an "urban blues" singer (Furry and John are "country blues"- you'll hear the difference) contemporary with the rest of these guys. She did a version called Stack O' Lee that was, in fact, Frankie and Johnny with slightly tweaked lyrics. A lot of the urban blues performers were... not very original.
Moving along, they (predictably) schlocked it up pretty considerable in the '50s.
Lloyd Price
...managed to make a No. 1 hit out of it, though.
As you no doubt noticed, the same basic elements usually remain (the names, the shooting, and usually the hat)... but everything else is fair game for...modification. By the '70s, Stag's legend had grown to truly epic proportions.
Pacific Gas And Electric
...released a pretty embellished rendition, in which Stagolee goes to hell and dethrones the devil. Really... we're getting pretty out there, man.
Renditions of Stagolee have also been featured in two movies of late.
Keb Mo
...plays it in the 2007 movie Honeydripper.
and
Samuel L. Jackson
Plays a heavily modified version in Black Snake Moan (2006). I really like the first person narrative in this one. The version he's playing is actually a spinoff of R.L. Burnside's version -not the only nod to Burnside in that movie. If you haven't seen it, I recommend you go watch it and find out what I mean!
That's probably enough about Stack and Billy for one day. Hopefully you're getting a little bit of what I'm saying about the sheer breadth and depth of variation on this story. If you're really interested, I encourage you to look up some more tunes. I guarantee you won't run out anytime soon. I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite versions (for obvious reasons).
The Black Keys
...did their own Stagolee on the album they released around the time I found them (you know... before they were cool). Awesome!
I'll be back soon with some more examples of good old fashioned murder blues.
Later
-JC
