I'm going to need a little help on this one...
I've got 3 versions of this song, by Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Joe Cocker....
I want to do it as an acoustic blues, want to take it to the pub and get everyone to play it.....
But I want to do it in an open tuning....everybody else can do chords....
Any suggestions?
Tabs and lyrics would be much appreciated.....
The Louis Armstrong version is my favourite....my Dad was a big Satchmo fan, dad died way back in '71 - eery time I hear LA on the radio, still brings a lump to my throat.....
SJIB is a great song, never heard it for years apart from my stereo....It's one of those songs that should never be forgotten, an under-appreciated classic....
I really, really want to do this.....I'm on my knees, pleading for help here - c'mon guys, you aren't going to let me down when I need you, are you?
Please help.....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
The last two weeks I've been playing with it in Open G minor, and it works great. Haven't tabbed it, and I don't really have it finalized anyway because I keep coming up with slightly different ways to do it. I'm just playing it by ear after having heard an MP3 version online, and darn it, I can't remember who did it. Finding lyrics is easy. There are a bunch of versions. Go to Google and type in "St. James Infirmary" in quotes, then lyrics. I found the MP3 the same way, substituing "MP3" for "lyrics." I haven't tried to copy the playing on the MP3 (Oh! It was by Roger McGuinn, I just remembered!), I just used that to get a basic melody in my head and went from there.
I also found a bunch of information about the song. Many people have claimed it as their own and copyrighted it over the years, but it seems to be an old folk song first published in 1912. Some folks therefore say it's the first published blues song. It was originally called "Gambler's Blues."
The only way I can make sense of the lyrics is to regard the first verses about going down to St. James Infirmary and finding "my baby there," talking to the doctor, and her subsequent death, as separate from the speech Old Joe McKennedy is drunkenly addressing to the crowd at the bar about his own lost woman. Poor old guy singing, he's just had his wife/girlfriend/S.O./"baby" die, and gone down to the bar to get drunk and try to forget it, and Old Joe's making a speech about his woman having left him. The rest of the stuff about "When I die, please bury me..." could be either Old Joe's or the singer's words. But obviously there are many ideas about it, and some have done verses referring to the funeral of the dead woman in St. James Infirmary. Pick a variant you like, and don't be afraid to change it around and make it your own.
:D
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
thanks, Ric....
and er...what's that Gm tuning again?
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Low to high, DGDGBbD. Just Open G with the 2nd string tuned down a half step.
I'd record this, but I'll have to try to do it when my wife's out of the house. She doesn't like to hear me sing it!
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
you should check out bob dylan's song "bling willie mctell" if you haven't already. it's directly inspired by this song and pretty amazing. it's on the bootleg seeries 1-3, disc 3.
also check out mctell's version of sjib. both should inspire you.
OK, done a little research of my own....
Lots (and I mean LOTS!) of different interpretations of the lyrics, the one I particularly like has the narrator going into the bar where old Joe McKennedy is giving a drunken speech, which begins with the verse "I went down to St, James Infirmary...."
The chords I've managed to work out for rhythm are Dm, A7, Gm and Bb to best suit my voice....
Intro Dm/A7/Dm
I went (Dm) down to St (A7)James (Dm)Infirmary,
Saw my (Gm)baby lying (A7)there,
She was (Dm)stretched out on a (A7)long black (Dm)table,
So (Bb)cold, so (A7) white, so (Dm)fair
So my next job is to find a key for doing the solo in.....dunno if the Gm would work, I'm going to do the above chords on acoustic, anyone suggest a good open tuning? Looks to me at first sight as if Dm would be the way to go....
:D :D :D
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Dm will work, too.
DADFAD.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I've got a reasonable solo worked out in standard....pretty much follows the melody, with a couple of frills....
But I'll try open Dm.....
Thanks again, Ric....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Have fun with it!
I'm still at the point where I can "hear" more solos and variations than I can play. :lol:
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
My 14 year old daughter has been learning St. James Infirmery on piano. It has to be a testament to a song from the early 20th century that a 21st century kid out on a farm calls it her favorite song. She says it sounds, "real Halloweeny."
If it ain't true, it ain't blues.
Wanna sound "Halloweeny?" Try it on a Hammond organ!
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
would be Van "the Man" Morrison singing it on his album "What's Wrong with this Picture"
just for the unbelievable vocal. That's Van, man.
A great song.
Hey Chilly, great to see you here!
:D
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Yo Rico,
Thank you doctor! Glad I found the place! Wouldn't have found it if the BRB wasn't down and DFDuck hadn't set up his board to satisfy our blues jones.
CW
Yeah, I'm grateful to Duck for that!
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
