“St. James Infirmary Blues” is a public domain jazz blues song with a storied past. Its earliest origins date back to a late 18th century English folk song “The Unfortunate Rake.” Later it assumed American variations that included a cowboy ballad and even later in the south as a jazz blues tune that was recorded by many including Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. There are so many versions of the lyric that we simply selected and tweaked a few we liked for this production.

​Janice - Vocals and arrangement.
Peter - Guitar, arrangement and mixing.
Bud - arrangement and vocal recording engineer

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ST. JAMES INFIRMARY BLUES

It was down in Old Joe's barroom
On the corner by the square
They were serving drinks as usual
And the usual crowd was there

On my left stood Big Joe McKinney
His eyes were bloodshot red
As he looked at his friends all around him
These were the words he said:

"I went down to the St. James Infirmary
I saw my baby there
Laid out on a long white table
So young, so cold, so fair"

Let her go, let her go
God bless her, wherever she may be
If I search this wide world over
I’ll never find another true love for me

So when I die just bury me
In a fine suit with a Stetson hat
Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my vest
Let my friends know I died standin’ pat

I want six of my friends for pall bearers
A pretty girl to sing me a song
A jazz band to lead my hearse wagon
Everybody singing as we roll along

Everybody singing as we roll along
Let’s roll…