St. James Infirmary Blues

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Revision as of 22:34, 10 December 2008

St. James Infirmary Blues is a song performed The White Stripes that can be heard on their first album, The White Stripes.

Band Quotes

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Trivia

• An American folksong of anonymous origin, this song is often credited to "Joe Primose", a pseudonym for Irving Mills. The song is credited to 'Joe Primrose' in the liner notes of the White Stripes' self-titled debut album.
• This song has performed by a few of the Stripes' major influences, including Blind Willie McTell and Bob Dylan. The latter used the song's melody in his song titled "Blind Willie McTell".
• The Stripes' rendition of this song on their debut album includes a version of a verse from "The Unfortunate Rake", which was an 18th century folksong that evolved into several American standards, including "St. James Infirmary Blues" (as well as "Streets of Laredo").

Personnel

• Meg White - Tambourine? and Drums
• Jack White - Piano and Lead Vocal
• Folksong of anonymous origin; credited to "Joe Primrose". Arranged by White/White.

Lyrics

Well, folks, I'm going down to St. James Infirmary
To see my little lady there
She's stretched out on a long, white table
Well, she looks so good, so cold, so fair.

Let her go, let her go, God bless her, 
Wherever she may be, 
You may search this wide world over, 
But you'll never find another sweetheart like me.

Take apart your bones and put them back together
Tell your mama that you're somebody new
Feel the breeze blowin'
Tell them all 'look out, here it comes'
Now I can say whatever I feel like to you

Then get me six crap shootin' Paul Bearers
Let a chorus girl sing me a song
Put a little odds on top of that sweet grace
Hallelujah as we go along 

Folks, now that you have heard my story, 
Say, boy, hand me another shot of that rye; 
And if anyone else should ask you,
Just tell em' I've got some of those St. James Infirmary blues.