52 weeks of blues

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, Jr was born on May 17, 1942, in Harlem, New York. His parents were a Caribbean jazz arranger and an African American gospel singer who grew up during the “Harlem Renaissance”, a cultural movement spanning the 1920’s to 40’s characterised by a feeling of racial pride and the exploration of folk traditions on African American and ‘coloured’ identity.
His father was a well known jazz pianist and arranger – labelled “the Genius” by none other than Ella Fitzgerald – and got Taj started on the piano, clarinet, trombone and harmonica. His house was constantly visited by Caribbean, African and American musicians, giving the young Taj a love of African and Caribbean rhythms. The family moved to Springfield, Massachusetts before Taj turned 10 and his father was killed in a workplace accident soon after, deeply affecting the young musician.
A new neighbour – nephew of bluesman Arthur “Big Boy” Cruddup – introduced Taj to the acoustic guitar at age 13 or 14. At 17 he adopted the name Taj Mahal inspired by a social conscious, the civil rights movement and the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi to promote freedom and civil rights in India. Taj’s first job was as a farmer and it remains a love of his, inspiring a lot of his work.
Moving to Santa Monica, California in 1964, he formed a band with Ry Cooder and was signed to Columbia Records. The mixed race band didn’t receive much airplay and broke up, and Taj turned to a solo career, releasing a self titled debut in 1968. In the same year, he released the hugely influential “The Natch’l Blues”, introducing “she caught the katy” to the blues lexicon.
Taj released a string of albums in the late 60s and 70s, before relocating to Hawaii in 1981 and taking a short hiatus. Taj Mahal is recognized as a pioneer of “world music”, incorporating reggae, calypso, jump, zydeco, jazz and gospel themes and rhythms into what essentially is country blues. He has won two Grammy’s for best blues album, and his music continues to explore the diversity of the folk traditions inherent in the blues.

On Christmas night, 1895, notorious pimp and gambler Lee Sheldon was drinking with an acquaintance William Lyons at the Bill Curtis Club in St Loius, Missouri. An argument over politics broke out, and Lyons snatched Sheldon’s Stetson hat off his head. Sheldon pulled out his revolver and shot Lyons in the stomach. Lyons died a few days later, and Sheldon was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years. He was paroled after 12 years, but was imprisoned again in 1909 and died in prison in 1912.

Within 18 months of the shooting, African American field hands were already singing of the murder of Billy Lyons. “Stack Lee” was the name of a river boat specialising in prostitution and it’s likely Sheldon was given this nick name. An 1897 version of the song is titled “Stack-o-Lee”. The first recording by Waring’s Pennsylvanians in 1923 is an instrumental with the title “Stack o’Lee Blues”. The following year Lovie Austin recorded the first lyrics on a track titled “Skeeg-O-Lee Blues” with Louis Armstrong on cornet. Due to the folk tradition of recycling themes and narratives, the song, the title and the events depicted were constantly re-interpreted.

The 1927 version by Furry Lewis, “Billy Lyons and Stack O Lee”, has the men playing a game of dice, and Stack loses all his money and his hat so murders the other man. The Frank Hutchinson version of the same year doesn’t have the gambling, but it introduces the wife and children. The Mississippi John Hurt version recorded first in 1928, and considered the definitive blues version, is titled “Stack O’Lee Blues” and tells how Stack O’Lee shot “Billy de Lyon”. In ’64 Hurt’s version had developed into Stagger Lee running a gang of outlaws.

Taj Mahal’s version is on the 1969 album “De Old Folks at Home” – one of the best country blues albums ever recorded. It incorporates lyrics from the many different versions and shifts the action to the Lions Club in Louisiana, and the guitar is based on Hurt’s 1928 version. It’s played on a 12 string guitar in dropped D tuning (tune the low E string a whole tone down to D). The 12 string has the lowest 4 strings doubled an octave higher, so the open D 4th string also contains the B string 3rd fret D note, which is a major part of all melodies. I’ve tried to tab it as close to the sound as possible, but in some passages this requires playing that B string 3rd fret D twice in succession – once as part of the bass and once as part of the melody. This really dilutes the effectiveness of the melody – instead of sitting on top of the bass, it can get drowned out so to speak. In those areas I’ve just tabbed the bass progression and not the octave higher doubled notes. It’s probably better to forget ‘doubling up’ the bass at the start, and just use the open 6th and open 4th strings. This means you don’t get that bell like sound prominent in the 2nd and 4th beats of the D section bars, but you can add that higher note in when you get comfortable with making it sound right.

D
Could been on a rainy morning
Could been on a rainy night
G
When Stagger Lee and Billy DeLyon
G                       D
Had a great big fight
A
Talking about that bad man

A                        D 
Cruel old Stagger Lee

"Stagger Lee" said Billy
"Man you know I can't go with that
I done won all your money
And your great big Stetson hat"
Talking 'bout the bad man
Cruel Old Stagger Lee

"Stagger Lee" said Billy
"Man don't take my life
I got two lovely children
I got a very loving wife
Talking 'bout the bad man
Cruel Old Stagger Lee

Solo

Stagger Lee shot Billy
He shot that boy so bad
The bullet went through Billy
Broke the bar tender's looking glass
Talking 'bout the bad man
Cruel Old Stagger Lee

If you ever down in Louisiana
Go in to the Lions Club
Every foot you be steppin' in
Billy DeLyon's blood
Talking 'bout the bad man, bad man
Cruel Old Stagger Lee

It could have been on a rainy morning
It could have been on a rainy night
Stagger Lee and Billy DeLyon
Had a great big fight
Talking 'bout the bad man
Cruel Old Stagger Lee

The into features some smooth picking over bass notes hitting on the beat. The bass notes alternate from one string to a higher string. Some of the passages are pretty tricky – they feature some fast but smooth picking using the fingers – concentrate on that alternating bassline hitting on the beat, then add in the melody when you’ve got it down.

The progression is the same chords as the intro, but with a less prominent melody line. Like all good bluesman, Taj mixes it up a little in the melody, and strums or hits full chords to add interest. Experiment with it. Interestingly, it’s a 13 bar progression.

The first half of the solo features some really slides and some notes off the beat and takes a while to get. The melody over the G chord is similar to the intro, but the additional notes on a 12 string really make it sound fantastic. I’ve tabbed a six string version that is pretty close, but not exactly what Taj plays. I struggle to even play it through once, but if you nail it try adding the open G string very softly in the off beats between the notes in the B string run.

The outro uses the minor to major third of the intro but played in reverse order, creating a nice little bookend for the song. Not too much tricky stuff going on here, it’s pretty much a normal run through the progression, with a little melody added to the first few bars and some chords to end it.