{"id":1549,"date":"2019-03-30T18:54:36","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T18:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/?page_id=1549"},"modified":"2024-04-03T18:24:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T18:24:53","slug":"stagolee","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/stagolee\/","title":{"rendered":"Stagolee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[WARNING: This song contains antiquated racial stereotypes. It is presented here for historical and educational purposes only.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From “Folk Songs of North America” by Alan Lomax
A traditional folksong<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lyrics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. It was early, early one mornin’
    When I heard my bulldog bark
    Stagolee and Billy Lyons
    Was squabblin’ in the dark<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Stagolee told Billy Lyons
    ‘What do you think of that?
    You win all my money, Billy
    Now you spit in my Stetson hat”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Stagolee, he went a-walkin’
    In the red-hot, broilin’ sun
    Says, ‘Bring me my six-shooter
    Lawd, I wants my forty-one’<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Stagolee, he went a-walkin’
    Through the mud and through the sand
    Says, ‘I feel mistreated this mornin’
    I could kill most any man’<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Billy Lyons told Stagolee
    ‘Please don’t take my life
    I’ve got three little helples chillun
    And one poor, pitiful wife’<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. ‘Don’t care nothin’ about your chillun
    And nothin’ about your wife
    You done mistreated me, Billy
    And I’m bound to take your life’<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. He shot him three times in the shoulder
    Lawd, and three times in the side
    Well, the last time he shot him
    Cause Billy Lyons to die<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Stagolee told Mrs. Billy
    ‘You don’t believe yo’ man is dead
    Come into the bar-room
    See the hole I shot in his head<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. The high sheriff told the deputies
    ‘Get your pistols and come with me
    We got to go ‘rest that
    Bad man Stagolee’<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. The deputies took their pistols
    And they laid them on the shelf
    ‘If you want that bad man Stagolee
    Go ‘rest him by yourself’<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. High sheriff ask the bartender
    ‘Who can that bad man be?’
    ‘Speak softly,’ said the bartender
    ‘It’s that bad man Stagolee’<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. He touch Stack on the shoulder
    Say, ‘Stack, why don’t you run?’
    ‘I don’t run, white folks
    When I got my forty-one’<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  13. The hangman put the mask on
    Tied his hands behind his back
    Sprung the trap on Stagolee
    But his neck refuse to crack<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  14. Hangman, he got frightened
    Said, ‘Chief, you see how it be
    I can’t hang this man
    Better set him free’<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  15. Three hundred dollar funeral
    Thousand dollar hearse
    Satisfaction undertaker
    Put Stack six feet in the earth<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  16. Stagolee, he told the Devil
    Says, ‘Come on and have some fun
    You stick me with your pitchfork
    I’ll shoot you with my forty-one<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  17. Stagolee took the pitchfork
    And he laid it on the shelf
    Says, ‘Stand back, Tom Devil
    I’m gonna rule Hell by myself’<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    Sung here by Fred Feild:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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