Episode 76: “Stagger Lee” by Lloyd Price
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs
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Lee Shelton's "Frankie"
In possibly the most famous early version, Mississippi John Hurt asks why the police can't arrest that bad man Staggley. During the 30s and 40s, the song came to be recorded by all sorts of musicians. Almost all of them either folk musicians like Woody Guthrie or blues musicians like Ivory Joe Hunter. The writer Cecil Brown would finally identify Shelton as the subject of the song in the 90s.
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