Episode 76: “Stagger Lee” by Lloyd Price
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs
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The Snatch and the Poontang's Album, Two-Time Slim
Cave has later said in interviews that they improvised the music and used the lyrics from Jackson's book. But the melody is very, very close to the Johnny Otis version. There's more evidence of Cave basing his version on theJohnny Otis track. That's not in the versions of the toast in Jackson's book, but it is in a different song on the Snatch and the Poontang's album, Two-time Slim. This is the Staggley of Legend, the Staggly who is the narrator of James Baldwin's Great Poem, Staggley Wunderz.
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