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St. James Infirmary Blues

Saint James Infirmary Blues by Irving Miles

Am Am E E Am

I went [Am] to old [E]Joe’s [Am]bar room,
On the corner [D] by the [Am] square,
Where the drinks were [E]served as [Am} usual,
And the usual [E]crowd was [Am] there.

At the bar stood big Joe McKennedy.
His eyes were bloodshot red.
He turned to the crowd around him,
And this is what big Joe said.

He said, “I went down to St. James Infirmary,
To see my baby there.
She was laid out on a cold steel table,
So calm, so pale, so fair.

Let her go, let her go God bless her,
Wherever she may be.
You can search the whole world over,
And never find a better man than me.

When I die please bury me,
In a high crowned Stetson hat.
Put a ‘hunered’ dollar bill in my pocket,
So folks will know I died standing pat.”

Will that’s the end of my story.
Let’s have another round of booze.
And if anybody here should ask you.
I’ve got the St. James Infirmary blues.

I’ve got the St. James Infirmary blues

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There are more verses and variations. Some people do the song jazzy. I like it more as a blues song. I learned this song from T.C. Blues.

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Tags: infirmary, james, john, squirmary, st, More…uncle

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Comment by Slowpaw Steve T on May 3, 2012 at 3:47am: Good song choice Uncle John! ...great story (-:

Comment by Mike Bingham on May 2, 2012 at 9:59pm: Nice indeed! I can imagine that being in an old western movie and fitting very well.

Comment by the anonymous pick on May 2, 2012 at 9:36pm: nice , uj ;-)

Comment by James on May 2, 2012 at 9:17pm: back in the cemetery, about a year later, birds still chirping like before, great job on this song !!!

Comment by shane wagstaff on May 2, 2012 at 7:35pm: Excellent Uncle John and what a great backdrop Like , Like .

Comment by Whiteowl on May 2, 2012 at 7:30pm: man unc! where do you get theese sad ass songs? purty spot an the birds are chirpin i like the one to.

Comment by Uncle John on May 2, 2012 at 7:24pm: Thanks guys. I intended to go black and white or sepia. But the colors were too pretty to change.

I had an audience of Canada geese, a rabbit, a meadow lark and half a dozen song birds. Glad the song birds chipped in and the geese were momentarily quiet.