The Historical Timeline of Stagger Lee
1981 - 2000
Important Events in the Stagger Lee Story
1981 - 1990
1983 James Baldwin publishes "Staggerlee Wonders" in his volume of poetry, "Jimmy’s Blues."
1991 - 2000
1992 Bob Brozman records "Stack O Lee Aloha" going back to the early Hawaiian versions.
1992 While still a Rolling Stone, Bill Wyman forms side projects, Bill Wyman and the Bootleg Kings and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. Stagger Lee is a staple for them all. Wyman also includes Pine Top Smith’s "Stack O'Lee Blues" on the Bill Wyman Blues Odyssey documentary/book/soundtrack.
1993 Frank Hutchison’s version. Dylan writes of the song: "truth is shadowy. in the pre-postindustrial age, victims of violence were allowed (in fact it was their duty) to be judges over their offenders -- parents were punished for their children's crimes (we've come a long way since then) the song says that a man's hat is his crown."
1994 Huey Lewis & the News.
1996 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds interpreted Stagger Lee on their 1996 album Murder Ballads. The song has been a mainstay of their live set ever since. Nick found the lyrics in a collection of folk poetry gathered in New York prisons in the 50s and 60s. "The gods gave us this song and they were pissing themselves with laughter when they did it."
2000 ->
2001 Beck releases his faithful version of Mississippi John Hurt's "Stagolee." Beck recorded it in 1994 in Sun Studios. He has an even deeper connection to the song. He says that his 1996 hit "Devil’s Haircut" was a rewrite of the Stagger Lee myth."I imagined Stagger Lee… I thought, what if this guy showed up now in 1996. The song had this Sixties grooviness, and I thought of using him as a Rumplestiltskin figure, this Lazarus figure to comment on where we've ended up as people."
2004 The Black Keys reimagine it once again as "Stack Shot Billy." Guitarist Dan Auerbach says, "I had Mississippi John Hurt's version and a bunch of other people's versions, and I thought, 'These guys all wrote their own versions of this song; why couldn't I do my own version?'"
2006 The story is published as an award-winning graphic novel.
2007 Modern Life is War record a heavy metal first person version of the story.
2007 Samuel L. Jackson (backed by R.L. Burnside’s grandson and "adopted" son) sings "Stagger Lee" in the film "Black Snake Moan."
2007 Keb’ Mo’s version is included on the soundtrack to John Sayles’ film "Honeydripper."
2008 Benny Profane liberally reinterprets the song as a pornographic film "Bullets and Burlesque: The Deviant Life of Stagger Lee." "It's based on the true story of 'Stagger' Lee Sheldon, the man who inspired countless folk tales, blues songs, etc. It's set in 1895 and has a really surreal look, kind of a mix between 19th century burlesque and 20th century punk rock decay."
Singers and bands, both big and small, continue to record and perform variations of this song. Our list of artists who have recorded this song is over 400 names long. Not including multiple versions by the same artist, in the 85 years since the first recording that’s an average of 1 new recording every 10 weeks.