Stagger Lee

"Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me" is considered one of the great, classic collections of African-American literature and folklore. Originally published by in 1974, it quickly gained the reputation as a classic collection of black folk poetry. This book will delight students of African-American culture and folklore, and anyone who enjoys the double entendres and hidden meanings found in the oral tradition, from its African roots to contemporary rap.

Henry, Ramsey version
Joe, Ellis version
Frank, Ramsey version
Bobby, Jefferson City version
Gene, Wynne version
Chicago Informant's version
Stackolee in Hell

Bob, Connelley [sic] Migrant Camp, Barker, New York, 17 August 1970.

In nineteen thirty-two when times was hard
I had a crooked pair of dic and a marked deck of cards
I went to Cliff's and what did I see?
I seen a hundred motherfuckers were a havin' beans.
I said, "Look, motherfucker, gimme something to eat."
Sh gave me a clan glass of water, a dirty piece of meat.
I said, "Look, bitch, don't you know who I am?"
She said, "Frankly speaking, motherfucker, I don't give a good goddamn."
Before that bitch realized what she had just said, 
she had a thirty-two bullet right between her motherfucken head.