Stagger Lee

See also That Whiskey Song (Stagger Lee #2)

Three For Silver is a tatterdemalion ensemble of rotating musicians led by Lucas Warford, “the acid baby of Tom Waits and Les Claypool,” as NW legend Baby Gramps called him.

Three for Silver, a band known for their distinctive blend of acoustic and folk influences, released "The Recurring Stagger Lee Blues, Pt. 1" on their 2019 album Blue Ruin. They released "That That Whiskey Song (Stagger Lee #2)" on their 2024 album Modern Man.

This track offers an awesome perspective on the traditional "Stagger Lee" narrative, portraying Stagger Lee and Billy as self-aware characters destined to perpetually reenact their fatal encounter across various songs.

I was familiar with the old Charlie Lee version, the Nick Cave version,
and that 50's blues rock version that many people have done

Of course, it was a song that MANY people had covered / written their own versions
and I knew the broad strokes of the stories origin and timeline

What collided in my head to produce my version
was the notion of Stagger and Billy as two people who are now immortal due to this song
they live on forever through this murder
in a sense they are trapped to forever reenact this senseless violence
but they also get to keep on living in our imaginations, in so many ways and places and times

this situation brought to mind other famous fictional pairs
trapped in similar eternal existential quandaries
Vladimir and Estragon from Waiting for Godot
the eponymous Rosencrantz & Guildenstern
Sam & Hailey from Only Revolutions

I think Stagger & Billy represent another timeless pair equally appropriate to be included in that list

my version attempts to make explicit this idea
the dream / nightmare of their fate
the eternal return as they are endlessly trotted out by us in these songs
their dependence on each other

with that idea in mind
i have actually continued to write different versions
i'm now up to Stagger #4
Stagger #2 was recently released on our newest album
#3 and #4 currently only exist as demos

and I intend to write more!
as you can see they are getting farther away from reworkings of the original tune

-- Lucas
threeforsilver.com

once more we find stagger lee
pistol in his hand
billy boy before him
looking like he understands
let it go, let it go

stagger says to billy
"would ya look what we have done
for we can stand right here
and yet run circles round the sun"
let it go, let it go

you aint been nobody
nobody aint been me
cause there aint never been nobody
like billy boy or stagger lee
let it go, let it go

if killing’s not the answer
then I don't know what is
cause i’ve never heard a question
make a difference in the end
let it go, let it go

still we could flip a coin
if it’s luck you'd respect
but it’ll only come up heads,
and its yours that i'll collect
let it go, let it go

you know i’ll pull this trigger
like I know you’ll hit the floor
but here we are again
just like every time before"
let it go let it go

see billy i’m an entrance
or an exit from your wrongs
I will wrench apart your night
until the breaking of your dawn
let it go, let it go

billy said, "don't kill me
for i am afraid to die"
stagger laughed and said
"i know i am, but what am i?"
let it go, let it go