Stagalee 1910 Lyrics
Compilation of American Ballads and Folk Songs
This variation of Stagalee was collected February 9, 1910 from a Miss Ella Scott Fisher, San Angelo Texas and appears in a Compilation of American Ballads and Folk Songs (1934) by John and Allan Lomax.
Twas a Christmas morning, The hour was about ten, When Stagalee shot Billy Lyons And landed in the Jefferson pen. O Lordy, po' Stagalee! Billy Lyons' old woman She was a terrible sinner She was home that Christmas mornin' A-preparin' Billy's dinner. O Lordy, po' Stagalee! Messenger boy came to the winder, Then he knocked on the door An' he said "Yer old man's a lyin' there Dead on the barroom floor." O Lordy, po' Stagalee! (Billy's Old Woman:) "Stagalee, O Stagalee, What have you gone and done? You've gon and shot my husband With a forty-four gatlin' gun?" O Lordy, po' Stagalee! (Stagalee's Friend:) "Stagalee, O Stagalee Why don't you cut and run For here comes the policeman And I think he's got a gun." O Lordy, po' Stagalee! (Policeman, a little scared of Stagalee:) "Stagalee, O Stagalee I'm 'restin' you just for fun The officer jest wants you To identify your gun." O Lordy, po' Stagalee! (Stagalee in jail:) "Jailer, O Jailer I jest can't sleep For the ghost of Billy Lyons Round my bed does mourn and weep." O Lordy, po' Stagalee! (Council for the Defense:) "Gentlemen of this jury You must let poor Stagalee go His poor and aged mammy Is lyin' very low." O Lordy, po' Stagalee! (Counsel for the Prosecution:) "Gentlemen of this jury Wipe away your tears. For Stagalee's aged mammy Has been dead these 'leven years." O Lordy, po' Stagalee! Stagalee's old woman She hung around the jail And in three days she had him out On a ten-thousand-dollar bail O Lordy, po' Stagalee!