The next year, legendary Library of Congress musicologist John Lomax received a partial transcription of what was called The Ballad of Stagalee, from a woman in Texas. That bad man, oh cruel Stack O Lee, Gentlemans of the jury, what do you think of that? Enjoy our next guest, Billy Lyons. In 1896, the political scene was extremely tense, and with Saint Louis being one of the largest cities in the country, it was necessary for politicians to get every vote, including the black vote. 1 mo. When shes given a name, its often either Lillie or Nellie Sheldon. He wanted to be just like his Dad and follow in his fathers footsteps. Lyons was taken to the Dispensary, where his wounds were pronounced serious. Ma Rainey recorded the song the following year, with Louis Armstrong on cornet, and a notable version was recorded by Frank Hutchison in 1927. Bill, you will be missed, great man, great cop!! The origins of this tale begin with a Christmas Eve bar fight in Saint Louis in 1895. A brief search of the Stagger Lee name could reveal recordings from Mississippi John Hurt, Furry Lewis, Lloyd Price, Professor Longhair, The Black Keys, Samuel L. Jackson, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Wilson Picket, Taj Mahal, Fats Domino, Bob Dylan, Beck, Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, and a great many others. Violent crimes were much less likely to be vigorously prosecuted if their victims were Black, as Sheltons almost always were. Since the mid-70s, most new recordings of Stagolee have come from white singerswhether traditionalists like Tim and Mollie OBrien or transgressive artists such as Nick Cave (who sees the song primarily as an exploration of human evil). It includes the verse. Ive tried to refrain from any mythologizing of my own, but I cant help conjuring a scene: a prison official asks Stack Lee, bedridden and skeletal, if the friend into whose care hes being paroled is a respectable citizen who makes an honest living. [15][16], Within thirty years of Shelton's death, Benjamin Botkin records stories among the superstitious of his having been born with a caul over his face (signifying one with the power to see spirits and destined for trouble), or of having sold his soul to the Devil (in exchange for the hat, said to be magic, over which he killed Billy Lyons). didi cascais -- Portugal. Because that need for vicarious freedom never went away, Stagolee then stuck around for a century, with an occasional aftermarket modification to reflect the tastes of the day. Lee Sheltons signature and fingerprint from his penitentiary records (from the papers of John Russell David), In the refrain of his definitive 1928 version, Mississippi John Hurt sings, That bad man, oh cruel Stack OLee. That the word bad is a versatile one, especially in African-American vernacular English, has allowed the tone of the songs to shift over the course of the 20th centuryfrom disapproving to approving of Stagoleewithout their essential vocabulary ever changing. Good Baby Films, Peter Garafalo, Motomu Ishigaki, Billy Lyons, Pamela Ford, David B. Ford, Kelly Gonda, Lou Gonda, Kasey Cunningham, Seth Isler, Krista Liney, Nick Solan, Susan Jane Sullivan, Dominic J. DeJoseph, Kim Ferraro, Seth Isler. "I'm heartbroken," the grieving star laments. In a 1911 article in the Journal of American Folklore, the sociologist Howard W. Odum presented several versions of the song, which hed been collecting throughout the American South: Stagolee killed a man an laid him on de flo, His television career also includes Between the Lines, Trust, Reggie Perrin, At Home with the Braithwaites, Monday Monday, Office Gossip, Bedtime, A Touch of Frost, The Catherine Tate Show and playing an alcoholic footballer/policeman in a 1997 episode of Pie in the Sky. Here was a Black man who did what he wanted, did it solely in his own interest, and tolerated no insults. On Feb. 26, 1993, a truck bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. Lee Shelton himself, armed with a pistol and buoyed by drink on that Christmas night more than 120 years ago, certainly had no inkling that his rash act of violence would elevate him to the pantheon of mythical Americans. In honor of Mantels enormous contributions to literature, dive back into her Tudor world with Penelope Rowlandss essay about one of the key power dynamics Mantel explored: that between Cromwell and Sir Thomas More. BY Billy Lyons. It had remained latent in his lungs for several years, but the chemotherapy he needed for a bone marrow transplant weakened his immune system, forcing him to take an enervating TB medicine. www.shodavision.com. But they dont know much about the event itself beyond whats popularly remembered, or misremembered. Lee hit him on the head with his pistol, which was actually a .44-caliber Smith & Wesson. (The bomb failed to topple the North Tower into the South Tower, as the terrorists had hoped; both structures were destroyed in the 9/11 attack . He has also been a panellist on several episodes of the topical discussion series The Wright Stuff. [7] The crime quickly entered into American folklore and became the subject of song, as well as folktales and toasts. Angela Discon. Dove-gray spats covered the tops of his St. Louis flats low-heeled shoes, with long, pointed, upswept toes, on each of which was a small mirror, designed to catch the light. And David has a net worth of about 3 million dollars. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. [4], On Christmas night in 1895, Shelton and his acquaintance William "Billy" Lyons were drinking in the Bill Curtis Saloon. Rest in peace dear friend. However, practically all the various iterations of the song have Stagger Lee executed for his crime: Judge stood in the courtroom, But the sheer ubiquity of Stack Lees name in the crime pages is impossible to explain away. There was no lack of carnal opportunity in Lee Sheltons part of town. The next day, I drove the archive from her house to the nearest hotel, where I spent the evening bouncing back and forth between those boxes and my laptop. Donald O'Connor: August 28, 1925 September 27, 2003 American Actor and dancer, was a member of his family's vaudeville act. Billy Spacey lyons. The real Billy Lyons was a bully who, it seems, all but had his fate coming. Lyons died of his injuries, and Shelton was charged, tried, and convicted of the murder in 1897. Stack Lee may or may not have been legally married, but Little Lillie Sheldon was no songwriters invention. You can check Billy out in the film John Nieto: An American Spirit Walk, he also has a part in the new release "Rough Boys". Wynn is who he is, an authentic, witty, "tell-it-like-is" acting teacher, and he is this with everyone, large and small, famous or infamous, actor . When his victim fell to the floor Sheldon took his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away.. [7], The crime quickly entered into American folklore and became the subject of song, as well as folktales and toasts. Below we countdown to Billy Lyons upcoming birthday. Half a dozen other homicides occurred in the city that Christmas night, and Stack Lees killing of Billy Lyons didnt rate more than a few column inches in the next days papers. On Christmas night 1895, at Bill Curtis' saloon at the corner of 11th and Morgan . [1]:2425 A story appearing in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1895 read: William Lyons, 25, a levee hand, was shot in the abdomen yesterday evening at 10 o'clock in the saloon of Bill Curtis, at Eleventh and Morgan Streets, by Lee Sheldon [sic], a carriage driver. He was paroled in 1909, but returned to prison in 1911 for assault and robbery. The simplest answer may be racism. Hugs, Chris. Log In or Sign Up Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos Billy Lyons See Photos William Lyons (Billiam) It surfaced as the theme of a major work, Staggerlee Wonders by noted poet James Baldwin, and is the subject of the book Stagolee Shot Billy by Cecil Brown. [10], The song was first recorded by Waring's Pennsylvanians in 1923, and became a hit. The story of bad Stagger Lee has continued to capture Americans, and then the worlds, imaginations for over 100 years. Nov 2020 - Present2 years 4 months. Consisting of two novellas, the latter "My Heart Struck Sorrow" focuses in large part on a horrific mystery connected to varied acetate recordings made in the 1930s as well as the folklore surrounding "Stagger Lee."[18]. We know from these statements that Lyons left . Mr. Lyons (1945), Palm Springs . Mississippi John Hurt, Cab Calloway, Woody Guthrie, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, and Beck are among the hundreds who have sung a version of Stagolees story. She hasnt remained central to the story the way Billys family did, but Mrs. Stagolee haunts early versions of the song. Author and music critic Greil Marcus explicitly ties the Stagger Lee archetype to Sly Stone and his album There's a Riot Goin' On in his book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music. Or, as Mississippi John Hurt puts it. The first evidence for it is a reference to "Stack-a-Lee" being performed by "Prof. Charlie Lee, the piano thumper" in the Kansas City Leavenworth Herald in 1897. Despite the tendency of folktales to grow taller, the canonical Stagolee story has remained impressively stable over the years: Stagolee is a bad man who objects to Billy Lyonss stealing his Stetson. It was soon being sung in various forms by workers on the levee, convicts on chain gangs throughout the South, saloon and street singers, and even school children. View Billy Lyons' profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. The murder, reportedly motivated partially by the theft of Shelton's Stetson hat, made Shelton an icon of toughness and style in the minds of early folk and blues musicians, and inspired the popular folk song "Stagger Lee." Director Billy Lyons Producer Billy Lyons So we're lucky to have a full cast, totaling 166 narrators (including stars like Ben Stiller, Keegan-Michael Key, Julianne Moore, and Don Cheadle), lending their talents to this paranormal historical tale. Nuno Marques Planeamento e Atividades Econmicas at Municpio de Setbal . Lyons died from his wound shortly afterwards. The personal traumas that allegedly drove her to do it included the recent slaying of her step-father, William Lyons, by Lee Sheldon [sic]. The shoddiness of 19th-century journalism makes me skeptical of anything reported only once. This did not impede him from building cribs in back of his house, where some of his girls conducted business under his watchful eye. Press Esc to cancel. A version by Lloyd Price reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. [6] The Killer Blues Headstone Project raised money to place a stone on his unmarked grave, and on April 14, 2013, a marker was laid during a public ceremony. The only remaining option for the deceased killer is hell, and again Stagger Lee asserts himself, this time for control over the Devils domain: Even in death, the larger-than-life figure of Stagger Lee triumphs. He was nicknamed Stag Lee or Stack Lee, with a variety of explanations being given: he was given the nickname because he "went stag", meaning he was without friends; he took the nickname from a well-known riverboat captain called Stack Lee; or, according to John and Alan Lomax, he took the name from a riverboat owned by the Lee family of Memphis called the Stack Lee, which was known for its on-board prostitution. To find a largely comprehensive documentation of 420+ Stagger Lee recordings, see StaggerLee.com. Geoffrey O'Hara: February 2, 1882 January 31, 1967 Canadian Singer and songwriter. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. Lloyd Price took a rollicking rendition of Stagger Lee to the top of the pop charts in 1959. Somewhere in his youth, Lee Shelton had acquired the nickname Stack Lee, presumably after a steamboatthe Stack Lee which was then plying the Mississippi River. Join to connect billy lyons. As per our current Database, Billy Lyons is still alive (as per Wikipedia, Last update: May 10, 2020). In John Russell Davids papers I found whats almost certainly the oldest published sheet musicStack-O-Lee (A True Story From Life), copyright 1910, by the cringe-worthily named Three White Kuhns. Ma Rainey recorded "Stag O'Lee Blues", a different song based on the melody and words of "Frankie and Johnnie", the following year, with Louis Armstrong on cornet, and a version was recorded by Frank Hutchison on January 28, 1927 in New York, and is included in Harry Smith's famous Anthology of American Folk Music (Song 19 of 84).[10]. . 1939 - John Amos, American actor 1943 - Cokie Roberts, American journalist 1944 - Mick Jones, English guitarist, and songwriter 1948 - Grard Depardieu, French-Russian actor . Here is some more Gallagher goodness for you all. It opened January 21, 2015 and featured Brandon Gill, J. Bernard Calloway, Tiffany Mann, Cedric Neal, and Saycon Sengbloh. We deeply regret the situation into which our unfortunate brother has fallen.. Bill was The Best! Apprised of Sheltons terminal condition, Missouri Governor Herbert S. Hadley had approved a mercy parole, upon condition, however, that he in the future conduct himself in all respects, as a law-abiding citizen. In 2006, Image Comics published the graphic novel Stagger Lee, written by Derek McCulloch and illustrated by Shepherd Hendrix, examining the historical murder of Lyons by Shelton, and the folklore that came out of it, in the framing setting of a fictionalized version of the African-American community in Saint Louis. Upon Sheltons arrival in St. Louis he will at once report to Mr. James D. Anderson. It never came to that. And that answer wouldnt account for the popularity of Stagolee toastsproto-rap narratives delivered without musical accompaniment. A question that almost everyone who writes about Stagolee eventually takes up is, Why are we still talking about this particular murder? Lee Sheldon is also known as 'Stag' Lee. Billy Graham. The original bad man has been supplanted by the multitudes he always containedfirst Dolemite, Shaft, and Super Fly, then Ice Cube, 2Pac (who once threatened his rivals, My .44 make sure all yall kids dont grow), and Gucci Mane, who literally killed a man for trying to steal his gold chain and then bragged about it on a track. Report this profile Report Report. That night, a man died and a legend was born. Billy Lyons succumbed the next morning, one of five murder victims in St. Louis that Christmas Day. Stack Lee was also well connected, which may further explain his having gotten away with so much for so long. Not surprisingly, segregation was alive and wellin the hotels, theaters, churches, and schools. Mr. William Hunter "Billy" Lyons, a native of Mobile and resident of Spanish Fort, died Tuesday, June 8, 2021, of complications from a stroke. Daniel Shor (born November 16, 1956) is an American actor, director, writer, and acting teacher with a career spanning over 40 years. Annie I. Bang/Invision, via Associated Press. Danny Masterson, 44, was charged with three counts of rape by force or fear. Less than a year later, Andersons ramshackle brick house was raided by police, who discovered what an IRS agent called the largest cocaine and opium distribution plant in the United States. Or Nellie Sheldon a Christmas Eve bar fight in Saint Louis in 1895 almost always were top the. The real Billy lyons succumbed the next morning, one of five victims. Tiffany Mann, Cedric Neal, and schools were friends and were talking together current. Why are we still talking about this particular murder Wright Stuff Lee him! Wikipedia, Last update: may 10, 2020 ) Econmicas at Municpio de Setbal, StaggerLee.com! Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together hit him on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959 nuno Planeamento! Well connected, which may further explain his having gotten away with much... 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