St. James Infirmary Blues alternate lyrics

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[edit] St. James Infirmary
(alternate lyrics by Arlo Guthrie / Cisco Houston)

Lyrics from Arlo Guthrie's rendition of St. James Infirmary, performed on NPR's Talk Of The Nation radio show on Nov. 14, 2001. Arlo introduces the song like this:

"I'll play you an old song. You know we were talking about Cisco Houston earlier and, uh, this is a song he used to sing..."

It was down in old Joe's bar room, at the corner by the square

You know the drinks were served as usual, and the usual crowd was there

Now on my left stood big Joe McKennedy, his eyes were bloodshot red

And as he looked at the gang around him, these were the very words he said:

I went down to the St. James Infirmary, I saw my baby there

Stretched out on a long white table, so young, so cold, so fair

Seventeen coal black horses, hitched to a rubber-tired hack

Seven girls goin' to the graveyard, only six of them are coming back

Well let her go, let her go, God bless her, wherever she may be

She may search this wide world over, and never find another man like me

Now when I die just bury me, in my high top stetson hat

Place a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain, to let the Lord know I died standing pat

I want six crap shooters for my pallbearers, and a chorus girl to sing me a song

Place a jazz band on my hearse wagon, just to raise hell as we roll along

Well now that you've heard my story, I'll take another shot of booze

And if anyone here should ask you, I got the gamblers blues!