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Watch “I Will Survive” on YouTube
At first I was afraid, I was petrified
Watch “Ana Vidović – Guitar Artistry in Concert” on YouTube
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Ana Vidović
Ana Vidović (born 8 November 1980) is a classical guitarist; originally from Croatia, she now resides in the United States.[3] A former child prodigy, she has won a number of prizes and international competitions all over the world.
Biography
Born in Karlovac, Croatia |. A child prodigy, she started playing guitar at the age of five, inspired by her brother Viktor. She is also the sister of concert pianist Silvije Vidovic. Her father was an electric guitar player. Vidović began performing at the age of eight; by the age of 11 she was performing internationally; at 13 she became the youngest student to attend the prestigious Academy of Music in Zagreb where she studied with Professor Istvan Romer.
Vidović’s reputation in Europe led to an invitation to study at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, U.S. (with Manuel Barrueco[4]), from which she graduated in May 2005. She has lived in the United States since, where she also works as a private tutor.
Vidović plays a Jim Redgate guitar exclusively and has said, “When I got it and began to play, I immediately knew that this was the instrument that I want to be playing for a long time.”[3][5]She has released six CDs published by Croatia Records, BGS, and Naxos and has released two DVDs published by Mel Bay publications.
Vidović has won a number of prizes and competitions, including first prizes in the Albert Augustine International Competition in Bath, England, the Fernando Sorcompetition in Rome, Italy, and the Francisco Tárrega competition in Benicasim, Spain. Other top prizes include the Eurovision Young Musicians competition, the Mauro Giuliani competition in Italy, the Printemps de la Guitare in Belgium, and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. The Gramophone remarked on her “extraordinary dexterity”.[6]
Discography
- CDs
- Ana Vidovic, Croatia Records, 1994
- Ana Vidović – Guitar, BGS Records (BGCD 103), 1996
- The Croatian Prodigy, BGS, 1999
- Guitar Recital, Naxos Laureate Series (8.554563), 2000
- Ana Vidovic Live!, Croatia Records, 2001
- Federico Moreno Torroba Guitar Music Vol. 1, Naxos (8.557902), 2007
- Videos
- Mel Bay Presents – Ana Vidovic – Guitar Virtuoso, Mel Bay Publications Inc. (MB21186DVD), 2005
- Mel Bay Presents – Ana Vidovic – Guitar Artistry In Concert, Mel Bay Publications Inc. (MB21991DVD), 2009
References
This content adapted from a program provided by the Bloomington Classical Guitar Society for Vidović’s March 5, 2005 performance in Bloomington, Indiana, USA
- ^ Nina Ožegović (12 January 2010). “Ana Vidović: Američki život hrvatske kraljice gitare”[Ana Vidović: American life of Croatian guitar queen] (in Croatian). Nacional (weekly). Archived from the original on 22 January 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- ^ GUITAR HERO: A master of classical guitar, Croatia’s Ana Vidovic will kick off the Lively Arts season Saturday
- ^ a b Shaw, Robert (7 October 2008). Hand Made, Hand Played: The Art & Craft of Contemporary Guitars. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-57990-787-7. Retrieved 4 May2012.
- ^ “Ana Vidovic- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music”. http://www.naxos.com. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
- ^ “Redgate”. Classicguitar.com. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- ^ Mackenzie, Sir Compton; Stone, Christopher (2007). The Gramophone. C. Mackenzie. p. 129. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
External links
Ana Vidović
Ana Vidović (born 8 November 1980) is a classical guitarist; originally from Croatia, she now resides in the United States.[3] A former child prodigy, she has won a number of prizes and international competitions all over the world.
Biography
Born in Karlovac, Croatia |. A child prodigy, she started playing guitar at the age of five, inspired by her brother Viktor. She is also the sister of concert pianist Silvije Vidovic. Her father was an electric guitar player. Vidović began performing at the age of eight; by the age of 11 she was performing internationally; at 13 she became the youngest student to attend the prestigious Academy of Music in Zagreb where she studied with Professor Istvan Romer.
Vidović’s reputation in Europe led to an invitation to study at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, U.S. (with Manuel Barrueco[4]), from which she graduated in May 2005. She has lived in the United States since, where she also works as a private tutor.
Vidović plays a Jim Redgate guitar exclusively and has said, “When I got it and began to play, I immediately knew that this was the instrument that I want to be playing for a long time.”[3][5]She has released six CDs published by Croatia Records, BGS, and Naxos and has released two DVDs published by Mel Bay publications.
Vidović has won a number of prizes and competitions, including first prizes in the Albert Augustine International Competition in Bath, England, the Fernando Sorcompetition in Rome, Italy, and the Francisco Tárrega competition in Benicasim, Spain. Other top prizes include the Eurovision Young Musicians competition, the Mauro Giuliani competition in Italy, the Printemps de la Guitare in Belgium, and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. The Gramophone remarked on her “extraordinary dexterity”.[6]
Discography
- CDs
- Ana Vidovic, Croatia Records, 1994
- Ana Vidović – Guitar, BGS Records (BGCD 103), 1996
- The Croatian Prodigy, BGS, 1999
- Guitar Recital, Naxos Laureate Series (8.554563), 2000
- Ana Vidovic Live!, Croatia Records, 2001
- Federico Moreno Torroba Guitar Music Vol. 1, Naxos (8.557902), 2007
- Videos
- Mel Bay Presents – Ana Vidovic – Guitar Virtuoso, Mel Bay Publications Inc. (MB21186DVD), 2005
- Mel Bay Presents – Ana Vidovic – Guitar Artistry In Concert, Mel Bay Publications Inc. (MB21991DVD), 2009
References
This content adapted from a program provided by the Bloomington Classical Guitar Society for Vidović’s March 5, 2005 performance in Bloomington, Indiana, USA
- ^ Nina Ožegović (12 January 2010). “Ana Vidović: Američki život hrvatske kraljice gitare”[Ana Vidović: American life of Croatian guitar queen] (in Croatian). Nacional (weekly). Archived from the original on 22 January 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- ^ GUITAR HERO: A master of classical guitar, Croatia’s Ana Vidovic will kick off the Lively Arts season Saturday
- ^ a b Shaw, Robert (7 October 2008). Hand Made, Hand Played: The Art & Craft of Contemporary Guitars. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-57990-787-7. Retrieved 4 May2012.
- ^ “Ana Vidovic- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music”. http://www.naxos.com. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
- ^ “Redgate”. Classicguitar.com. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- ^ Mackenzie, Sir Compton; Stone, Christopher (2007). The Gramophone. C. Mackenzie. p. 129. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
External links
Best interpretations: Watch “Pathétique,Beethoven Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op. 13,”,Valentina Lisitsa,SHEET MUSIC” on YouTube
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (/ˈlʊdvɪɡ vænˈbeɪt(h)oʊvən/ (listen)
listen)listen); German: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːthoːfn̩] (
listen
); baptised 17 December 1770[1] – 26 March 1827) was a German composerand pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the classical and romantic eras in classical music, he is considered to be one of the greatest composers of all time.
Beethoven was born in Bonn, the capital of the Electorate of Cologne, and part of the Holy Roman Empire. He displayed his musical talents at an early age and was vigorously taught by his father Johann van Beethoven, and was later taught by composer and conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe. At age 21, he moved to Vienna and studied composition with Joseph Haydn. Beethoven then gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist, and was soon courted by Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky for compositions, which resulted in Opus 1 in 1795.
The piece was a great critical and commercial success, and was followed by Symphony No. 1 in 1800. This composition was distinguished for its frequent use of sforzandi, as well as sudden shifts in tonal centers that were uncommon for traditional symphonic form, and the prominent, more independent use of wind instruments.[2] In 1801, he also gained notoriety for his six String Quartetsand for the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. During this period, his hearing began to deteriorate, but he continued to conduct, premiering his third and fifth symphonies in 1804 and 1808, respectively. His condition worsened to almost complete deafness by 1811, and he then gave up performing and appearing in public.
During this period of self exile, Beethoven composed many of his most admired works; his seventhsymphony premiered in 1813, with its second movement, Allegretto, achieving widespread critical acclaim.[3] He composed the piece Missa Solemnis for a number of years until it premiered 1824, which preceded his ninth symphony, with the latter gaining fame for being among the first examples of a choral symphony.[4] In 1826, his fourteenth String Quartet was noted for having seven linked movements played without a break, and is considered the final major piece performed before his death a year later.
His career is conventionally divided into early, middle, and late periods; the “early” period is typically seen to last until 1802, the “middle” period from 1802 to 1812, and the “late” period from 1812 to his death in 1827. During his life, he composed nine symphonies; five piano concertos; one violin concerto; thirty-two piano sonatas; sixteen string quartets; two masses; and the opera Fidelio. Other works, like Für Elise, were discovered after his death, and are also considered historical musical achievements. Beethoven’s legacy is characterized for his innovative compositions, namely through the combinations of vocals and instruments, and also for widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto, and quartet,[5] while he is also noted for his troublesome relationship with his contemporaries.
Life and career
Background and early life
Watch “Mix – Frank Sinatra – Somewhere Beyond The Sea” on YouTube
Lyrics
Somewhere beyond the sea
Somewhere waiting for me
My lover stands on golden sands
And watches the ships that go sailin’
Somewhere waiting for me
My lover stands on golden sands
And watches the ships that go sailin’
Somewhere beyond the sea
She’s there watching for me
If I could fly like birds on high
Then straight to her arms
I’d go sailing
It’s far beyond the stars
It’s near beyond the moon
I know beyond a doubt
My heart will lead me there soon
We’ll meet beyond the shore
We’ll kiss just as before
Happy we’ll be beyond the sea
And never again I’ll go sailing
I know beyond a doubt, ah
My heart will lead me there soon
We’ll meet (I know we’ll meet) beyond the shore
We’ll kiss just as before
Happy we’ll be beyond the sea
And never again I’ll go sailing
No more sailing
So long sailing
Bye bye sailing
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Albert Lasry / Charles Trenet / Jack Lawrence
Beyond the Sea lyrics © Raoul Breton Editions, Round Hill Music Big Loud Songs, Carlin America Inc
Watch “Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown (Lyrics)” on YouTube
I can see her lyin’ back in her satin dress
In a room where ya do what ya don’t confess
Sundown you better take care
If I find you beenn creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
In a room where ya do what ya don’t confess
Sundown you better take care
If I find you beenn creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
She’s been lookin’ like a queen in a sailor’s dream
And she don’t always say what she really means
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
And she don’t always say what she really means
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
I can picture every move that a man could make
Getting lost in her lovin’ is your first mistake
Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it’s a sin
When I feel like I’m winnin’ when I’m losin’ again
Getting lost in her lovin’ is your first mistake
Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it’s a sin
When I feel like I’m winnin’ when I’m losin’ again
I can see her lookin’ fast in her faded jeans
She’s a hard lovin’ woman, got me feelin’ mean
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it’s a sin
When I feel like I’m winnin’ when I’m losin’ again
She’s a hard lovin’ woman, got me feelin’ mean
Sometimes I think it’s a shame
When I get feelin’ better when I’m feelin’ no pain
Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sundown you better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs
Sometimes I think it’s a sin
When I feel like I’m winnin’ when I’m losin’ again
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Gordon Lightfoot
Sundown lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc
Watch “The Chantels – Look In My Eyes” on YouTube
Look in my eyes,and tell me you love me
Tell me you love me, or darling I’ll be gone
(Gone, gone, gone, gone)
Look in my eyes,and tell me that you’re the
One for me, and that our love will always be
Or darling I’ll be gone (gone, gone, gone, gone, gone)
You said it that time
So glad you’re all mine
What’s it to be? Do you wanna be?
And let me know,a little more time
Have that love to be ,or darling set me free
Look in my eyes,and tell me you love me
Tell me you love me or darling all be gone
(Gone, gone, gone, gone)
Do-oooo di,di,di,di,di
Do-oooo di,di,di,di,di
Written by: RICHARD BARRETT
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Watch “Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique, Op 14 – Jansons” on YouTube
Posted in ARTISTS AND ARTS - Music, Educational, MEMORIES, MUSIC, ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS, PEOPLE AND PLACES HISTORY, PEOPLE AND PLACES HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, QUOTATION, Special Interest, SPIRITUALITY, Uncategorized, YouTube/SoundCloud: Music
Tagged berlioz symphonie fantastique, Op 14 - Jansons" on YouTube
Watch “Handel – Messiah – by London Philharmonic (Complete Concerto/Full)” on YouTube
Handel – Messiah – by London Philharmonic (Complete Concerto/Full)
Messiah, composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer.
It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later.
After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. ( From Wikipedia)
Godly music: “29/06/1985, Sat.: First performance in the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome: “Krönungs-Messe” by Mozart” on YouTube
Watch “The Traitor_Martha Wainwright_Leonard Cohen_I’m Your Man_720HD-022711.avi” on YouTube
Play “The Traitor”
on Amazon Music (ad)
Now the Swan it floated on the English river
Ah the Rose of High Romance it opened wide
A sun tanned woman yearned me through the summer
And the judges watched us from the other side
I told my mother “Mother I must leave you
Preserve my room but do not shed a tear
Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you
It was half my fault and half the atmosphere”
But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever
And the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame
She said at last I was her finest lover
And if she withered I would be to blame
The judges said you missed it by a fraction
Rise up and brace your troops for the attack
Ah the dreamers ride against the men of action
Oh see the men of action falling back
But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment
I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still
My falsity had stung me like a hornet
The poison sank and it paralyzed my will
I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers
That they had been deserted from above
So on battlefields from here to Barcelona
I’m listed with the enemies of love
And long ago she said “I must be leaving,
Ah but keep my body here to lie upon
You can move it up and down and when I’m sleeping
Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan”
So daily I renew my idle duty
I touch her here and there, I know my place
I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty
And people call me traitor to my face
GeorgeB
General Comment:
Well I guess, it is fundamentally positive, and for a long time I just amaze myself at the beauty of the methaphore, the idea of the world as a stage, as the scene of a quest, in which the spectators are the judges as well, then I heard Leonard Cohen’s explaantion of the line of thought that made him write the poem. It goes like this:
“It was called “The traitor”. It was about the feeling that we have of betraying some mission that we were mandated to fulfill, and being unable to fulfill it, and then coming to understand that the real mandate was not to fulfill it, and that the deeper courage was to stand guiltless in the predicament in which you found yourself”.
It talks about the unvoidable predicament of failure from without, and the only right posture when one’s faced with a situation in which one cannot but fail: standing guiltless, in the predicament in which you find yourself. I think that is positive: not blaming yourself for outcomes of which you could not fully control.
Rating: +1
No Replies
12 Years AgoWinters
General Comment:
- It seems to be about a man settling for someone who is not right for him rather than what his heart desires. He becomes an enemy of love, The Men of Action Falling back is the man too weak to take action and leave, following his heart. He has a relationship of physical love but not real love. He is a traitor to himself.
Rating: 0
No Replies
11 Years Agobhoover247
General Comment:
The rose is the womans genitals, the swan would be his. The line “run some wire through the rose and wind the swan” would be the woman asking him to have sex with her. He daily performs his “idle duty” but he doesn’t love her. He has become an “enemy of love” for betraying his true love.
Rating: 0
1 Reply
9 Years AgoRJSoftware
General Comment:
Damb, aint any Cohen song remotley happy?
Rating: 0
No Replies
9 Years AgoStrangerinme
General Comment:
And long ago she said “I must be leaving,
Ah but keep my body here to lie upon
You can move it up and down and when I’m sleeping
Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan”
God what a punishment ( the cruelty of the victim is almost far more than of the criminal)
He betrayed her , she doesn’t love him no more but she keeps her body for him to have sex with while her soul is somewhere else …
Rating: 0
No Replies
6 Years AgoJohnnyBee
My Interpretation:
What the Traitor has betrayed is the ideal of love. His ‘scarlet fever’ is lust, but when it is satisfied by ‘lingering on her thighs’, the Traitor is shamed. He recognises that other young men go off to battle without high ideals and they too become ‘the enemies of love’.
Lovely metaphors – great Leonard Cohen.
Rating: 0
No Replies
4 Months Agoalerique
General Comment:
Please, note parallels with famous ‘O Rose Thou Art Sick’ by William Blake, with specific reference to Englishness to remove further doubts. This is widened reinterpretation of the famous poem from the worm’s point of view.
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
Rating: 0
Posted in ARTISTS AND ARTS - Music, Educational, FILM, Lyrics, MEMORIES, MUSIC, MY TAKE ON THINGS, PEOPLE AND PLACES HISTORY, PEOPLE AND PLACES HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, Poetry, Poets, Writers, Special Interest, SPIRITUALITY, Uncategorized, YouTube/SoundCloud: Music
Tagged The Traitor_Martha Wainwright_Leonard Cohen_I'm Your Man
Watch “Fischer/Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64/Myung Whun Chung/Festival de Saint Denis.” on YouTube
Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concertoin E minor, Op. 64, is his last large orchestral work. It forms an important part of the violin repertoire and is one of the most popular and most frequently performed violin concertosin history.[1][2][3] A typical performance lasts just under half an hour.
Violin Concertoby Felix Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn in 1846
KeyE minorCatalogueOp. 64Year1844PeriodRomanticGenreConcertoComposed1838–1844Movements3ScoringViolin and orchestraPremiereDate13 March 1845LocationLeipzig
Mendelssohn originally proposed the idea of the violin concerto to Ferdinand David, a close friend and then concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Although conceived in 1838, the work took another six years to complete and was not premiered until 1845. During this time, Mendelssohn maintained a regular correspondence with David, who gave him many suggestions. The work itself was one of the foremost violin concertos of the Romantic era and was influential on many other composers.
Posted in ARTISTS AND ARTS - Music, Educational, FILM, IN THE SPOTLIGHT, MEMORIES, MUSIC, MY TAKE ON THINGS, ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS, PEOPLE AND PLACES HISTORY, PEOPLE AND PLACES HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, Special Interest, SPIRITUALITY, This Pressed (Press this), Uncategorized, YouTube/SoundCloud: Music
Tagged Fischer/Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64/Myung Whun Chung/Festival de Saint Denis." on YouTube
Watch “Hugh Laurie – Saint James Infirmary (Let Them Talk, A Celebration of New Orleans Blues)” on YouTube
It was down by old Joe’s barroom, on the corner of the square
They were serving drinks as usual, and the usual crowd was there
On my left stood Big Joe McKennedy, and his eyes were bloodshot red
And he turned his face to the people, these were the very words he said
They were serving drinks as usual, and the usual crowd was there
On my left stood Big Joe McKennedy, and his eyes were bloodshot red
And he turned his face to the people, these were the very words he said
I was down to St. James infirmary, I saw my baby there
She was stretched out on a long white table,
So sweet, cool and so fair
She was stretched out on a long white table,
So sweet, cool and so fair
Let her go, let her go, God bless her
Wherever she may be
She may search this whole wide world over
Never find a sweeter man as me
Wherever she may be
She may search this whole wide world over
Never find a sweeter man as me
When I die please bury me in my high top Stetson hat
Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain
The gang’ll know I died standing pat
Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain
The gang’ll know I died standing pat
Let her go, let her go God bless her
Wherever she may be
She may search this wide world over
Never find a sweeter man as me
Wherever she may be
She may search this wide world over
Never find a sweeter man as me
I want six crapshooters to be my pallbearers
Three pretty women to sing a song
Stick a jazz band on my hearse wagon
Raise hell as I stroll along
Three pretty women to sing a song
Stick a jazz band on my hearse wagon
Raise hell as I stroll along
Let her go Let her go
God bless her
Wherever she may be
She may search this whole wide
World over
She’ll never find a sweeter
Man as me
God bless her
Wherever she may be
She may search this whole wide
World over
She’ll never find a sweeter
Man as me
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Joe Primrose / Irving Mills
St. James Infirmary lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing, Spirit Music Group, BMG Rights
St. James Infirmary Blues
“St. James Infirmary” on tenor sax
“St. James Infirmary Blues” is an American jazz song of uncertain origin. Louis Armstrong made the song famous in his 1928 recording on which Don Redman was credited as composer; later releases gave the name Joe Primrose, a pseudonym of Irving Mills. The melody is 8 bars long, unlike songs in the classic blues genre, where there are 12 bars. It is in a minor key, and has a 4/4 time signature, but has also been played in 3/4.
Authorship and history
“St. James Infirmary Blues”, sometimes known as “Gambler’s Blues”, is often regarded as an American folk song of anonymous origin. Moore and Baxter published a version of “Gambler’s Blues” in 1925.[1]In 1927, Carl Sandburg published a book called The American Songbagwhich contained lyrics for two versions of a song called “Those Gambler’s Blues”.[2] However, the song “St. James Infirmary Blues” is sometimes credited to the songwriter Joe Primrose (a pseudonym for Irving Mills), who held copyrights for several versions of the song, registering the first in 1929. He claimed the rights to this specific title and won a case in the U.S. Supreme Court on this basis, the defendants having failed to produce the documentary evidence required by the court that the song had been known by that name for some years.[1]
“St. James Infirmary Blues” is sometimes said to be based on an eighteenth-century traditional folk song called “The Unfortunate Rake” (also known as “The Unfortunate Lad” or “The Young Man Cut Down in His Prime”) about a soldier who uses his money on prostitutes and then dies of venereal disease. But the familiar recorded versions (such as Armstrong’s) bear little relation to the older traditional song. The earliest known form of this song was called “The Buck’s Elegy” and is set in Covent Garden, London.[3]
According to Robert W. Harwood, A. L. Lloyd was the first person to connect “St. James Infirmary” with “The Unfortunate Lad/Rake”.[1]:36 Harwood refers to a five-page article by Lloyd in the January 1947 issue of the English music magazine Keynote.[4] In 1956, Lloyd published a revised version of this article in Sing magazine.[5] In both articles Lloyd refers to an English broadside song entitled “The Unfortunate Lad”, commenting that the song is sometimes known as “The Unfortunate Rake”. No date or source for the latter title is given. The opening line of this version of the song refers to the “lock hospital”, not to an institution named St James. The term “lock hospital” was the name of an institution in Southwark, London, where lepers were isolated and treated. The lock in Southwark was used for those suffering from venereal diseases. The longer term came into use as a generic term for a hospital treating venereal diseases. Its first recorded use is 1770.
Lloyd claims that a song collected by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachians in 1918 which contains the words “St James Hospital” is the parent song and that it looks like an elder relative of “The Dying Cowboy”. The opening of that song, as quoted by Lloyd, is:
As I went down by St James Hospital one morning,
So early one morning, it was early one day,
I found my son, my own son,
Wrapped up in white linen, as cold as the clay.
He also claims that this Appalachian version derives in turn from the version published by Such in London in the 1850s which refers to a lock hospital. The opening verse of this song, entitled “The Unfortunate Lad”, is:
As I was walking down by the Lock Hospital,
As I was walking one morning of late,
Who did I spy but my own dear comrade,
Wrapp’d up in flannel, so hard was his fate.
Lloyd’s articles comment on the jazz hit “St. James Infirmary Blues”. The first article asserts that “the song is, or was before it became corrupted, a narrative ballad. Such ballads are rare in Negro song…So doubts are raised about whether ‘St. James Infirmary’ began life as a Negro song”.[4]:10 The second article includes the following comment on the song: “Most versions of ‘Infirmary’ include a number of stanzas from other songs, grafted on to the main stem – a confusion especially common with songs current among Negroes. The curious switchover from the actual death of the girl to the hypothetical death of the gambler creates some ambiguity too”.[5]:19 Lloyd points out that in some early variants of “The Unfortunate Rake” the sex of the victim of venereal disease was female. “We realise that the confusion in the ‘Infirmary’, where the dead person is a woman but the funeral is ordered for a man, is surely due to the fact that the original ballad was commonly recorded in a form in which the sexes were reversed, so singers were often in two minds whether they were singing of a rakish man or a bad girl”.[5]:21
Lloyd’s second article is cited as a reference by Kenneth Goldstein in his liner notes for a 1960 Folkways LP called The Unfortunate Rake. These liner notes are often used as a source for the history of “St. James Infirmary Blues”. One example is an article by Rob Walker.[6] The liner notes raise the question of whether St. James’ Hospital was a real place and, if so, where it was. Goldstein claimed in the notes that “St. James” refers to London’s St. James Hospital, a religious foundation for the treatment of leprosy. His references list an article by Kenneth Lodewick. That article states, giving no reference or source for the idea, that the phrase “St. James Hospital” refers to a hospital of that name in London.[7]There is some difficulty in this because the hospital in question closed in 1532 when Henry VIIIacquired the land to build St James’s Palace.[8]
Another possibility suggested by Higginbotham on the basis of his claim that the song “St. James Infirmary” dates at least from the early nineteenth century, is the Infirmary section of the St James Workhousewhich the St. James Parish opened in 1725 on Poland Street, Piccadilly, and which continued well into the nineteenth century.[9] This St. James Infirmary was contemporaneous with the estimated advent of the song “The Unfortunate Lad”, but it is not the London Lock Hospital. Another difficulty is that, out of the early versions of the song mentioned in the references given by Goldstein, only the one collected by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachians in 1918, and one found in Canada in the 1920s, make use of the phrase “St. James”.
The liner notes link the Rake to an early fragment called “My Jewel, My Joy”, stating that it was heard in Dublin. The same statement appears in the Lodewick article referenced in those notes[7] The notes given in the source cited for this fragment, a collection of songs collected by William Forde and published by P. W. Joyce, state that the song was heard in Cork, not Dublin.[10]
The version of the “Unfortunate Rake” on the LP of that name is sung by Lloyd, of whom it has been said that he “sometimes modified lyrics or melodies to make the songs more palatable for contemporary listeners”,[1]:38 and its first verse is as follows:
As I was a-walking down by St. James Hospital,
I was a-walking down by there one day.
What should I spy but one of my comrades
All wrapped up in a flannel though warm was the day.[a]
The liner notes[11] state that Lloyd is singing a nineteenth century broadside version, but do not specify which. The Lloyd article cited in the references given in the liner notes,[5]refers to a version published by Such and to no other version. The title and words sung by Lloyd are not those of the Such broadside[12] which has no reference to St. James and is not called “The Unfortunate Rake”. Lloyd recorded a slightly different version in 1966, this time calling the song “St James Hospital”.[13] In 1967, his book Folk Song in England was published.[14] This includes some comment on the song, claims without any supporting references or information that a Czech version pre-dates the British ones, repeats the confusion between Dublin and Cork as the place where the “My Jewel My Joy” fragment had been heard, and includes an unattributed quotation of two verses that differ from the versions sung by Lloyd.
Variations typically feature a narrator telling the story of a young man “cut down in his prime” (occasionally, a young woman “cut down in her prime”) as a result of morally questionable behaviour. For example, when the song moved to America, gambling and alcohol became common causes of the youth’s death.[15]
There are numerous versions of the song throughout the English-speaking world. For example, it evolved into other American standards such as “The Streets of Laredo“.[16]
The song, “Dyin’ Crapshooter’s Blues”, has sometimes been described as a descendant of “The Unfortunate Rake”, and thus related to “St. James Infirmary Blues”. This song was issued as a record four times in 1927, and attributed to pianist, arranger, and band-leader Porter Grainger.[17] Blind Willie McTell recorded a version of the former for John Lomax in 1940 and claimed to have begun writing the song around 1929.
Gottlieb considered whether there were Jewish American influences through the use of the Ukrainian Dorian mode, but only found hints of this in a version published by Siegmeister and Downes.[18] He also suggests that there may have been Jewish influences on the rendition by Cab Calloway.[18]:211 A melody very similar to the Armstrong version can be found in an instrumental composition entitled “Charleston Cabin”, which was recorded by Whitey Kaufman’s Original Pennsylvania Serenaders in 1924 (three years before the earliest recording of “Gambler’s Blues”).[1]:39
As with many folk songs, there is much variation in the lyric from one version to another. These are the first two stanzas as sung by Louis Armstrong on a 1928 Odeon Records release:
I went down to St. James Infirmary,
Saw my baby there,
Stretched out on a long white table,
So cold, so sweet, so fair.
Let her go, let her go, God bless her,
Wherever she may be,
She can look this wide world over,
But she’ll never find a sweet man like me.
Some of the versions, such as the one published as “Gambler’s Blues” and attributed to Carl Moore and Phil Baxter, frame the story with an initial stanza or stanzas in which a separate narrator goes down to a saloon known as “Joe’s barroom” and encounters a customer who then relates the incident about the woman in the infirmary. Later verses commonly include the speaker’s request to be buried according to certain instructions, which vary according to the version.[19]
Other versions

Koko the clown (a rotoscopedCab Calloway) performing the song in the 1933 Betty Boopanimation Snow White
The song was first recorded (as “Gambler’s Blues”) in 1927 by Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra with credits given to Moore and Baxter.[1]:150This version mentions an infirmary but not by name. The song was popular during the jazz era, and by 1930 at least eighteen different versions had been released.[1]:30 The Duke Ellington Orchestra recorded the song using pseudonyms such as “The Ten Black Berries”, “The Harlem Hot Chocolates”, and “The Jungle Band”,[1]:19 while Cab Callowayperformed a version in the 1933 Betty Boop animated film Snow White, providing vocals and dance moves for Koko the clown.[20]
In 1961, Bobby “Blue” Bland released a version of “Saint James Infirmary” on the flip side of his No. 2 R&B hit “Don’t Cry No More” and included it in his album Two Steps from the Blues.[21][22]In 1967 the French-American singer Joe Dassin recorded the song. In 1968, Don Partridge released a version on his self-named album, as did Eric Burdon and the Animals on their album Every One of Us.[23]Dock Boggs recorded a version of the song entitled “Old Joe’s Barroom” (1965)[24]
The song was often performed by cabaret surrealists The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo in South California; the band’s vocalist and songwriter, Danny Elfman, often cited Cab Calloway as his inspiration in his youth. The White Stripes covered the song on their self-titled debut album, and Jack White says he and fellow band member, Meg White, were introduced to the song from a Betty Boop cartoon.[25] In 1981, Bob Dylan adapted the song when he wrote and recorded “Blind Willie McTell”. The song was written for his 1983 release, Infidels, but was not released until The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3: Rare and Unreleased, 1961-1991 (Columbia, 1991).[26] In 2012, Trombone Shortyand Booker T. Jones performed an instrumental version as the opening number of the “Red, White, and Blues” concert at the White House.[27]
- Josh White (1944) [28]
- Snooks Eaglin – New Orleans Street Singer (Folkways, 1959)[29]
- Lou Rawls – Back and Blue(1963)[30]
- The Standells – Try It (1967)[31]
- Joe Cocker – Joe Cocker (1972)[32]
- Canadian Brass – Basin Street(1984)[33]
- Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan[34] (2005)
- The Devil Makes Three – A Little Bit Faster and a Little Bit Worse (under the title St James) (2006)[35]
- Arlo Guthrie with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra – In Times Like These (2007)[36]
- Hugh Laurie – Let Them Talk (2011)
- Rickie Lee Jones – The Devil You Know[37] (2012)
- Dalice Marie – Twenty Eight(2016)[38]
- Yo-Yo Ma‘s Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens – Sing Me Home(2016)[39]
- Jon Batiste – Hollywood Africans(2018)
- Liquor Beats Winter – Lost In The Sauce (2018)
See also