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Blues Lyrics - Blind Willie McTell
The Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues
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by
Blind Willie McTell
recording of 1940
from
Complete Library of Congress Recordings (1940) (Document BDCD-6001)
&
Legendary Library of Congress Session (Elektra 301)
Little Jesse was a gambler, night and day
He used crooked cards and dice
Sinful guy, good hearted but had no soul
Heart was hard and cold like ice
Jesse was a wild reckless gambler
Won a gang of change
Although' a many gambler's heart he led in pain
Began to spend a-loose his money
Began to be blue, sad and all alone
His heart had even turned to stone
What broke Jesse's heart while he was blue and all alone
Sweet Lorena packed up and gone
Police walked up and shot my friend Jesse down
Boys I got to die today
He had a gang of crapshooters and gamblers at his bedside
Here are the words he had to say
Guess I ought to know
Exactly how I wants to go
(How you wanna go, Jesse?)
Eight crapshooters to be my pallbearers
Let 'em be veiled down in black
I want nine men going to the graveyard, Bubba
And eight men comin' back
I want a gang of gamblers gathered 'round my coffin-side
Crooked card printed on my hearse
Don't say the crapshooters'll never grieve over me
My life been a doggone curse
Send poker players to the graveyard
Dig my grave with the ace of spades
I want twelve polices in my funeral march
High sheriff playin' blackjack, lead the parade
I want the judge and solic'ter who jailed me 14 times
Put a pair of dice in my shoes (then what?)
Let a deck of cards be my tombstone
I got the dyin' crapshooter's blues
Sixteen real good crapshooters
Sixteen bootleggers
to sing a song
Sixteen racket men
gamblin'
Couple tend bar while I'm rollin' along
He wanted 22 womens outta the Hampton Hotel
26 off-a South Bell
29 women outta North Atlanta
Know little Jesse didn't pass out so swell
His head was achin', heart was thumpin'
Little Jesse went to hell bouncin' and jumpin'
Folks, don't be standin' around ole Jesse cryin'
He wants everybody to do the Charleston
whilst he dyin'
One foot up, a toenail dragging
Throw my buddy Jesse in the
hoodoo
wagon
Come here mama with that can of booze
The dyin crapshooter's, leavin' the world
The dyin' crapshooter's, goin' down slow
With the dyin' crapshooter's blues
__________
Note: Willie McTell recorded "Dying Crapshooter's Blues" on three occasions: first in 1940, in Atlanta for John Lomax's folk song recordings for the Library of Congress; next in Atlanta in 1949 for the then-brand-new Atlantic Records, under the pseudonym "Barrelhouse Sammy"; and last in 1956 in Atlanta for record store owner & blues fan Ed Rhodes. None of these recordings were released commercially during McTell's lifetime. The 1949 recording (probably the best of the three) in available on Atlantic's "Atlanta Twelve String" CD, and the 1956 version, which is prefaced by a long spoken introduction, should still be available on CD (I think the disc is called "Last Session"). In his 1956 intro to the song, McTell claims that "Dying Crapshooter's Blues" was in fact written at the request of a dying gambler named Jesse, who gave McTell a list of all the things he wanted at his funeral. Whether or not the funeral actually was carried out as requested is dubious; McTell claims that Jesse's father put up funds and that they got "everything but the women", but I don't know if the cops were really tending bar and playing blackjack...
The song itself is based directly on a much older blues song, "St. James Infirmary," which I think has been credited to Blind Lemon Jefferson. McTell stated in 1956 that he "stole music every which-way" to complete "Dying Crapshooter's Blues," and he probably didn't finish it until the mid-1930's, since it doesn't appear on any of his prolific 1927-1935 recordings. Nonetheless, it's definitely one of his best original songs. Thanks to
Adam Powers
Note 1: bootlegger, someone who manufactures, sells, or transports alcoholic liquor illegally;
Note 2: racket, a fraudulent scheme, enterprise, or activity. Usually illegitimate enterprise made workable by bribery, intimidation or extortion. Also slang for occupation, business;
Note 3: Charleston, a popular dance of the twenties.
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