The story of Stagger Lee or Stack O'Lee and Billy Lyons is a key figure in American blues music. In 1895, Stack shot Billy Lyons, pretty much as the song states. For whatever reason, the story was adapted into a blues song, and blues being an incestuous musical form, it thoroughly ingrained itself in the aesthetic, with artists as diverse as the Clash doing their own spin on it. Perhaps one of the grittiest versions of it is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Stagger Lee," from the "Murder Ballads" album.
The story of Stagger Lee or Stack O'Lee and Billy Lyons is a key figure in American blues music. In 1895, Stack shot Billy Lyons, pretty much as the song states. For whatever reason, the story was adapted into a blues song, and blues being an incestuous musical form, it thoroughly ingrained itself in the aesthetic, with artists as diverse as the Clash doing their own spin on it. Perhaps one of the grittiest versions of it is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Stagger Lee," from the "Murder Ballads" album.