Stack O'Lee (PD status: USA: PD, EU: PD) [SUNO AI version]

The origins of Stack O’Lee (also known as Stagger Lee, Stackerlee, or Stagolee) trace back to a late 19th-century folk song based on the real-life murder of Billy Lyons by Lee Shelton in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1895. The song has evolved through traditional storytelling, and its earliest known lyrics were first transcribed in the early 20th century.
The first published version appeared in 1911 in John Lomax’s book Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. The first known recording was by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians in 1923, and the song became widely popular through later versions by artists like Mississippi John Hurt, Lloyd Price, and others.
Because the song predates recorded blues and was passed down through generations, no single person can be credited as the original lyricist.
Lyrics source: Public Domain.
Police officer, how can it be?
You can 'rest everybody but cruel Stack O' Lee.
That bad man, old cruel Stack O' Lee.
Billy de Lyon told Stack O’ Lee,
"Please don’t take my life,
I got two little babies and a darlin’ lovin’ wife."
That bad man, old cruel Stack O' Lee.
"What I care ‘bout your babies, your darlin’ lovin’ wife?
You stole my Stetson hat, I’m bound to take your life!"
That bad man, old cruel Stack O’ Lee.
Boom-boom, boom-boom, went the forty-four,
Billy de Lyon lay dyin’, blood spillin’ on the floor.
That bad man, old cruel Stack O’ Lee.
"Gentlemen of the jury, what y’all think of that?
Stack O’ Lee done killed a man for a five-dollar hat!"
That bad man, old cruel Stack O’ Lee.
Standin’ on the gallows, Stack O’ Lee did cuss,
Judge said, "Hang him now ‘fore he kills more of us!"
That bad man, old cruel Stack O’ Lee.
Head held high, no fear in his eyes,
Clock struck twelve, they was glad to see him die.
That bad man, old cruel Stack O’ Lee.