The Dyin Crapshooter's Blues
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.
