I went down to St. James Infirmary,
Saw my baby there.
Set down on a long white table,
So sweet, so cold, so fair.
Let her go, let her go, God bless her,
Wherever she may be,
She can look this wide world over,
She'll never find a sweet man like me.
When I die, want you to dress me in straight leg shoes,
Box black coat and a Stetson hat,
Put a 20 dollar gold piece on my watch chain,
So the boys'll know I died standing pat.
Now you've heard my sad story,
Boy hand me another shot of that booze.
If anyone should ask you,
Tell 'em I got those St. James Infirmary blues.
The purpose of the Folk Den is to use the medium of the World Wide Web to continue the tradition of the folk process, that is the telling of stories, and singing of songs, passed on from one generation to another, by word of mouth.
In this electronic era, such a process is in danger of being overwhelmed by the commercial mass media. This page and others on the 'net are working to preserve the folk songs that have chronicled our global heritage for centuries.
In the Folk Den, a "new" folk song is uploaded every month as a "Global Community Service."
