Uncallow Cab
This version of “St. James Infirmary Blues” is completely haunting. It was sung by Cab Calloway and taken from a 1930s Betty Boop cartoon. Cab Calloway’s abilities as a singer, front man, band leader, composer, arranger, etc. are scary enough and when coupled with the inherent morbid ideas and images of this song, an unrelenting and pronounced spookiness is created. The song is a story about a man who tells of visiting his dead lover at the morgue and then how he copes with it.
Cab Calloway phrasing is unlike anything I’ve ever heard with version. He sings with a commanding presence, and at points it sounds like someone is actually crying out in mournful pain. I think that’s what makes this version so alive - it screams with sorrow, forlorn of all hope or return - but does not go quietly.
If you want a good measure of what I mean. Check out Louis Armstrong’s version, which is the staple interpretation of St. James Infirmary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvr7nkd_IJM.
Armstrong’s is completely eerie and sad in its own right, in a drunken-last-breath kind of way.
Another interesting and different version of this song is by the 23 year old, Jonathan Bastiste.
This version seems a bit lighter and smoother than the other, but is really cool nonetheless. Batiste even slips in a Cab Calloway reference at the 3:09 mark, quoting “Hi De Ho Man”.
Amazing song covered by countless musicians around the world. Cab Calloway made his impression on it and forever changes the way I will hear and remember this song.
Jake
2 years ago