You know that one about the cowboy who went out that one morning on the streets of Laredo and spotted that gurgling chatterbox who spilled his guts about his wild, hard times? And do you know the one about the dude who went out to the insane asylum to evidently reconcile with his cuckoo lady friend? Well polish your brain scoop, because…they’re the same song!

Evidently most people know this already. Not “most people” as in your mom, but the kind of “most people” who would be inclined to give a pull about public domain folk tunes. If you visited a tiny little museum in Laredo, Texas – Republic of the Rio Grandé Museum – a plaque on the wall there will tell you that “The Streets of Laredo” is descended from the same song as “St. James Infirmary Blues,” arguably most often attributed to Louis Armstrong. And there are spins and variations and all that folk business, but it seems most interesting that both “St. James” and “Streets” descended from the same source - “An Unfortunate Rake.” What the eff, right? Plaque punch!

Turns out the eff is that there’s a whole body of derivatives of “Rake” - an Irish ballad about a strong British soldier felled by the most bittersweet of gifts (syphilis) from a young woman. So we all owe that museum in Laredo an unpunching of their plaque. If you’re interested, you can read more about all of this drama in Silber, Irwin, and Earl Robinson. Songs of the Great American West. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Or at Wikipedia, who cares.

Back to “St. James Infirmary,” though. This edition of “Rake” is buh-nanas. Basically it feels like somebody heard “Streets of Laredo” and thought “Mm, dying cowboy in the street. Uh-huh. A whole other cowboy hears this fella’s sad, quiet tale? Ooookaaaay. But how about – instead – we put two people in an insane asylum and have them in effect just scream at each other’s faces?” And that’s the Koko Taylor - Willie Dixon version, which they call “Insane Asylum.” Goes like…

…And so on. This version is so kickass, though. Deep, lumbering, and minor with maybe the most Koko Taylory chorus there ever was (Willie Dixon doing harmony, to boot). It kills! Blast it, fuxk it - what if the love of your life went cuckoo and ended up marooned in insane asylum?! You never considered?!

MAPPING IT

Could put it at that little museum in dear, old, crazy, beautiful, Laredo, Texas. But Kenneth S. Goldstein seems pretty certain that the St. James Hospital in most iterations of this song is modern-day “St. James’ Palace” in London.

HEARING IT