St. James Infirmary and the Return of Towl

Peter has been flying the How to Grow Old flag for quite some time now, what with his trawl through the cd's on his drive to work, gig going, and all round keeping his end up. Back-knack has kept me away from the blog, but with the blood circulating again, and the stitches out today, I will make my triumphant return with this, surely an apt title - St. James Infirmary (Blues). Everyone from Louis Armstrong to the White Stripes has done a version of this, although I only heard it for the first time recently. There's a whole list of pre-war versions here. Even Betty Boop has done it.

First up is Red Allen from 1964, putting a bit of soul into his jazz version.


Paul Butterfield, legendary harp player, provides the second version. Sorry there's not much to watch.


I was going to put The White Stripes here, but then I watched it, and realised just how bad their live version was. Particularly when you listen to someone who can play the piano, so here is New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint doing it some justice.