What are they really going to Water Board Bush???
Patrick in his dreamy state
-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Joseph Duemer
Sent: 09 March 2008 01:30
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Water Boarding USA Reality Check
Right, Ken. I was borrowing part of the Stagolee legend, but I didn't know
about Wicked John. A common motif in American folklore, anyway. What's
interesting is the combination of condemnation & celebration. One version of
the Stagolee ballad concludes:
Stagolee went up to heaven
Saw St. Peter there
St. Peter said "Go back the other way,
We don allow no gamblers here."
Stagolee went down to the Devil,
Said, "Get up on your shelf,
My name is Stagolee
And I'm gonna run this place myself."
Devil's little children
Went scramblin' up the wall --
Said, "Take him back, Daddy,
Before he murders us all!"
==
See: Cecil Brown, Stagolee Shot
Billy<http://www.amazon.com/Stagolee-Shot-Billy-Cecil-Brown/dp/0674016262/re
f=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205025842&sr=8-1>.
Stagolee is probably based on a pimp, bar owner, gambler & murderer named
Stack Lee, who lived in St. Louis in the 1890s.
On Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 7:23 PM, Kenneth Wolman <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Joseph Duemer wrote:
> > Speaking of bastards running around loose, did you know Robert McNamara
> is
> > still alive and living in comfort on Martha's Vineyard? When he &
> Kissinger
> > finally get to hell, they will overthrow the devil and run the place
> > themselves.
> >
> > jd
> >
>
> I recall from when I was a kid hearing what turned out to be one of a
> million variants of a Black folktale called Wicked John. The man is
> kind of like Stagolee. All I remember (I heard it in 1957) is that he
> finally dies, Heaven refuses him, he goes to Hell, and the Devil hands
> him a torch. "Wicked John, you're too bad even for me, you go start a
> Hell of your own!"
>
> Excuse me, I'm going back to reading Sarah Vowell's last book and
> praying real hard.
>
> Ken
>
> ------------------
> Kenneth Wolman http://bestiaire.typepad.com
> Abuse of power comes as no surprise--Jenny Holzer
>
--
Joseph Duemer
Professor of Humanities
Clarkson University
[sharpsand.net]
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