Same Old Stagolee - Justin Townes Earle

He set up on the low-ride, slinging nickels and dimes

He a bad man, old Stagolee

It was Stagolee shot Jimmy, oh, little Jimmy Brown

At the Roadway Motel, gunned that boy down

He a bad man, old Stagolee

You see, Jimmy loved a girl, a little girl named Valentine

They grew up on the hill, there in the low-rides

Next door to old Stagolee

But Jimmy grew up in the bottoms, boy, and everybody knows

That folks from the bottoms and the hill don’t get along

No one much liked Stagolee

So the folks down in the bottoms said, «Boy, don’t get yourself killed

Ain’t there plenty girls down here?

Why chase one up the hill?

You watch out for old Stagolee.»

But Jimmy said, «Come on, don’t give me none of that shit

You know little Jimmy Brown ain’t afraid of no son of a bitch

Oh, not even Stagolee.»

One night, Jimmy shootin' dice, down at the Roadways

Outside Room 22, down the breezeway

And up walked old Stagolee

But Jimmy shootin' fire, throwin' seven in the air

Eleven, eleven, oh seven, come again

So he never saw old Stagolee

I wasn’t there, but I did hear the shots

And by the time I arrived, the place was crawling with cops

Though I did see old Stagolee

Out in back of the motel, all alone in his car

Went around the turnpike, sneaked past the graveyard

Aw, that goddamn Stagolee

So I stayed out of sight till he rolled away

I don’t need nobody thinkin' that I saw a thing

Aw, especially not Stagolee

One shot fired, and one man dead

Was no fightin', not one word said

Yeah, he’s a bad man, Stagolee

So this story done been told

Time and time again

Same old means, same old end

Same old Stagolee