Cobb

Now it turns out that Stagger Lee's real name was Lee Sheldon. This in and of itself is interesting if only because the filmmaker's name isn't Spike, but Sheldon Lee. Or maybe that's his dad's name. I forget which.

The legend of Stagger Lee, seems to me best left in its original form. I like a man who can make the devil uncomfortable in his own home. Just this afternoon I was considering what might be my next online personna once my work as Cobb is done. The name 'Lucifer Jones' is just too good to pass up. I'll see you in 3 years. That's a level I can relate to. But the notion that black manhood might be symbolized by a hat is a bit much.

Therefore, if the Stetson represented the black man's manhood, the fight over the hat represented the black man's struggle for freedom. And this is my whole point! Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee" reflected the civil rights struggle and predicted the more combative stance--the lunch counter sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, and even the turn by some to Black Power--that African-Americans would take in the early 1960s. With this record, "Stagger Lee" was reshaped from a cautionary blues ballad to an aggressive rock 'n' roll song. The factors which I pointed out earlier--the exuberance in Price's voice, the backup singers chanting "Go Stagger Lee", and the celebratory tone of the record--contributed to this reshaping. And these changes also must have influenced how this song was interpreted. In effect, Price created a new song with a new symbolic meaning. By taking "Stagger Lee"--a song which reflects and stems from the oppression of the black race by the white race--out of its blues tradition and recording it as a rock 'n' roll song, Lloyd Price changed its theme from oppression to liberation. And this transformation was brought about by Price regardless of what his intentions were or what was going on in his conscious or subconscious mind. A song which was so deeply rooted in the tragedy and inhumanity of the white race's oppression and enslavement of the black race, and which was recorded by a member of that black race in such a jubilant, rocking, and exhilarating tone, could no longer be a blues song or a song of oppression. It could only be one thing: rock 'n' roll. And as rock 'n' roll it announced an amazing turn of events: victory and reedom.

It's a charitable stretch, but I'll stick with Ellison's Prologue (to Invisible Man), which I talk about a lot but can't find anywhere. I am rather persnickety today about what type of characters get credit for doing the work of black liberation, and now with some significant documents in my possession, I'm more likely to give credit to the oratory of Wyatt Tee Walker, rather than the legend of Lee Sheldon. On the other hand, Stagger Lee was indeed on the black IQ test and on page 50 of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. So you know people take their symbols where they can find them.

But let's not confuse vernacular folktales with the real work of raising the race. A man who shoots another over the theft of a Stetson is bad - not bad meaning good, but bad meaning bad. (Sorry RunDMC). And I for one am rather fed up with the legend of the black badass. Even at this late date, listening to Onyx' Slam is a treat, just as reading page 50 is. Let art be art and let life be civilized. 'Nuff said.