Lyrics Mrs. Delion's Lament - David Bromberg

Uh, excuse me a minute...

Stagger Lee walked down by the levee, just about the break of day
And there he met old Billy Delions and they set down and began to play
Now this Billy Delions was a good ol'
Boy but he learned just a little too late
He never should have swore that Stagger
Lee's seven was a doggone hard-luck eight

So Stagger Lee told Billy Delions, "You can't get away with that,
Aw, you got my money,
My forty-dollar shoes, you can't have my Stetson hat.
Hey if you're still here when I get back with my butcher knife and gun
I'm gonna cut you if you stand still, I'm gonna shoot ya if ya run"
It's all about...

Stagger Lee boys, comin' around the bend
And he ain't doing nuthin' but just killin' off good men
He's long and he's tall, and he do not wear no shoes
You cannot tell his footprints from a horse's or a mule's

Stagger Lee, he went walkin' in a red-hot blazin' sand
He said "I feel so mistreated Lord, I could shoot most any man"
Well he went back down and found
Billy Delions, it's a sad, sad tale to tell
Oh, he cut 'im deep and he shot 'im
Down and he laughed when Billy fell

He stuck his nose in the sheriff's face, whaddya think he said?
He said, "The man I run from ain't
Been born, and his mother's long gone dead"
Well the sheriff come out after Stagger Lee next morning just at dawn
He had ninety-eight deputies,
The National Guard and a brand-new Gatling gun, after...

Stagger Lee boys, comin' around the bend
And he ain't doing nuthin' but just killin' off good men
He's long and he's tall, and he do not wear no shoes
And you cannot tell his footprints from a horse's or a mule's

When the fight got done they took
Stagger Lee straight down to the old courtyard
In two hundred pounds of logging chain with a Sherman tank on guard
Now the judge was grinning from ear to
Ear, he said "I see you standing there
You killed forty-two deputies and Billy
Delions and you're going to the 'lectric chair"

Old Stagger Lee just shrugged his
Shoulders, said "I guess my gamblin's done
But I'll eat your face for breakfast
Judge, if you try and take away my gun"
So with a six-gun held in his right
Hand they strapped him in the 'lectric chair
He said, "You ain't gonna put that
Headpiece on me and mess up my pretty hair"
It's all about...

Stagger Lee boys, comin' around the bend
He ain't doing nuthin', just killin' off good men
He's long and he's tall, and he does not comb his hair
And in his face he looks just like a great big grizzly bear

When Stagger Lee reached the gates
Of Hell he put the insult on the run
Just foamin' at the mouth and cussin'
Up a streak and wavin' around his gun
He walked right up to the Devil he said, "I like your place just fine
But I gotta shoot somebody so goddamn
Bad, tell me where you got Billy Delions"

Well the Devil he said,
"Look Stagger Lee, don't lose your self-control
You can't shoot Billy Delions no more, ain't room for no more holes"
Old Stagger Lee just got so mad he
Threw the Devil clean off his throne
He said, "On your knees old Satan, I'm gonna rule Hell on my own"
All about...

Stagger Lee boys, comin' around the bend
And he ain't doing nuthin' but killin' off good men
He's long and he's tall, and he do not comb his hair
And in his face he looks just like some doggone grizzly bear