June 2021
Tad Richards
tad@tadrichards.com
tad@tadrichards.com
Author's Note: To go with column for this month, here's a poem with a refrain. Stackolee is a legendary hero-villain of blues ballads. In some versions, he ends up in hell, so I took it from there. I wrote it as a poem, but it eventually became a song, and you can hear it here — Stackolee and the Devil
Sackolee and the Devil
Stackolee went down to hell
Lookin’ mighty furious
Devil said, “Where you come from, boy?”
He told him, “East St. Louis.”
Stackolee said to the Devil,
“Put your pitchfork on the shelf,
I’m the bad man they call Stackolee
Gonna rule Hell by myself.”
—Traditional
The Devil sent a woman
With a stomach made of rain
Stackolee sucked her bones clean dry
And sent her back again,
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil is gonna win
Stackolee took the Devil
And he tied him to a rail
Set fire ants to eat his horns
And a goat to eat his tail
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil is gonna fail
Devil sent another woman
Her eyes were made of coal
Stackolee sent her back again
They were red as a jelly roll
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil gonna take his toll
Stackolee took the Devil
And he chained him to the air
Put hornets all around his private parts
And maggots in his hair
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil, he don’t care
The Devil sent his daughter
Took old Stackolee by the arm
Walked him into the fiery pit,
Stack says, “It’s getting’ warm”
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil gonna work a charm
Stackolee took off his gloves
And loosened up his vest
The Devil’s daughter went and laid
Her head against his chest
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil
Oh, he’s doin’ what he do best
The devil’s daughter took old Stack’s hand
And she placed it on her heart
Fire so hot it fused them hard
So they’d never come apart
Oh, the Devil
Oh, the Devil
Come on and see the Devil’s art
©2021 Tad Richards
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