Here’s Nick Cave’s version of Stagger Lee, with a video shot by a student film maker.  It’s a darker, heavier version of the song.  It’s the soundtrack to tears in a glass of whiskey & regrets that won’t leave you alone, rather than a lighthearted coming of age beach trip for high school girls.  There’s a time & a place for both of course.

And courtesy of my friend Keith, here’s a version from a band called Modern Life is War. So this version is definitely not my style.  I can’t get into the growling vocals.

Neil Diamond also covered this song.  It’s remarkable for just how straight it is.  I don’t think Neil Diamond could sing behind the beat if his life depended on it.  I’d love to see what would happen if the audience at the Wilson Pickett show got to see Neil Diamond perform this instead.  Riots.

There is also a saxophone solo.

Let’s check in with Ike & Tina Turner & see what they have to say about all this.

In the previous versions, Stagger Lee loses his “brand new Stetson hat” to Billy.  Ike & Tina have him losing his “brand new Cadillac.”  They play higher stakes dice in Ike & Tina’s world.

But who’s right?  I feel like Lyle Lovett would be the perfect person to adjudicate this, but he has yet to weigh in, so we’ll get another white person’s perspective, courtesy of Huey Lewis & the News.

And now, don’t you all want to listen to Power of Love?  Because that song is awesome.

The song “Stagger Lee”.  If you’re a lady my age, you probably first heard it in the movie “Shag”.  Remember how much you loved that movie?  I wish I could dance like Pudge.  And how happy were you that Carson ended up with Buzz?  It was like Sex & the City for teenaged girls.  Think about it: you have the socialite, the slutty one, the uptight Senator’s daughter, and the girl who’s prettier than everyone thinks she is.

Anyway, the version of Stagger Lee used in the movie is the bowdlerized version, which was recorded at Dick Clark’s request.  Apparently, fighting over a woman is better than murdering a man because of a dice game.  Whatever Dick Clark. Lloyd Price had a #1 hit with the original.

And here’s Wilson Pickett, making it a Wilson Pickett song.  Can’t you just imagine him busting into the chorus of Land of 1000 Dances?