Stackolee (Stagger Lee)

Stackolee was a bad man, everybody knows
Spent a hundred dollars for just one suit of clothes
He was a bad man, that mean old Stackolee

Stackolee loaded cotton, weighed five hundred pounds
Carried along a Gatling gun, that drug him to the ground
He was a bad man, that mean old Stackolee

It was in a hustling b-joint where the Mississippi run
Stackolee killed Billy de Lyons with a smoking forty-one
He was a bad man, that mean old Stackolee

The high sheriff asked the deputy, "How can it be
You can arrest everybody, but the mean old Stackolee?
He's a bad man, that mean old Stackolee."

And the deputy told the new sheriff, "Double up my fee
And I'll go get that outlaw, by the name of Stackolee
'Cause he's a bad man, that mean old Stackolee."

Gentlemen of the jury, what do you think about that?
Stackolee killed Billy de Lyons about a five dollar Stetson hat
He was a bad man, that mean old Stackolee

Billy was in the card house and kneeling on the floor
Stackolee pulled the trigger of his red-hot forty-four
He was a bad man, that mean old Stackolee

Billy said to Stackolee, "Please don't take my life
I've got three little babes and a darling loving wife
You're a bad man, your name is Stackolee"

"What do I care about your two little babes, your darling loving wife?
You done stole my brand new hat and I'm bound to take your life
'Cause you're a bad man, and my name is Stackolee"

Billy died in the sawdust, with his head upon the rail
Deputy took old Stackolee and he marched him off to jail
He was a bad man, that mean old Stackolee

The judge said, "Mr. Stackolee, Mr. Stackolee
I'm gonna hang your body up and set your spirit free
'Cause you're a bad man, your name is Stackolee"

Stackolee on his gallows, his head way up high
Twelve o'clock we killed him, was all glad to see him die
He was a bad man, that mean old Stackolee
He was a bad man, that mean old Stackolee