Part Of The Problem 6

Stack shot Billy. I read the book about Stagolee by Cecil Brown, a great sliver of Saint Louis history. Before that I read "A Blues Life", an oral autobiography of Henry Townsend. He passed away two years ago at age 96. I saw him play a couple times, the only man known to record songs in every decade from the 1920s to the 2000s. Back in 2001, I started writing a song about the life of Henry Townsend. It was boring. Then I listened to Nick Cave's Murder Ballads record and it all came together when I recalled an incident from the autobiographical narrative. Henry Townsend was confronted in a bar a stabbed by another blues guitarist by the name of JD Short. Townsend recovered and borrowed a gun from a friend.
Bucket Of Blood was the name of a bar in some versions of the Stagolee story so I threw that in the mix. Townsend took the weapon and went hunting through the house parties and bars to find Short. When he did, Short tried to flee but then stopped and pulled a knife. Townsend fired the gun and ended up shooting Short in the testicles. That's what happened. Sometimes revenge that does not kill might hurt even worse than death.

BUCKET OF BLOOD
Henry he hopped that north-bound train
jumped off in the yard in east st louis
henry was a shoeshine boy
fronting for that bootlegging man downtown
henry learned to play that mean guitar
henry learned to play that sweet guitar
had some folks jealous with the way that he played

JD Short got him in the back
that coward with a knife got him in the back
Henry was a bleeding he nearly died
when that coward snake got him in the back
henry wanted to take his revenge
went hunting JD Short through all the joints
cornered him at the bucket of blood
Henry stepped up and short pulled his knife
Henry drew his gun and he took a shot
Short jumped up yelled and fell down
Henry left the yard same way he'd come in
Short lay bleeding hurting on the ground

henry he's an old man now
stack-a-lee's been long dead now
with many a song to sing and many a tale to tell
the city henry knew it ain't there no more
the booker washington theatre been torn down
the city henry knew it ain't here no more