St James Infirmary Blues

March 3rd, 2008 Tabbed by Elijah Wilbury 2 Comments

St James Infirmary is a very old folk/blues song that dates back to an old English folk song called The Unfortunate Rake. There are probably as many versions of this song as there are people who sing it, there is even a version that evolved into a country song as The Streets of Loredo. This is my arrangement, which has bits an pieces of other versions that I like inserted into it.

A recording of this version can be heard on my EZFolk Page in the songs section.

Roger McGuinn has a version of this song, as well as chords and lyrics, on his blog.

Arlo Guthrie often performs a version of St James in concert. His arrangement, which I believe he learned from Cisco Houston, can be found on his website.