[Voice: Male bari-tenor. Dark Appalachian blues storyteller; controlled swagger, conversational danger, restrained grit.] [Intro] It was Christmas morning, The clock was striking ten, Stagolee sat in the barroom With a room full of drinking men. Stagolee said to Billy Lyons, “Bring my Stetson here to me.” Billy laughed and held it from him, Said, “That hat belongs to me.” Stagolee pulled his pistol, Billy never saw it come, One shot rang across the barroom, And the whole room came undone. [Chorus] Stagolee, Stagolee, Lord, what have you done? You took the life of Billy Lyons Before the morning sun. Stagolee, Stagolee, With that black hat on your head, Billy Lyons lies on the barroom floor, And all the room has fled. [Rap 1] Before the songs got bigger, Before the Devil knew his name, He was just a man named Lee Shelton With a temper and a flame. Maybe it started with a hat, Maybe pride got in the way, But one bad moment turned a life Into a debt nobody could pay. One shot can end a heartbeat, But it doesn't end the sound. It travels through the neighborhood, Then follows every town. One witness tells another, Then the details start to bend, And somewhere between the truth And the story, Stagolee begins. [Verse 2] Billy's woman was at home, Preparing Billy's meal, When a messenger came running With a truth too hard to feel. “Your Billy's lying on the barroom floor, And Stagolee's the one.” She dropped what she was holding And went looking for her gun. [Chorus] Stagolee, Stagolee, Lord, what have you done? You took the life of Billy Lyons Before the morning sun. [Rap 2] She didn't hear a legend. She heard somebody died. She heard the man she loved was gone And somebody walked outside. That's the part the old songs lose When they turn blood into rhyme: A legend might live forever, But somebody grieves each time. The police came looking for him, And the whole town knew his name. They found him, took him off to jail, But the story wouldn't stay the same. [Verse 3] They locked Stagolee in prison, Put the chains around his feet, But Billy's ghost came walking Every night along the street. Stagolee could face a pistol, He could stare the law down cold, But the dead man kept on calling, And the past would not let go. [Rap 3] Then they carried him to court, And somebody made a plea: “His poor old mother's dying, Won't you set Stagolee free?” The prosecutor shook his head: “That story won't survive. His mother died eleven years ago. She's been dead since long ago.” Now the courtroom had the truth, But the truth wasn't enough. His woman found a way to help him, Put the money up and called his bluff. Ten thousand dollars bought him time, And once again he walked free. But the man who left that jailhouse Was becoming Stagolee. [Bridge] One man dead. One man walking. One black hat beneath the sky. The law had tried to write the ending, But the singers wouldn't let it die. [Final Chorus] Stagolee, Stagolee, The whole town knows your name. Billy Lyons lies beneath the ground, But you keep walking just the same. Stagolee, Stagolee, The story has begun. One shot rang across the barroom, And another life was gone. [Transition — instrumental] [Mandolin tremolo over E7; fiddle sustains; drums gradually return.] [Voice: Same male bari-tenor. Begin intimate and bluesy; gradually become mythic, theatrical, and larger than life.] [Intro] Years went by and people talked, Each singer had a tale. Some made him seven feet tall, Some said he could never fail. [Verse 1] They said Stagolee kept walking, Long after the years had passed. They said the grave came looking, But Stagolee walked right past. [Chorus] Stagolee, Stagolee, Still walking through the night. They thought the grave would end the story, But the story stayed alive. Stagolee, Stagolee, Everybody knows your name. The man was Lee Shelton once, Now the legend bears the name. [Rap 1] That's how folklore works. A man becomes a warning. A warning becomes a badman. A badman becomes a myth. And once the myth gets moving, Nobody owns it anymore. One singer makes him fearless, Another makes him mean. One says he faced the law itself, Another says he couldn't die. The facts become the bones, Then imagination grows the skin. Every generation adds a verse And calls the whole thing history. But underneath the legend, There's still a man who chose. Billy Lyons still died that night. That's the truth nobody knows How to sing away. [Verse 2] Some said death came for Stagolee, Some said he wouldn't go. Some said the Devil came to claim him, But Stagolee said no. They say he walked into the darkness, Down where the fires burn, And found the Devil waiting For a lesson in return. [Chorus] Stagolee, Stagolee, The Devil knows your name. You beat the law, you beat the grave, Now Hell will never be the same. Stagolee, Stagolee, Still standing proud and tall. The badman walked into the fire And wouldn't bow at all. [Rap 2] Now maybe that's just folklore. Maybe none of it occurred. Maybe Hell never heard his footsteps. Maybe nobody saw the Devil turn. But somebody needed Stagolee To become bigger than their fear. A man who wouldn't bow down Even when death was standing near. So the story kept on growing. The grave became a door. The murderer became immortal In a way he never was before. And that's the strange thing: Legends don't have to make you good. They just have to make you impossible To forget. [Verse 3] The old tale says he took the throne, The Devil stepped aside. Stagolee ruled the darkness Like he ruled the living side. [Breakdown] A man committed murder. A town remembered why. The law tried to write the ending. The singers kept it alive. A man became a badman. A badman became a name. A name became a legend. And legends feed the flame. [Final Chorus] Stagolee, Stagolee, Still walking through the night. Billy Lyons is long forgotten, But Stagolee's alive. Stagolee, Stagolee, From the barroom to the grave, From the grave to the fires below, He never learned to behave. Stagolee, Stagolee, The old song carries on. One man fell beneath a pistol, But the legend carried on. [Outro — stripped to voice, bass, and tremolo mandolin] So if you hear that name at midnight, When the road is dark and still, You might hear an old gun firing... Or just the sound of a story That refuses to die. Stagolee... Stagolee... Stagolee.
