SAINT JAMES INFIRMARY [TRADITIONAL]

[mistercom73]

Les gars, accrochez-vous à vos bretelles, ça c'est du piano-blues d'ENFER !!!!!!!!!!!

[maksiu026]

five guys are first time on YT..

[silvermediastudio]

It's based on a British folk song from the 1700s... generally considered anonymous origin, although Irving Mills (Joe Primrose) is credited with the modern interpretation.

Mills was a Jew from lower Manhattan, which goes to show an artist doesn't necessarily have to "live the life" to write or compose as if he did.

[pretzelhed]

Doug, you're baddasss. Thanks for postin' this!  All the best!

[baconboye]

this rankes up there with cab calloway's

[123must]

very fine !!!!

[phsyan]

pretty good, but james booker's version is still my favorite

[skiddish813]

I feel like I'm watching this through a security camera.

[1suerte]

THAT is music!

[londongoth7]

Damn.  God-fucking-damn, that was awesome.

[aknowneemus]

i also wonder why this pianist isn't better known. Probably one of the best versions of this song i've ever heard. We hit the south side regularly (chicago) and i've seen many amatures,masters and in between-ers. This guy is a master . NO doubt!

[rdoister]

allen toussaint does a laid back sparse version of this song on the piano in contrast to Duffey's version - both very listenable

[jackogreen23]

not a very special voice but a very good performance nonetheless.

[TeodoraGriffin]

Excellent.

[qwerty777777778]

Joe Primose wrote it i think

[Tockers1984]

that was wonderful. Agreed - rather desultory applause for such a great performance

[DarthTomale]

That deserved waaaay more applause than it got.

[TimmerAV]

this is the best version on youtube of st james infirmary.... Well done!

But do you have the sheetmusic of your version? I REALLY want to play it like you...

[Patsea111]

Terrific.....Voice & piano playing is so hot hot hot !

I'm sure I'll listen to this song again & again.

Thanks for posting it DougPatsea111@aol.com

[Lisare618]

Awesome job.............. love this version! 

[Arenow]

The first time I heard it was in a LP by Cisco Houston. It's still geat.

[manila7979]

One of the greatest blues renditions I have ever heard.. You are soooo good!

[texasboy000]

How does this not get more views than that ?

[smtwtfs53]

Wow......

It's only two fifteen in the afternoon, but listenin' to this made me go pour me a whiskey to come back and listen again,....well done Doug.

[nicolasdebruyne]

sung with soul, nice work

[VercingetorixXIII]

he said Infirmry, not infirmary, this is so hard, I tasked myself to find the best vesrion of st james infirmary, crap the more I hear the harder its getting...

[Arrow69hunter]

Well done!!! What a great song, and you do it a great JUSTICE!!

[user905596]

Thanks for the traditional version!

[KatzenImNebel]

This is great! I love this song!

[paulqwerty4000]

Nice job. I love your version. We're doin' it tonite at open mic and I'm playin along.

[sumonis]

great version bruddah

[OLDCROWish]

Absolutely incredible voice and piano playing. Gave me chills!

[altalanos]

stuck speechless!

[tomlovin2]

Great rendition. It started off as an 18th century British folk song, "The Unfortunate Rake." It got passed down over the years - turning into several songs, one version is "The Streets of Laredo."

[andystackagrip]

Great Song! One of my favorites! Thanks Doug

[andystackagrip]

Great song! Super nice work Doug. Really like all of your work.

[usedtoplay]

This was once 1 of my all time favorites. Till it was my turn to visit the infirmary. So it has lost some of its luster for me. Still you play it so well. Thank you for the post.

[SonicBoomC98]

I do prefer slower versions of the song like this one

[cjthemusicman]

Excellent!

*****

[JupiterHormone]

Fantastic version of this song!

You have a few albums on CD Baby and I am not sure which one to start with.

[benny0607]

Yes!

[plasterdbastard]

The best version of St James Infirmary I've ever heard was the one sung by a US Soldier in Vietnam in the documentary "Anderson's Platoon".

In my opinion, this song should be haunting with more of a blues emphasis.

Well sung, though, Doug. This is a great version.

[Examr00m]

This song was based on the English song "St. James' Infirmary", (a 17th century hospital). The Infirmary was demolished by Henry VIII to make way for St. James' Palace. The original writer of the song is unknown. The House of the Rising Sun is a variant as is the Streets of Laredo. Same origin.

[RedCeilidh]

@WeLoveMarley - "Sweet Man" in the vernacular of the time meant pimp. So it wasn't so much of a love affair as a business arrangement. I've been trying to collect all the copies of this song that I can find, thanks DougDuffey for posting this one, I had no clue about it.

[TheBigBluesFan]

Doug, get famous soon! Btw, great take on the song.

[ClubhouseRecordsNS]

Great job man. Absolutely love the piano playing. Also, great addition of the minor add 9 chord at the end. Wrapped it up nicely. I think one of the greatest things about this song is that everyone has their own version of it. I like yours a lot.

Jeremy

[OkeeHadjo]

very very nice. I had completely forgotten about this song. I'm pretty sure last time I heard it was about 1970 on a john mayall album.

[ceeblu]

Thanks Doug!!! Excellent!!

[nagpeack]

Why'd ya skip the first verse Duffey?

[Cyclonus5]

@nagpeack not all versions mention the bar or the town square

[wvsalokon52]

Love it, great voice for those slo songs

[bosorma]

БРАВО

[NP8301]

st james infirmary is origionally by Cab Calloway. a veritable god of blues and jazz.

[saintbrigid]

No it isn't, yadoofus.

[blazednamazed]

@NP8301 no its been around much longer than cab calloway. look it up

[rainingautumn]

You rock! ehmm... you jazz :-D

Amazing!

[MrJLHooker]

Aw shucks, Thanks

from Doug

[amnesai]

Doug Duffey

[eevlwich]

who are you? can you write me please?

[eevlwich]

you are fucking good man! keep it on!

[eevlwich]

hey i don't know who you are, but that's it, you have got it, well done!

[MilDarkAngel]

Hey..is there any posibility that you can send me the tones or the music sheet of this song?? I cant finde it anywhere...

[MilDarkAngel]

You are amazing boy!!

[japansekip]

A Fine kind of playing, a lot of speed changement.

he makes music like a half black man.

Let the piano change in volume and it as a black man playing. a 52 years Dutchman

[rubybegonia73]

I loved this.

[SketchRoomAccount]

Are you familiar with the Auden Poem Miss Gee? Try singing the poem to this song, it fits perfectly.

[DRCANDO1]

Hugh Laurie played a shorter different version on jay leno .. it was great .. this guy here is great tooooooo !

[gpshaw1987]

That's incredibly impressive piano, how long did you have to play to gain such skill?

[LivyToo]

Awesome piano playing, and singing. I've favorited this!

[foundationrocks1212]

this is very nice, but the beat which your playing it at, makes your style of faster fingers strange. i have heard better, but i very much like this

[accordianman5264]

Hey Duff, Ya nailed that one,great fingers and style,nice,thanks

[KittraKittra]

Brilliant.  Perfect.

[birdie399]

And the crowd cried for more, more!!

Superb!

[phongbong]

My favorite version is the one the house guy plays on the leno show.

[peskirabbit]

Great version, top playing

[DougDuffey]

will be releasing a cd of traditional songs soon on cdbaby- including this song. will post the link once the cd is ready...

[joedanceteria]

Count me in Doug, I always play you when I'm on FB.

[joedanceteria]

@DougDuffey Where can I find th CD Doug?

[Aliselia1]

Nice version. I like his playing but wish his voice was more raw-more gritty. It's just a bit smooth and pretty for me.

[mgb11271950]

This is a great version of St J I. The guy is a great piano player and vocalist. I wonder why he isn't better known. There aren't many pianists around that play as well in the New Orleans style as he does.

[Nicorette1234]

@mgb11271950 cuz sadley its already been done

[liampdc]

WOAH!

that was really awesome! I wish i could play like you, all i can play is the white stripes version :p hahah

[DjAmes987]

Best. Rendition. Ever.

[BellaClay]

Incredible piano playing, incredible voice. Best rendition of this song I've ever heard - by far. Love it; I've listened to it SO many times. SCD

[HakanEhn]

great version!!

[weluvmarley]

this version seem so much more fitting, all the other versions ive heard seem too upbeat.

if your lover, or "baby" had just died, i think it would sound more like this :)

[22nola]

Nice version of the song doug.

Your vocals fit the words very nicely.

[audiofile7]

Very nice Doug. Thanks for posting it.

[DGDLCR]

is there any way i can get this song? i loved it, freakin amazing

[WrestlerTakeo]

WOW this was amazing! What key did you play thisnsong in, because I'd like to learn how to play this song on guitar in that key

[AnthemicPolemic]

Just keep playing notes over it till you find the root lol, basic skill every player should have.

[DonQuijote1605]

This live performance was on March 23, 1991??

It isn't older?

[jwalsh67]

I play some piano myself, hence I'm quite envious. A job well done on an old classic!

[RLSguitar]

Great rendition Doug brother! Love your style...

[BlargettyBlargBlarg]

I loved this rendition; I felt like the singing was sort of narrating the story the piano was actually telling it. Very jazzy.

[IcicleTusk]

Gorgeous! You play this song beautifully.

[becca893]

I am a woman...But I do like cigars...

And you're welcome :)

[becca893]

"She may search this whole world over, never find a man as sweet as me"

Yes, she is dead, but it refers to her as being a ghost.....

Many people in the old days believed that, especially lovers with broken hearts or a love that ended early because of sudden death, turned the lovers to ghosts who wandered the earth, looking for their lost love....

[zandercook1]

Give this man a cigar. I've always wondered what that line meant.

[hoodfigga0987]

haha thanks

[Mariekesone]

Maybe he is a ghost...

Love this version on KeysXD

[hoodfigga0987]

very very VERY nice man, but what i want to know is why do the lyrics say she'll never find a sweet man like me, isnt she dead? i dont get it

[xxtheblackveilxx]

So good mate. my unlce always plays this song. its a fave.

[PaulGreenleaf]

Louie Armstrong covered it as did Cab Calloway and million others. It's a public domain song and has no credited writer. As such, you'll never hear the same lyrics repeated.

Great job by the way!

[andrewr3333]

Beautiful piano and great singing. Really enjoyed it.

[blackflamered]

This was originally Cab Calloway in the 1930s. Not Louie Armstrong.

[DougDuffey]

thank you everyone for your nice words. doug

[anton1403]

you certanly know how to interpret this clasic ,your soul was in this , Henry Red Allens version I like too. im a trumpet player from uk would love to share more of this, keep postin

[jamis0078020]

I love this song, and honestly one of the best I have heard of this song. Beautiful voice and your playing is divine.

[uncklemicky]

i live in nola and thats the best version ive heard , and i play piano too, for about 45 years. great job doug duffy.

[rosesredvioletsblue]

touches my soul.

thank you!

[vagstamel]

man, i don't know who the fuck wrote this, but that night that song was yours...thank you...

[DrKlean]

Off the hook. Could you take a listen at mine and tell me what you think.

[doubleanna]

whoa, you sure do some magic with that piano. Good voice too, but that piano is just stunning.

[qix1t]

dude, awesome version. Bloody wish I could play something more jazzy than the violin!

[coronachilla]

what are you talking about!?!?!? do u listen to Duke Ellington??!?!?! Violin swings!!!

[duckman085]

this is wonderful. im fellin this. keep doin ya thang.

[buckandotis]

great version of a classic song..........a lifelong favorite

[BlackDogLicorice]

Ah yes, I also heard bland's version originally, then armstrongs, and perfered his. Though I have yet to learn the song itself, nice playing.

[DougDuffey]

first of all... i am not doing a contest here... i did the song during a solo gig on bourbon street in the early 1990s... it is what it is...for better or worse. if i was worried about perfection -or who has done the best version- i wouldn't have posted it... so lighten up! it's only rock and roll...

[OlymPigs2010]

Actually it was an old,traditonal Irish tune from the 1870's!

[BOOTLEGDAVIDBOWIE]

Check out Tom Jones and Jools Holland doing this.

[Allerumproductions]

Hes wrong... The song is from the one and only Cab Calloway

[AhBenCalisse00]

Nope,it was composed by Fleisher,but Louis Amstrong play it too,and is this version Doug's palying

[Joeybsmooth]

I love your work on the keys. You should sell jazz background music... for people like me that can sing but not play lol.

[baptist]

good but nowhere near Joe Cocker's version

[horndogrob]

I've listened to many a version of this song. Cab rocks it, Louis rocks, White Stripes REALLY rock it, but thus far you've stolen the lead. This is some amazing blues piano, and your voice is mated to this tune like Judy Garland's voice was mated for Over the Rainbow. This is really good.

[faw128]

the earliest version i've got of this is Cisco Houston somewhere back in the 40s. great song. dark, gritty, and strangely life-affirming. and as with all good old folk, it has about a million different versions of the lyrics (only a slight exaggeration!)

[brattiebear]

doug duffey, c'est une belle chanson.

[Phantomsbreath]

Everyone who's anyone has done this one. Hell, even I've got a version, and I don't usually sing folk songs. Or at least, not this sort.

[11krxx]

That was wonderful. The true blues, you got it just right.

[dwetick]

This is definitely one of the best St. James that I`ve heard lately...but I`ve never heard of Doug Duffy at all? He`s not on the radio around here,(PA). How come?

[xarissof]

love your hat,your attitude,your hair and most of all your jazz soul

great just great

a true artist sir,a true artist

[2kool4skewl77]

hell yea.

[coronachilla]

sounds cool ... like it

[raimosalminen]

I totally agree

[JohnnyT68]

Great! Thanks man.

Jan from the Netherlands

[dee1453]

ooooooeeeee! Doug Duffy that was soooo sweeeet! Love the way you tickle those ivorys!

[DougDuffey]

thanks for all the comments and info on the song. i never professed to be a professor- lol. i learned the song, like most old songs i know, by osmosis. according to some websites the song was around way long before cab calloway or louis armstrong, based on old folk song called "the unfortunate rake". i'll be adding some more 'folk' tunes like this soon. again... thanks.

[randy200006]

cab calloway song this not louie armstrong

[CarlSchwamberger]

This song was 'offcially' published in 1928 or 29 If I remember correctly. It was probablly written in collaboration with other musicians a year or two earlier. Ellington was the first to bring the song into fame. If you pay attention you will see many of Calloways, Ellingtons, and other Mills connected bands songs have a similar melody and other stylistic similarities. Check out the hook lines of St James Infirmary and Minnie the Moocher.

[enakrium]

Nice work man...Loved it....the introduction was great....

[HeadlessPony]

Oh my god. You make the piano sound so smooth and nice. It's such easy listening.

I thought that Cab Calloway was the original composer, but I guess I'll have to look into it more.

[CarlSchwamberger]

It was composed by Irving Mills, who also published under the name Joe Primrose. Irving & his brother were New York music publishers and band sponsors from the 1920s. They contracted a lot of young musicians like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.

[stellaluna92]

my fvourite version is by cab calloway but this is putting him on a run for his money

[deriadeath]

Jesus Christ! Yes! That's OMG Beautyfull!

[cookiemonster1145234]

Id give up playing double bass to be able to play piano like that.

Jesus christ that's so good =)

[darkstalkeranarkhis]

hell! you can play that on a bass no problem!

[shalalaszwee]

You dont have to, think of Paul McCartney, he s good on both bass and piano...

[buddymajki]

Huh!

Doug!!! Congratulations! This version is amazing. This is my favourite song. I love all versions of this song (Dave van Ronk, Henry Red Allen, Josh White, Cab Calloway...) I often play its with a guitar, or sometimes with a trumpet player.

Thanks this version!!!

[jeffspencenola]

jaysus, I must be tripping. Doug, I stumbled onto you here. memories, geez. playing with bblade in shreveport sunday and doin bour st opposite m wright. great vocals.

all the best.

js

[sergiogr]

King oliver's version is better in my opinion :D

[DougDuffey]

well, i never heard king oliver's version- i picked up what i did from countless versions i'd 'remembered' hearing but took some of the lyrics from a louis armstrong lp in a boxed set--- anyway... it is what it is/ doug (-;

[vlfriscia]

Wow, Doug let us know if you ever play the Bay Area! Fine, fine version of a great song. I always thought Cab Calloway's was the definitive version; now must listen to Satchmo's, too.

[Joliver12]

Love it man, best version I've heard.

[DougDuffey]

thank you! doug

[Jestersage]

What key should St James Infirmary be? I got both G and Bb versions

[tough0crowd0eh9]

It's in a minor key. Em or Am usually work very well.

[Schuschu1]

Beautiful version of this song.

[roorybacky]

holy s**t. now i realized that's you who's playing the keys. INCREDIBLE. CONSTANTLY.

[roorybacky]

that's what I call The Song

[brittjstn]

this is the best version of St. James Infirmary. Big UPs!!!!!!!!!!!! Now this is music.

[JuicyCouture24]

this is really beautiful!

[comeonloser]

thanks for posting this man you've given me something to aspire to

i'm learing how to play it

any tips?

[catherinetodd]

Fabulous! * * * * *

[MiViska]

Awesome video. I hope one day I can play music as well as you.

[ip916a4bb]

This is pretty nice.

[Canheadtehboyo]

i started blues not long ago too, i play the n3wb version still lol not very good at making up my own kind..

[DustTheFirst]

Definitely excellent on the keys!

[darlene1029]

very nice

[DougDuffey]

thanks everyone for your comments. i really appreciate your looking, listening and responding.

doug

[drgreez]

I have always loved this song & your version really does it justice. Just beautiful, thanks for sharing it. :)

[t42x24t]

Thanks for this - I have also been playing this for decades and love the song - I can play it fine but have to say I wish I could sing it as well as you!

[Ententrainer]

Hi,

well I bought a CD of "The white Stripes" a couple of months ago, and on that CD they also made a version of St. James Infirmary. Well I loved that song, but now I heard your version, and I have to admit...I can't listen to that song any longer(sorry White Stripes =P), because compared to your version, it's really awful.

Well what I want to say: "I totally love your playing and singing!"

Wish I could play that blues like you(I just started playing blues...I'm 15 years old =/ )

5 Stars!

[licec1503]

My favourite "St James Infirmary" was a live recording I heard more than thirty years ago by Joe Cocker. Now that I've heard and seen this version,I must say this is one of my favourites. No doubt about that. I liked the feeling I get when I hear this blues.

[MoreThanHeroez]

You sir are my hero.