St. James Infirmary (1785)
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(wm) Under various titles, it dates back to the late 1700’s to England (where a St. James Infirmary was located). A sheet was copyrighted by “Jack Primrose” (aka Irving Mills) in 1929. The first known recording is 2/25/27 by Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orch. Louis Armstrong’s 12/12/28 record was extremely popular. There is a whole book by Robert W. Harwood about the song: I Went Down to St. James Infirmary. The following partial lyrics are from various sources.
I went down to St. James Infirmary aaw my baby there,
Stretched out on a long white table, so sweet, so cool, so fair.

Let her go, let her go, God bless her; wherever she may be
She may search the wide world over
And never find a better man than me

I went down to old Joe’s barroom on the corner by the square.
They were serving the drinks as usual,
And the usual crowd was there.

Oh, when I die, please bury me in my ten dollar Stetson hat;
Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain
So the boys’ll know I died standin’ pat.

Get six gamblers to carry my coffin,
Six chorus girls to sing me a song,
Put a twenty-piece jazz band on my tail gate,
To raise Hell as we go along.

Now that’s the end of my story.
Let’s have another round of booze.
And if anyone should ask you, just tell them
I’ve got the St. James Infirmary blues.