happy? - July 22 (Dillinger/Lady in red)

Subject: happy? - July 22 (Dillinger/Lady in red)
From: Abby Sale
Date: 22 Jul 05 - 11:00 AM

John Herbert Dillinger died 7/22/1934 in Chicago. (b.6/28/1902, qv). Indiana police conspired to have one Anna Sage, a friend & brothel madam (the well-publicized "lady in red") draw Dillinger to the Biograph Theatre in Chicago, where, on emerging, he was shot a lot.

          Oh! the lady in red,
          Makes her living in her bed.
          For fifteen cents she does it nice,
          For twenty-five cents she'll do it twice.
          Now here I stand        
          With a nickel in my hand___
  
          Brother, can, you, spare, a, dime?___        
          (Or twenty cents?)
  
                  "The Lady in Red"  

In 1968, this was the first song I ever learned from esteemed folklorist, balladeer and "Finest Kind"er, Dr I. Sheldon Posen. It appears in Randolph/Legman Vol I ("Unprintable") on p246. "Lady" was collected from a 20-year-old college girl in 1946. Legman notes that the 15-cent price is part of the joke as it is ludicrously low. Typical depression-era low-cost fee was about $2, rising to $5 with the War. He suggests that the song may include the hidden admonition "that the reward of sin may not always necessarily be death, but it ain't much."

Copyright © 2005, Abby Sale - all rights reserved
What are Happy's all about? See Clicky

Subject: RE: happy? - July 22 (Dillinger/Lady in red)
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 22 Jul 05 - 07:34 PM

Yeh Purvis and Hoover duped her - the price for turning in Public Enemy number one didn't even include being allowed to stay in the Staes - she was deported soon afterwards.

title track from my album
St Peter and John Dillinger

Spoken Preamble:

It was a hot July night, 1934.....
When the gates of Paradise suddenly flung open,
And there..... standing before his maker,
Was the famous American bank robber and outlaw....... Jo-ohn Dillinger.

Only a few minutes before
John Dillinger had been walking down a Chicago
alleyway.
Down off Lincoln Avenue
When he had been ambushed
Shot to death by Federal agents

Now from his poor broken body -
Rose the immortal soul of John Herbert Dillinger
Transfigured and radiant,
Clothed in heavenly rainment,

But still carrying a tommy gun -   
And looking like-a one mean dude.....


Hoosier? asked St Peter
John Dillinger said, that's me
I'm from Mooresville, Indiana
In the land of the brave and free
Old Man, look down from these lofty clouds
To shy town, Illinois
You'll see 'kerchiefs dipped in my life blood
Such a blessed man was I

Hoosier? asked St Peter
Dillinger said, it's what you heard me say
I'm from Mooresville, Indiana
In the good old US of A
And if you kneel down for forgiveness
I might forgive you all God's sins
All those years in America
When the working man couldn't win

St Peter said, You tryin' to pull somethin' Johnnie Dillinger,
pretendin' that you're some kind of saint
You know it takes one of those to know one,
cos I'm one and you sure ain't
Well hold it, said Johnnie I was surrounded by enemies like our Lord,
Oh shot down and left to die,
By J Edgar Hoover's dirty dogs, the men they call the FBI

Well time don't mean a deal round here Johnny, said St Peter,
Fact is, J Edgar Hoovers already here
I gave a him a job. just yesterday, as an angel - look! he's dancing on a cloud over there.
Seeing as you know him so well...... you could be a sort of double act, right?
Two Johns dancing on a cloud together, just spreading pure sweetness and light
Yeh,dancing on a cloud with J Edgar Hoover, jest spreading pure sweetness and light

You made J Edgar Hoover an angel, now you shoulda seen John Dillinger's
dis-tress
St Peter said, hey man...you know I couldn't stop him.....!
Got real excited when he was tryin' on the dress
Round here you'd be like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, put on a te-rrific show
You'll have an eternity to practice.... that's when Dillinger thundered No!

He said, Hey!
I'm Dillinger the Bank Robber, and I don't like to brag
But its not my idea of heaven, up on a cloud with some old fag
And you can't make me, but St Peter said, I think you'll find I can
And who said anything about heaven for you, you naughty naughty man.



So brothers and sisters now listen and pay the good book mind
Damnation comes in lots of ways, and shapes and forms and kinds
Don't rob banks, or fire tommy guns from the running board of a car
Or you could end up like Poor Johnny Dillinger dancing with your bête noire

Hoosier? asked St Peter
John Dillinger said, that's me
I'm from Mooresville, Indiana
In the land of the brave and free
But if you look down from these lofty clouds
To shy town, Illinois
You'll see 'kerchiefs dipped in my life blood
Such a blessed man was I

© Alan Whittle 12/02/2005 18:10:52

Dance on the the two Johns

all the best

al

Subject: RE: happy? - July 22 (Dillinger/Lady in red)
From: Abby Sale
Date: 22 Jul 05 - 08:57 PM

Good song. Thanx for posting it.

Subject: RE: happy? - July 22 (Dillinger/Lady in red)
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 Jul 05 - 07:34 AM

Try the novel Handsome Harry, about Harry Pierpont. Dillinger's mentor.

Also Lori Hyde's website about Harry

http://www.geocities.com/pierpont_2001/pierpontpage.html

all the best

big al whittle