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Saint James Infirmary
St. James Infirmary Blues is an American blues song of uncertain origin. Louis Armstrong made the song famous in his 1928 recording on which Don Redman was credited as composer. Lter releases gave the name Joe Primrose, a pseudonym of Irving Mills. The melody is 8 bars long, unlike songs in the classic blues genre, where there are 12 bars. It is in a minor key, and has a 4/4 time signature, but has also been played in 3/4.
"St. James Infirmary Blues" is sometimes said to be based on an eighteenth-century traditional folk song called "The Unfortunate Rake" (also known as "The Unfortunate Lad" or "The Young Man Cut Down in His Prime") about a soldier who uses his money on prostitutes and then dies of venereal disease. But the familiar recorded versions (such as Armstrong's) bear little relation to the older traditional song. The earliest known form of this song was called "The Buck's Elegy" and is set in Covent Garden, London.
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MuseScore Resources
St. James Infirmary Blues - Ukulele Melody and Chord Arrangement with Bass by Curt Sheller
MuseScore is a FREE Open Source and the World’s most popular music notation software with a lot of great sources of scores, tutorials, and reference material. I use it on my iMac and Linux system. Finally get to bag the subscription for Sibelius.
Musescore files can be played back as an aide in learning a song or part.
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