Stack-A-Lee - Archibald
Why included: Personal pick (#12 on top singles of 1950)
A-side & B-side: Stack-A-Lee
Apple Music link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/stack-a-lee/457960462?i=457960526
At first, it's pretty weird to think about the fact that "Stack O'Lee," one of the most well-known standards of American popular music, is about an actual murder that took place Christmas 1895, and it's even stranger that musical personalities as different as Ma Rainey, Mississippi John Hurt, and Lloyd Price all covered the song. Yet, after having heard enough versions, it does become clear why the composition is so notorious. First off, the actual name "stack o'lee" is a word with common syllables that make it quite conducive to internal rhyming, so it was easy to vary a musical structure around the title. More importantly though, the song has the unique ability to confront the artist with the idea of death, murder, and the fragility of life in a profound way, forcing the artist deep down to contemplate their own existence in the process. It might be displaying the sick brutality of man (like Nick Cave), expressing their willingness to tough the odds (like Ma Rainey), or treating death as a fact of life to accept (like John Hurt), but no matter sings it, you know that they will not be able to totally toss off far-reaching implications of the subject.
I think it's precisely this weightiness that makes Archibald's rendition such an iconic and influential version (in fact, his is probably my second favorite version ever behind John Hurt's). Like most music from New Orleans, there is playful warmth that permeates the atmosphere, but when facing such a harsh topic, Archibald turns the song into something incredibly life-affirming and powerful. His playing talents and musical phrasings are just so unbelievably rich and nuanced. His smooth-flowing but fluent glissandos and rhythms single-handledly provided the soulful depth required, maybe not as mind-boggling as Professor Longhair's wild-ass piano weaving but every bit as moving. The main piano riff alone captures the whole spectrum of emotions relating to the song: those bouncy little intro piano trickles halted by an affirmative chord that moves into pummeling piano rolls ending with an optimistic finish. Even Archibald's singing provides this level of complexity, preserving both tragic and uplifting overtones in equal proportion that never sounds forced.
To me, this song is absolutely stunning because Archibald finds such an organic way of presenting the raw human spirit, where we can still thrive and find beauty in adversity by sheer human strength. The song is both heartbreaking and inspiring, yet it never feels like an unnatural juxtaposition to put both of them together. It's this wonderful spirit that became the standard for almost all future versions, but although I respect the greatness of Lloyd Price's and future covers of this song, none of those who modeled Archibald here reached quite as deeply as he did here.
Verdict: Essential Listening
This single alone develops a pretty strong case for why Archibald was such an influential presence in New Orleans music despite being more of a local performer. Throughout the song, he makes each musical phrase not just impactful but meaningful as well, giving you a great entertaining performance that can touch deeply at your soul at the same time. In a way, he provided here the more stately, articulate R&B perfection to Longhair's grimy, gusty R&B perfection, and with the national success of this single, he would help establish New Orleans's musical identity in the modern era and influence many outside those circles as well. The fact that Archibald did not have a long, fruitful recording career is to be lamented, yet the collective spirit of his time and place is so perfectly bottled up here that it provides adequate compensation. Please, give this underrated classic a chance: it may not blow you away at first listen, but it rewards immensely if you give it the time it deserves.
No comments:
Post a Comment