Captain Billy Lyon from Louisiana low
Used to chase a bayou girl through here named Peggy-o

Some say he died of love for Peggy-o
Others say it was the devil himself laid Billy low

-Hunter, Ivory Wheels/Rosewood Track

So did Stagger Lee really kill Billy?

This also hints that the lady with the fan is Peggy O, the soldier is Billy D, and the sailor is The Jack of Roses...

Interesting. In the lyrics to Stagger Lee was Billy DeLyon killed, or was he shot and merely wounded? What about Delia? We know she liked gin fizz...

David Dodd put together The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics. This is some of what he writes about Stagger Lee:
"A number of tunes titled Stagger Lee have been recorded over the years. They all derive from a series of tales and songs in the African American folklore...Stagolee material ... was born of actual events, in 1895. The ballad documents the historical fact of the murder, on Christmas Day, of Billy Lyons by Lee "Stack Lee" Shelton in a St. Louis bar."

Mr. Goat wrote:


"stagger lee is a madman and he shot my billy dead"


gin fizz, anyone ever have one?

Sure, take the easy way out and quote directly from the song. Wait I can also do that:
"Baio Delia said just give me a gun
He shot my Billy dead now I'm gonna see him hung"

Ivory wheels on a rosewood track
Take us back again and again to Terrapin

What I think Hunter did here was tie the two old folklore songs together, peggy o, and stagger lee... By traditional lyrics, Billy dies in both songs, therefore neither song could have happened before the other... Hunter wanted to write his masterpiece "Terrapin Station". The Jack o Roses album has three or more terrapin related songs on it... He ties all these songs together including, but not limited to peggy o, stagger lee, and terrapin station... (pardon my bad punctuation) Terrapin Station ties these songs together... Maybe david dodd was wrong, or he lost objectivity writing on this one... Or who knows maybe he never thought about it... Either way I have my spun theories and i like to noodle around....

Terrapin station was also never finished... So maybe thats why there's a couple holes in Hunter's story...

nycdave wrote:


That line is also from her point of view... It never says she was there when he was shot... Or else Stagger never would have bought her a drink.... The entire song is either from Delia or the police's point of view...