Saint James infirmary (le Blues de l'hopital Saint Jacques),

[Jean Pierre]

James Infirmary" is an American blues and jazz standard derived, like many others, from folk traditions. Louis Armstrong made it famous with his 1928 recording, on which Don Redman is listed as composer.  The melody is eight bars long, unlike songs in the classic blues genre, which are 12 bars long. It is in a minor key
There have been a phenomenal number of covers of this song (see Wikipedia article).
...the ones I prefer are by Arlo Guthrie, Hugh Laurie, ...and my version is a French adaptation by one of my favorite musicians Steve Waring, who is a formidable American-French singer-guitarist (he was the first to make finguer picking popular in France).

I used and played guitar, dobro, banjo and ... washboard.

For the rest, especially the Dixieland part, Band in a Box musicians (trumpet, tuba, trombone) were used.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[the physics teacher]

Listened twice it is superbe.
I wish I could play guitar, dobro, banjo, bass and ... washboard. like that.
What a Joy to listen to.

[Jean Pierre]

Thank you Corné,...a little musical-historical note from Uncl'JP

If I've included a Dixieland chorus, it's because the first version recorded in 1928 was by Louis Armstrong, in the "Jazz funeral" style.
The tradition comes from African spiritual practices, French and Spanish military music traditions, and unique Afro-American cultural influences.

As for the lyrics of the French version by Steve Waring (Franco-American singer-guitarist, who lives in the far west of Lyon ), they are very close to the original text, at least in the first part.


I went down to St. James Infirmary                  Je suis allé dans l'Hopital Saint Jacques
Saw my baby there...                                pour voir ma cherie
She was stretched out on a long, white table        Elle est allongée sur une longue table blanche
So cold, so sweet, so fair                          Si froide, so douce, si belle

Let her go! let her go! God bless her!                Laissez la partir,  que Dieu la bénisse
Wherever she may be...                                Ou qu'elle puisse être 
She can look this wide world over,                    Elle ne trouvera pas dans ce vaste monde
But she'll never find a sweet man like me,            Une homme doux comme moi hé hé, je me vante
(heh-heh)...bragging

When I die bury me in straight-laced shoes,            Quand je mourrais, enterrez moi avec des chaussures
                                                        à lacets bien rigides

I want a box-back coat and a Stetson hat,              Je veux un manteau à dos carré et un stetson 
John B., that is...
Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain        Mettez une piece de 20 dollars en or sur ma
                                                        chaine de montre

So the boys will know that I died standing pat            pour que les gars sachent que je suis mort
                                                          debout

[TPB]

We used to do this song on acoustic blue night I always liked it because I got to play harp to it love your version
Tim

[Jean Pierre]

Merci Tim, ...écoutez les versions de Arlo Guthrie et de Hugh Laurie ..ce sont mes deux préférées

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzEBH6DZJVk&list=PLnO9z5ZNl8FXtVpk3uHX9ppqjbFyGNFTc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsPLpt9jVvs