Lyrics to
Stagger Lee

This version of Stagger Lee was released by Neil Diamond in 1979.

Our Decade Lyrics Neil Diamond profile has all of the Stagger Lee lyrics from 1979 and many more songs from the Neil Diamond discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Neil Diamond or about the 1970s in general.

The night was clear
And the moon was yellow
And the leaves came tumbling down

I was standing on the corner
When I heard my bulldog bark
And he was barkin’ up at two men
Who were gamblin’ in the dark

It was Stagger Lee and Billy
Two men who gambled late
Stagger Lee threw seven,
Billy swore that he threw eight

Stagger Lee told Billy,
“I can’t let you get away with that”,
“Well you have won all my money
And my brand new Stetson hat”
Stagger Lee he ran home
Went and he got his forty-four
Said “I’m goin’ to the barroom
Just to pay that debt I owe”

Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Said “I’m goin’ to the barroom
Just to pay that debt I owe”

Stagger Lee went to the barroom
He stood across the barroom door
He said “Now nobody move”
And he pulled his forty-four
“Stagger Lee” cried Billy,
“Oh please don’t you take my life.”
“I got me three little children
And a very sickly wife.”

Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
“I got me three little children
And a very sickly wife”

Stagger Lee shot Billy,
Oh he shot that poor boy so bad
Till the bullet came through Billy
And went right through
The bartender’s glass
While I was standing on the corner
When I heard my bulldog bark
And he was barkin’ up at two men
Who were gamblin’ in the dark

Go Baby
Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
And he was barkin’ up at two men
Who were gamblin’ in the dark

Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Go Stagger Lee
Said “I’m goin’ to the barroom
Just to pay that debt I owe”

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Neil Diamond?

Neil Diamond has released many songs over the years besides Stagger Lee. Neil Diamond released songs from 1966 to 2005 spanning across albums like The Feel Of Neil, Velvet Gloves And Spit, Touching You, Touching Me, Sweet Caroline, Tap Root Manuscript, Stones, Do It, Moods, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Serenade, Beautiful Noise, I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight, You Don't Bring Me Flowers, September Morn, The Jazz Singer, On The Way To The Sky, Heartlight, Primitive, Headed For The Future, The Best Years Of Our Lives, Lovescape, The Christmas Album, Up On The Roof: Songs From The Brill Building, The Christmas Album Volume Two, In My Lifetime, Tennessee Moon, and 12 Songs. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Neil Diamond.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Stagger Lee by Neil Diamond

The lyrics for Stagger Lee are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1979 song by Neil Diamond. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Stagger Lee have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for Stagger Lee - Neil Diamond and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to Stagger Lee by Neil Diamond in multiple ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Stagger Lee" means the words set to the music of Stagger Lee, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Neil Diamond. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Stagger Lee and the lyrics to Stagger Lee are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Neil Diamond who came here looking just for the lyrics to Stagger Lee, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Neil Diamond

Visit our Neil Diamond profile for more Neil Diamond songs, lyrics & info!

)