Dimished skills only slightly showing. Solid version from 1995.

Final time played.

The only version from 1975.

Yeah, baby. High energy. Focused. Dialed in. Goodness, yeah.

Jerry comes to life for the pre-SSDD jam.

Phil's thumping, the fiddle works so well, sparkling piano. Here's another song that was stagnant for years, given new life in the Hornsby era.The number of passes in these versions keep coming at you, wave after wave.

The Hornsby era brought new life and energy to first set songs that were pretty much stagnant for years.Remember those shows where you just stood there during the first set, waiting for something to happen, but it never did? True, he did much more, but Bruce was the man, making us - and the rest of the band - love those stale, boring songs as they came to life once again.

The intro has a Black Peter feel to it at times. Not the best version for vocals, but the acoustic guitar work is really worth a listen.

If you really want the in-depth and background stories, there is an excellent book in print called Stagolee Shot Billy.

The Dead certainly take liberty with the legend of Stagger Lee, who was actually a pimp named Lee Shelton, who got his nickname Stack from stacking crates along the Mississippi. The whole incident was between two guys arguing about politics, which turned into horseplay, which turned into the brim of Billy's hat being broken by Stack Lee. When Billy demanded six bits for a new hat, Stack Lee told him his hat wasn't worth that. Billy grabbed Stack's Stetson hat and Stack said give me back my hat or I'll kill you. Billy tried to pull his knife, but Stack pulled his gun faster and killed Billy. The sheriff wasn't afraid of Stack, and promptly arrested him and he was convicted of the killing. Stack wasn't hung or executed as most legends say, but rather he died a very un-gangster death from tuberculosis in prison. Surprisingly to many, there was a strong campaign put on by people trying to get Stack released from prison. Billy never pleaded for his life, mentioning his wife and children and his wife had no involvement is Stack's death or arrest.