Wilson's repertoire includes both jazz and blues standards and renditions of pop and rock songs. Her contralto voice has been described as bluesy and sultry, and the style of her music ranges from swing to funk to bossa nova. Many of the songs she covers are by artists who usually record in other genres.
Wilson counts the late Miles Davis as one of her greatest influences. In 1989 she performed as the opening act for Davis at the JVC Jazz Festival in Chicago. In 1999 she produced Traveling Miles as a tribute to Davis. The album developed from a series of jazz concerts that she performed at Lincoln Center in November 1997 in Davis's honor and includes three selections based on Davis's own compositions, in which Wilson adapted the original themes.
A Brief Discography
Point of View (1986, JMT)
Days Aweigh (1987, JMT)
Blue Skies (1988, JMT)
Jumpworld (1989, JMT)
She Who Weeps (1990, JMT)
Live (1991, JMT)
After the Beginning Again (1992, JMT)
Dance to the Drums Again (1992, DIW/Columbia)
Blue Light 'til Dawn (1993, Blue Note)
New Moon Daughter (1995, Blue Note)
Rendezvous (with Jacky Terrasson) (1998, Blue Note)
Traveling Miles (1999, Blue Note)
Belly of the Sun (2002, Blue Note)
Glamoured (2003, Blue Note)
Thunderbird (2006, Blue Note)
Loverly (2008, Blue Note)
Silver Pony (2010, Blue Note)
Another Country (2012, eOne)
Official website: www.cassandrawilson.com
St. James Infirmary
Cassandra Wilson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Saw my baby there
She stretched out on a long white table
So sweet, so cold, so fair
Let her go, let her go, God bless her
Wherever she may be
She can look this wide world over
When I die want you to dress me in straight lace shoes
I wanna a box back coat and a Stetson hat
Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain
So the boys'll know that I died standing pat
The song St. James Infirmary, as performed by Cassandra Wilson, is a soulful and melancholic ballad about lost love, death, and what awaits us in the afterlife. The singer tells the story of visiting St. James Infirmary, where he saw his lover, who had passed away. She is lying on a long, white table, perfect and pale. The scene is sorrowful, but there is a sense of accepting the inevitable.
The lyrics are deeply emotional, but the singer remains composed as she accepts her fate, and that of her lover. The lines "Let her go, let her go, God bless her / Wherever she may be / She can look this wide world over / But she'll never find a sweet man like me," suggest that the singer had a sense of pride in the love she gave and the person that she was, but that this was not appreciated by her lover. The final lines of the song, "When I die want you to dress me in straight lace shoes / I wanna box back coat and a Stetson hat," suggest that the singer is ready for their own demise, but that they will go out on their own terms, as a proud and confident person.
Line by Line Meaning
I went down to the St James Infirmary
I visited the place where my loved one lay in rest
Saw my baby there
I saw the person with whom I shared an intimate connection
She stretched out on a long white table
She lay across a large white surface intended for use in mourning rituals
So sweet, so cold, so fair
Her appearance was both lovely and eerie; she was purged of warmth or life
Let her go, let her go, God bless her
May my love be released from this life, and may God watch over her in any subsequent lives
Wherever she may be
She may be traveling through distant lands or in some other form of existence
She can look this wide world over
She can explore the breadth of this entire world
But she'll never find a sweet man like me
I was a unique and wonderful person who cannot be replaced or replicated
When I die want you to dress me in straight lace shoes
In death, I ask that my final outfit include straight, unadorned shoes made of delicate cloth
I wanna a box back coat and a Stetson hat
I desire a jacket with a distinctive cut and a western-style hat
Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain
I wish for a $20 gold piece to adorn the watch chain I'll be wearing
So the boys'll know that I died standing pat
This marker of wealth will show that I was steadfast and unwavering in my life, even at the end
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Irving Mills
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Alessandro Filippini
Stunning. I love Cassandra!
Dimitris Kiklis
One of my favourite blues tunes, in an axceptional funky jazz version...!!!!!!!Thumbs up!!!!!
Juliet Bravo
Great interpretation of this old blues traditional. Cassandra turned it into a new piece of music! (Compare to the same title e.g. from Louis Armstrong, Joe Cocker, Van Morrison, Eric Claption...)
bouzoukiHOLLAND
We have'' live''Jazz festival, in Holland, too. Very nice music. These people are born to make music.
arttassos
great music..!!!!! thank you for sharing..:))
Marcus Alexander
great!
Cat Daddy
Mississippi home girl has got her a great band!
artanis2alatariel
@proustifique I'm glad you like her so much my friend, I think the same way also, I think I have more, I'll have to search first and if we're lucky I'll upload some more. Thanks for the warm feedback!
Un coeur
Does anyone know the name of the pianist?
Greg Lake
You need to start clicking on the SEE MORE option / Musicians:
CASSANDRA WILSON - vocals
MARVIN SEWELL - guitar
JONATHAN BAPTISTE - piano, keyboards
REGINALD VEAL - double bass
LEKAN BABALOLA - percussion
HERLIN RILEY - drums