St. James Infirmary (Piano Cover)
2,908 views · Published 17 June 2012 · 6:01 · Indexed 14 October 2026
Channel: Pablo Grabarnik · 2012 · Music
This is a traditional blues with an uncertain origin, the real author of the song is unknown but it's been said that the music is based on an English folk song called "The Unfortunate Rake". That's as far as Wikipedia goes. Now, my story with the song goes way back to the year 2002/2003, when my piano teacher gave the piece to me. It was just this one page, arranged for beginners. It said on the sheet that the author was Louis Armstrong. I didn't know the song back then, but once I got to play it, I really loved it, so the next logical step was for me to listen to the real Armstrong version. It was waaay greater than mine, of course, and I loved it even more. The years then passed on by, and I forgot about the greatness of the song. That is, of course, until Mr Hugh Laurie came along and played his own version, based on Joe Primrose's arrangement. I then remembered how much I loved this song, and started playing it again. This time I got the real Primrose arrangement myself, and I was able to play a more complex, richer version of the song. I'm still far far away from the real piano masters, but I'm pretty happy with my progress from that old one-page sheet for beginners, to the version you're hearing right now.
