SKU: A0.961586

This arrangement was written for a busking event with my regular string quartet. There was no time for rehearsal so I kept the parts fairly contained in their roles. The melody stays in Violin 1 and faithfully follows Eartha Kitt's vocals. I also play jazz violin so I have added slurs that help to encourage the swing feel. The cello sticks to the famous bass line and switches to pizzicato in the middle 8. Violin 2 and Viola fill in the off beat harmony and the viola adds in the clarinet line from the Eartha Kitt recording in the second half of the arrangement. There are a couple of trickier transition bars, from a speed perspective, where all parts play semiquavers.

I am a string player and teacher. My arrangements are all made for my students or professional string quartet. Please get in touch if you'd like me to post any variations on instrumentation.

SKU: A0.1224471

This arrangement of St. Louis Blues is written as performed by piano artist, Liberace.  He performed this on his t.v. show and record albums. 

The Saint Louis Blues (or St. Louis Blues) is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style and published in September 1914. It was one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song and remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians' repertoire. Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby, Bessie Smith, Eartha Kitt, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, Liberace, and the Boston Pops Orchestra (under the directions of both Arthur Fiedler and Keith Lockhart) are among the artists who have recorded it. 

Lyrics:

I hate to see that evening sun go down, 
I hate to see that evening sun go down, 
'Cause my lovin' baby done left this town. 

If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today, 
If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today, 
I'm gonna pack my trunk and make my getaway. 

Oh, that St. Louis woman, with her diamond rings, 
She pulls my man around by her apron strings. 
And if it wasn't for powder and her store-bought hair, 
Oh, that man of mine wouldn't go nowhere. 

I got those St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be, 
Oh, my man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea, 
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me. 

I love my man like a schoolboy loves his pie, 
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his rocker and rye 
I'll love my man until the day I die, Lord, Lord. 

I got the St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be, Lord, Lord! 
That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea, 
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me. 

I got those St. Louis blues, I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the blues, 
My man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea, 
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me, Lord, Lord!

Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor.  A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures, and endorsements. At the height of his fame from the 1950s to 1970s, he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world!