The chords for “St. James Infirmary Blues” are written as chord symbols with chord diagrams. I included the entire 8-bar melody in standard notation and the first verse to help guide the changes.
The sheet music below are lead sheets in two keys: A minor and D minor.
St. James Infirmary Blues
“St. James Infirmary Blues” is an American folk-blues song of anonymous origin. It has an 8-bar melody, unlike the more typical 12-bar blues song.
In the video, I play the chords to the melody.
The Chords & Melody in A minor
The sheet music below contains the chords, melody, and lyrics for “St. James Infirmary Blues” in the key of A minor.
Although the image below is complete and free, I offer the PDF as a convenience and to support the website. Thank you for your purchases.
$3.99Add to cart
The Chords & Melody in D minor
The sheet music below contains the chords, melody, and lyrics for “St. James Infirmary Blues” in the key of D minor.
Although the image below is complete and free, I offer the PDF as a convenience and to support the website. Thank you for your purchases.
$3.99Add to cart
St. James Infirmary – Lyrics
As with many folk songs, there are many variations of the lyrics. These are Louis Armstrong’s lyrics from a 1928 recording:
I went down to St. James Infirmary, Saw my baby there, Stretched out on a long white table, So cold, so sweet, so fair. 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.
For more on the history and lyrics of "St. James Infirmary" see the Wikipedia article on the song here.
Guitar Tabs & Sheet Music
List of Guitar Tabs
List of Sheet Music
Back to Top
Thanks for Visiting FreeWheelinGuitar.com