Weekend Open Thread

Everyone deserves a proper burial. But some funerals are truly memorable, as well as lavish in the extreme. This is an account of one such funeral – and how it was immortalized in song.

But first, a bit of background. Let’s look at two figures from the Chicago criminal underworld of the late 1970s/early 1980s.

. . .

On Chicago’s South Side, an individual named Willie “Flukey” Stokes was one of crime’s “big wheels”. By the 1980s LE authorities considered him Chigaco’s largest drug supplier. At the time of “Flukey’s” death the DEA was preparing a case against him and expected to indict him within 6 months.

Stokes lived a lavish lifestyle; he was particularly fond of high-end cars and gambling. He reportedly dropped as much as $250,000 in a single night of gambling. He also reportedly spent $200,000 on a 30th Anniversary Party for himself and his spouse – in the early 1980s (that’s the equivalent of close to half a million today).

As happens to many in Stokes’ line of criminal enterprise, Stokes life had a violent end. Not long after midnight on 19 November 1986, Stokes and his driver were killed by two gunmen. One of them killed Stokes with two shotgun blasts at close range; the other killed his driver with multiple rounds from a 9mm pistol. A lady who was with Stokes at the time (not his wife) was not injured in the attack. She had the presence of mind to drop low, out of the line of fire, when the shooting started.

Stokes’ funeral was lavish; an estimated 7,000 viewed his body prior to interment. But “Flukey’s” funeral was much more subdued than that of his son (Willie Stokes, Jr, AKA “Wimp”) held some 20 months earlier.

“Wimp” was a case of “like father, like son”. Like his dad, Jr. was into high-end luxury cars and gambling. And also like his dad he reportedly gained his income from criminal activities including drug distribution.

He was also killed in a gangland-style shooting about 20 months before his father, in February 1984. And his father afterwards threw him a lavish funeral.

That funeral became a modern legend.

. . .

A description of Willie “Wimp” Stokes Jr.’s funeral was published in a column in the Austin American-Statesman in Austin, TX. Bill Carter – an Austin-area musician – read the column, turned to his partner (Ruth Ellsworth) and said, “That’s not a column – that’s a song.”

They immediately went to the studio. Their account says that in the 2 mile trip to the studio, they’d put the column to music.

The song was called “Willie the Wimp (and his Cadillac Coffin)”. Bill Carter’s version of the tune can be found here.

The song is quite factually accurate. “Wimp” was indeed buried in a Cadillac-motif coffin – complete with flashing headlights and a miniature vanity license plate reading “WIMP”. He was buried in a red suit, with diamond rings on his fingers, and $100 bills stuffed between his fingers.

Some of the lines in the lyrics were direct lifts from the column. This includes the line “he left like he lived, in a lively manner.” That line was a quote from “Wimp’s” mother, when she was interviewed in conjunction with the funeral.

. . .

Now, Bill Carter wasn’t exactly a household name; his tune didn’t get that much airplay. So that might have been the end of it except for a chance occurrence.

It seems that Jimmie Vaughn – the older brother of a guy named Stevie Ray Vaughn, and a fine guitarist himself – was in the studio when Bill Carter came in with the song. In fact, he did the guitar work on Bill Carter’s version of the song.

Jimmie told his brother about the song. Stevie loved the tune, and recorded it. It became one of his concert favorites. (For what it’s worth, Bill Carter also co-wrote another of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s famous tunes: “Crossfire”.)

This version comes from the 1988 Midtfyns Festival in Ridge, Denmark. While the sound on Stevie’s live album “Live Alive” might be a bit better, this version IMO is superior.

 

 

. . .

So there ya have it: a 1984 Chicago criminal’s funeral inspired one of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s most loved works. Who’d a thunk it? (smile)

. . .

Sources:

http://gangsterreport.com/flukey-stokes/

https://books.google.com/books?id=lLADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18&dq=flukey+stokes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXit_83pHLAhXMSyYKHe3zARoQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=flukey%20stokes&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=YrQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=Willie+the+Wimp+funeral+jet+magazine&source=bl&ots=hcAVPlsEjQ&sig=Rx04nA6If2cJUXhdC1H48AabAow&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7ucKW0-7fAhWsm-AKHccEDK84ChDoATABegQIDRAB#v=onepage&q=Willie%20the%20Wimp%20funeral%20jet%20magazine&f=false

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-11-19-8603260988-story.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flukey_Stokes

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OK, enough oddball musical history for today. Enjoy the WOT, everyone – and have a great weekend.

Category: Historical, Open thread