Stool Pigeon

Album: Tropical Gangsters (1982)
Charted: 7
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a far-from-obvious tribute song. On September 14, 2011, Kid Creole appeared on the BBC Breakfast news program, where he told the presenters that growing up, his heroes had been Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Edward G. Robinson and people like that. All three were of course famous American actors.

    Kid Creole is the stage name of singer-songwriter August Darnell, who was born in 1950, and grew up in The Bronx. Bogart died in 1957 and Gable in 1960, so it is fair to say that they were of an earlier generation, although many of their films have stood the test of time. Robinson played a fair number of gangster roles; he and Bogart both starred in the 1948 gangster film Key Largo.
  • Darnell told Breakfast he remained a great fan of the 1940s dress style, which typically for gangsters was double-breasted pinstriped suits and hats of a certain type. "Stool Pigeon," which Darnell wrote, is really a tribute to this whole genre, and was released in the UK as a single (picture disk) in 1982 remixed version backed by the remixed version of "In The Jungle."

    There was also a promo version (running to a full 6 minutes 21 seconds) backed by "Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy" and "I'm Corrupt." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

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