Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis stands in the site of one of the world’s most famous murders. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the area was a prominent Negro red light and tavern district. Early one morning a young prostitute killed her even younger pimp. We’ve been singing about it ever since. You see, “Frankie and Johnny were lovers. Oh Lordy! How they could love.” It is said they swore to be true to each other, as “true as the stars above.” He supposedly was her man. And he supposedly “done her wrong.” And for that, she supposedly “done him IN.”
