Show 51 - Levee Camp Blues

Levee construction began in the 19th century in the U.S. on the Mississippi River and rivers like the Red and the Brazos. Work has pretty much continued on them since. In the 1920s and especially the 30s, government contractors brought laborers into camps to build the levees higher and higher. These camps were wild places where the only law was the boss. Murder and other crimes were common. It was yet another situation where black laborers were brutally exploited. Still, there was no shortage of men looing for jobs on the levees. Pay was better than sharecropping. At least when a worker got paid. They often didn’t.

Texas singer Gene Campbell told the story when he recorded Levee Camp Man in 1930:

These contractors, they are getting so slack
These contractors, they are getting so slack
They’ll pay you half of your money and hold the other half back

There ain’t but two men that get paid off
There ain’t but two men that get paid off
That’s the commissary clerk and the walking boss

I see somebody coming down to the water trough
I see somebody coming down to the water trough
I know it ain’t the contractor, it’s that doggone walking boss

A levee camp mule and a levee camp man
A levee camp mule and a levee camp man
They work side by side, and it sure is man for man

A levee camp man ain’t got but two legs you know
A levee camp man ain’t got but two legs you know
But he puts in the same hours that a mule do on four

I wouldn’t drive no four-mule team
I wouldn’t drive no four-mule team
For no doggone contractor I’ve ever seen

Men on the levee hollering “Whoa Haw Gee”
Men on the levee hollering “Whoa Haw Gee”
And the women on the levee camp hollering “Who wants me?”

Whoa, Haw, and Gee are direction calls for the mule teams. The women hollering who wants me presumably would have been prostitutes. Women at levee camps did include prostitutes as well as the wives and girlfriends of the men. In 1927, Lucille Bogan, recording as Bessie Jackson, sang about how difficult it was to be a levee camp girl in Levee Blues:

Down on the levee, Camp Number Nine
Down the levee, Camp Number Nine
You can pass my house, honey you can hear me cry

I never had no blues, until I come by here
I never had no blues, until I come by here
I'm going to leave this camp, you can’t start in here

My sister got the, brother got them too
We all got the levee camp blues
I ain't found no doctor, ain't no doctor in this whole round world
I ain't found no doctor, ain't no doctor in this whole round world
Just to cure the blues, the blues of a levee camp girl

In 1941, Son House recorded Levee Camp Blues for the Library of Congress telling a story about a woman after the good pay of a man working on the levee:

Every evening she would be standing at the landing crying
Oh she would be standing at the landing crying
Why don’t that big boat hurry and bring home that man of mine

Way down the river you get to hear that big boat whistle blow
Oh, you could hear the big boat when she blow
Well when that doney got that check, I said, she couldn’t use me no more

I’m going away, I’m going to stay a great long time
I’m going, I’m going to stay a great long time
You know I ain’t coming back, honey, until you change your mind

Oh, don’t a man feel bad when the good old sun goes down
Whoo, I said when the good old sun goes down
I said he don’t have a soul, boy, his soul is in the ground

Alan Lomax recorded work songs including an example of the type of music sung by levee workers. Levee Camp Holler:

Whoo, I woke up this morning and I was feeling bad
Whoa, babe, I was feeling bad
I was thinking about the good time that I once have had

Whoa Lord, boy she brought my breakfast this morning and she didn’t know my name, she didn’t know my name
She said give it to the long line skinner with the brass knob hand
She said give it to the long line skinner with the brass knob hand

Oh, boys, iIf you want to go down to Mr. Charlie and don’t get hurt,
Go down Monday morning when the boy’s at work, you’ll be alright, you’ll be alright
Mmm, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord
Boys, I got a woman up here right away looking for me
Boys, she’s looking for me, she’s looking for me
Lord, I’m going home before long, hmmm
Bye bye, bye bye baby, I’ll be home before long

Texas Alexander recorded a similiar type of work song in 1927 for Okeh records, Levee Camp Moan accompanied by Lonnie Johnson on guitar.  It’s a levee camp moan set to some amazing music:

Mmmmmm
Lord, they accused me of murder, but I haven’t harmed a man
Accused me of murder, I haven’t harmed a man
They have accused me of murder, and I haven’t harmed a man

They have accused me of forgery and I can’t write my name
Lord, They have accused me of forgery and I can’t write my name

Went all around that whole corral
I couldn’t find a mule with his shoulder well
I couldn’t find a mule with his shoulder well

Worked all morn and I worked all day
I couldn’t find a mule with his shoulder well

Mmmmmm, mmmmmm mmmmmm
Lord, that morning bell
Lord, she went up the country, yeah, but she’s on my mind
Well she went up the country, but she’s on my mind

If she don’t come on the big boat, she better not last
If she don’t come on the big boat, bog boat, she better not last
Lord, If she don’t come on the Big Boat, I mean she better not last

Leadbelly also examined the abuse of levee camp mules in his 1935 Library of Congress Recording, I am All Out and Down about life on the levee camp and a woman wanting a man's pay:

Honey, I'm all out and down
Honey, I'm broke baby, and I ain't got a dime
Every good man gets in hard luck some time
Don't it baby, don't it baby, don't it baby, don't it baby

Ah the mules and the horses taking corn and hay
The women in the levee, shouting 'cause it's morn' pay day
Sweet day, sweet day, sweet day

Honey, I’m a long ways from you
Honey, I'm going to tell my woman like the Dago told the Jew
You don't want me, honey I don't want you
Tell me baby, tell me baby, tell  me baby, tell me baby

Well the sun is going down and the mules is getting hungry and the men are getting hungry too
And just thinking about it’s close to payday
And the man had a brown skin woman
And he he wished pay day would move off a little further
So he wouldn't give his baby nothing til payday comes
She was shouting because she knows it’s morn pf payday
And here’s what the woman said:

Ah the mules and the horses taking for the corn and hay
The women in the levee, shouting 'cause it's morn pay day
Crying Day, crying day, sweet day, sweet day, sweet day, sweet day, oh day

Honey, what you want me to do?
Honey, I'm going to tell my woman like the Dago told the Jew
You don't want me, honey I don't want you
Tell me baby, tell me baby, tell me baby, oh baby, oh baby

The brownskin woman keeps you worried all the time
Brownskin woman makes a good-eyed man go blind
Won’t you baby, won’t you baby, won’t you baby, won’t you baby, won’t you baby?

Honey, I’m a long ways from home
Honey, I’m the poor boy a long way from home
Can't get nobody one the ?
Can I baby, can I baby, can I baby, can I baby?

Honey, I’m all out and down
Honey, a yellow woman makes a preacher lay his bible down
A jet black woman makes a jackrabbit hug a hound
Won’t you baby, won’t you baby? Ah baby, ah baby

Don’t it baby, don’t it baby, don’t it baby, don’t it baby

Well, do you hear me blow my horn?
Honey, keep it in the market gunning side by side
Can’t get to ? nothing will let you ride
Won’t it baby, won’t it baby, won’t it baby, won’t it baby?

Honey, I’m bound to sing this song, honey

Ma Rainey saw the levee camps as something keeping a man and a woman apart. She recorded Levee Camp Moan in 1925:

My man has left and he’s gone away
Back to the levee where he used to stay
I kiss and hug him and his kiss is good
I feel so lonesome and awful blue
That’s the reason you hear me moan the levee camp moan, I can’t help myself

Each night and moment I yearn for romance
Back to the levee where my man be
That’s the reason I moan the levee camp moan

I’ve been to ? I’ve been to Houston
It’s all because I love him baby
That’s the reason you hear me moan the levee camp moan

Mmmmm, mmmmm,
It’s all because of...
That’s the reason you hear me moan the levee camp moan

In 1941, Washboard Sam sang about a more modern levee camp with most of the same problems. Levee Camp Blues:

Says I worked in a levee camp just about a month ago
Says I worked in a levee camp just about a month ago
Says I wind so many wagons, it made my poor hands sore

We slept just like dogs, eat beans both night and day
We slept just like dogs, eat beans both night and day
But I never did know just when we were due our pay

They had two shifts on day and the same two shifts at night
They had two shifts on day and the same two shifts at night
But if a man winds wagons, he can't treat his baby right

Yeah boy, wind it now, wind it

Electric lights going out, telephone is bogging down
Electric lights going out, telephone is bogging down
I'm going to keep on winding because I'm the best old winder in town

Songs:

Levee Camp Man - Gene Campbell
Levee Blues - Lucille Bogan
Levee Camp Blues - Son House
Levee Camp Holler
Levee Camp Moan - Texas Alexander
I'm All Out and Down - Lead Belly
Levee Camp Moan - Ma Rainey
Levee Camp Blues - Washboard Sam

Show 50 - Beating Blues

Songs about abusing women are pretty common and there is another huge set of songs about murdering women. They do illustrate how attitudes toward violence against women have changed and how prevalent this problem was. One of the great Robert Johnson songs, Me and the Devil Blues,
includes lyric about beating:

Early this morning, when you knocked upon my door
Early this morning, ooh, when you knocked upon my door
And I said, "Hello, Satan, I believe it's time to go"


Me and the devil, was walking side by side
Me and the devil, ooh, was walking side by side
And I'm going to beat my woman, until I get satisfied


She say you don't see why, that you will dog me around
Now, babe, you know you ain't doing me right, don't you
She say you don't see why, ooh, that you will dog me around
It must be that old evil spirit, so deep down in the ground


You may bury my body, down by the highway side
(Baby, I don't care where you bury my body when I'm dead and gone)
You may bury my body, ooh, down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit, can catch a Greyhound bus and ride

Robert Johnson associates himself with the devil, calling himself evil and talking about the bad things a man does in life including beating his woman. Roosevelt Sykes Single Tree Blues, recorded in 1929, is not so metaphorical. It’s about how a man deals with a woman that’s not treating him right. A singletree is a wood bar that’s a part of a plow.

Hit my woman with a singletree
Hit my woman with a singletree
You might've heard her hollering “daddy don't you murder me”


Going to shoot you mama, going to cut you too
Going to shoot you mama, I’m going to cut you too
Lord on account of the old way you do


Been sick and down babe, I'm getting up again
Been sick and down mama, I'm getting up again
Mmm but I'm bl...


Going away mama, coming here no more
Going away baby, coming here no more
You know you shout at me, you’ve thrown my trunk outdoors


She's a good old girl, but she do mess around
She's a good old girl, but she do mess around
She ain't there, she's all over town

The Memphis Jug Band recorded a similar song with first couple verses alone the same lines, I Whipped My Woman With a Single Tree:

I said my woman had a falling out
People in the town want to know what it was all about
Same thing, same thing
Now don’t you hear me talking to you, talking about the same old thing


Yes, I whipped my woman with a singletree
You oughta heard her hollering don't you murder me
What about? Same thing, same thing
Now don’t you hear me talking to you, talking about the same old thing


Yes, I went to the Gypsies to get my fortune told
The Gypsies told me something I didn't want no one to know
What about? Same thing, same thing
Now don’t you hear me talking to you, talking about the same old thing


Yes, I went to my back door and that ??? was locked
I went to that front door you know the ??? was locked
What was it doing? Same thing
Now don’t you hear me talking to you talking about the same old thing


Now don't you wish your easy roller was little and cute like mine
Every time she walks she leaves a lot behind
Oh same thing, same thing
Now don’t you hear me talking to you talking about the same old thing

Sonny Boy Williamson recorded another example of a song about beating a woman that a man feels is out of line. You Give an Account:

I'm going to tell you something baby you can't do
You better take it kind of easy, I've got my eyes on you
You got to give an account of just what you do


If you got a good woman and she won't treat you right
You feed her three times a day and whip her a little at night
You got to give an account of just what you do


Now Mr. depot agent, don't you make me cry
Did my baby stop here, did she keep on by?
You got to give an account of just what you do


Now I want all you people to gather around
My baby done left me, treat me like a hound
You got to give an account of just what you do


I told her I'd buy her a Chevrolet say but she wanted a V‑Eight Ford
She say she wanted something would beat us a hole in the road
She got to give an account of just what she’ll do


Now I waved my hands, she wouldn't pay me no mind
Way out on my door she made a loving sign
But she got to give an account of just what she’ll do

In one of his few pre-war recordings, 1941’s Little Boy Blue, Robert Lockwood jr. sang about whipping and stabbing a woman:

Little boy blue, please come blow your horn
Little boy blue, please come blow your horn
My baby she gone and left me, she left me all alone


Now the sheep is in the meadow and the cows is in the corn
I've got a girl in Chicago she loves to hear me blow my lonesome horn
Little boy blue, please come blow your horn
My baby she gone and left me, she left me all alone


I'm going to take my whip and whip her, I'm going to whip her down to the ground
I'm going to take my dirk and stab her then I'm you know I'm going to turn it round and round
Little boy blue, please come blow your horn
My baby she gone and left me, she left me all alone


I have rambled and I've rambled until I broke my poor self down
I believe to my soul that the little girl is out of town
Little boy blue, please come blow your horn
My baby she gone and left me, she left me all alone

There’s often at least some female perspective to provide counterpoints in the blues, and Jewell Nelson provided one in 1928, Beating Me Blues:

I wish someone could tell me where that man of mine that has been mistreating me all the time
My daddy’s beating me almost every day
I’m getting sick and tired of the way my daddy’s killing me


He used to be sweet, everybody know
But here on lately, he beats me everywhere we go
He’s just killing me, yes just killing me
I’m getting sick and tired of the way my daddy’s treating me


I went on the mountaintop, he found me there
I believe he’ll find me anywhere
He’s just killing, yes, just killing me
I’m getting sick and tired of the way my daddy’s killing me


I’m going to find the policeman
Tell him how my daddy is beating me
You know he’s killing me, just killing me
I’m getting sick and tired of the way my daddy’s beating me

Clara Herring also recorded a song about receiving beatings in 1928, Beating Blues:

Woke up this morning, my eyes were dark as night
I woke up this morning, my eyes were dark as night
And you know about that, my man ain’t acting right


He beats me in the morning and before the break of day
Beats me in the morning and before the break of day
Then I’m getting tired of being treated this way


Now the way he beats me, there must not be no laws
The way he beats me, there must not be no laws
And I know about that, some other girl is in my ...


Someday sweet papa, someone’s going to take your place
Someday sweet papa, someone’s going to take your place
But you took off(?) and left with that in your place(?)


You don’t want me papa, I’ll pack my things and go
You don’t want me papa, I’ll pack my things and go
But remember daddy, you got to reap just what you sow

So what should we think about men like Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Lockwood, men whose music I admire tremendously, singing about whipping, stabbing, and beating women? Well, it’s always a mistake to assume that these songs are autobiographical. But they do reflect the culture that these men were a part of and that they helped create. Their casual mentions of beatings should be recognized. Though the violence can certainly be seen as yet another consequence of the oppression of the black male in a Jim Crow world, it can never be excused and shouldn’t be ignored.

Songs:
Me and the Devil Blues - Robert Johnson
Single Tree Blues - Roosevelt Sykes
I Whipped My Woman with a Single Tree - Memphis Jug Band
You Give an Account - Sonny Boy Williamson
Little Boy Blue - Robert Lockwood, jr.
Beating Me Blues - Jewell Nelson
Beating Blues - Clara Herring

Show 49 - Sick With the Blues

Perhaps the most poetic song ever written about being sick is St. Louis Jimmy Oden’s 1941 classic Goin’ Down Slow:

I have had my fun if I don't get well no more
I have had my fun if I don't get well no more
My health is failing me and I'm going down slow


Please write my mother, tell her the shape I'm in
Please write my mother, tell her the shape I'm in
Tell her to pray for me, forgive me for all my sins


Tell her don't send no doctor, doctor can't do no good
Tell her don't send no doctor, doctor can't do no good
It's all my fault, didn't do the things I should


On the next train south, look for my clothes home
On the next train south, look for my clothes home
If you don't see my body, all you can do is moan


Mother please don't worry, this is all in my prayer
Mother please don't worry, this is all in my prayer
Just say your son is gone, I'm out in this world somewhere

Oden expressed the sentiment that a doctor couldn’t help. Bukka White did the same thing when he was calling for his lover to help with the High Fever Blues:

I'm taken down with the fever and it won't let me sleep
I'm taken down with the fever and it won't let me sleep
It was about three o'clock before he could let me be


I wish somebody would come and drive my fever away
I wish somebody come and drive my fever away
This fever I'm having sure is in my way


The fever I'm having sure is hard on a man
The fever I'm having sure is hard on a man
They don't allow my lover come and shake my hand


I wonder what’s the matter with the fever, sure is hard on a man
I want to know what’s the matter, how come it’s hard on a man
Doctor said it ain’t the fever, it’s that your lover had another man


Doctor get your fever gauge and put it under my tongue
Doctor get your fever gauge and put it under my tongue
Doctor says all you need, your lover in your arms


I want my lover come and drive my fever away
I want my lover come and drive my fever away
Doctor said she do me more good in a day than he would in all of his days

In Sick Bed Blues from 1937, Peetie Wheatstraw expressed what it’s like to have your baby suffering in bed:

When I left, my little girl was sick and in the bed
I said when I left home, my little girl was sick and in the bed
Now I know she wished that I was there, well now to hold her aching head


She's on her sickbed suffering with aches and pains
She's on her sickbed suffering with aches and pains
Now you know it hurts my heart well now when she calls my name


She rolls and she tumbles now from side to side
She rolls and she tumbles I said from side to side
Then again now you know all that I can do is start and hang my head and cry


Ain't it hard now when you're all alone
I said ain't it hard when you're all alone
I never did mind though, well now when all you’ve got is gone

The future gospel great Thomas Dorsey recorded a couple of variations on a song featuring a duet between a doctor and a patient. One featured Big Bill Broonzy and was released under the name Georgia Tom and Jane Lucas. Terrible Operation Blues:

Alright nurse, bring in the next patient


Get up on this table, pull off that gown
Raise up that right leg, let that left one down
Pull off them stockings, that silk underwear
The doctor's got to cut you, mama, don't know where


You got two or three tumors, shaped like a cube
Two or three leaks in your inner tube
Bring on that ether, bring on that gas
The doctor's got to cut you, mama, yes, yes, yes
The doctor knows to fix it, the doctor knows just what to do


Oh doctor, can I have a just a little water?
Shh, be quiet now, be quiet
Oh doctor, I'm so sick!
That’s alright, the doctor ain't gonna hurt you
Can I have a little water?
After a while
Oh, what you gonna do with that long knife?
Oh, don’t worry about that, that's just the doctor's tool
Oh doctor, what you gonna do with that saw?
Oh, we just take off legs with that, be quiet now
Ooooo


Now see, there you are, the doctor's through!
Oh doctor, what did you take out of me?
Alright, I’ll tell you now


Four monkey wrenches, and a two-horse shed
Pair of old britches and a bale of hay
Your ribs were kinda loose, they moved about
if I hadn't sewed you up, everything woulda fell out
I put in new tubes, tightened the exhaust
I went into your hood and cleaned your spark plugs off
Your body's kinda weak, now don't be hard
From now on be careful with them connection rods
Alright, doctor!
The doctor knows to fix it, the doctor knows just what to do


Oh gee, doctor, but I feel fine
Oh... that’s fine
Hey doctor, I feel like I wanna do a little messaround
That so? Go ahead
Ooooh, say doctor that’s good
Now, that's the way patients do that come to this hospital


Now your body's kinda weak, don't be hard
Go kinda easy with them connection rods
Alright, doctor!
The doctor knows to fix it, the doctor knows just what to do

The other was Operation Blues with Frakie Jaxon doing his female impersonation:

Is Doctor Eazit in?
I’m right in, what’s your trouble?
Oh Doctor I think I’ve got appendicitis
What side?
I need operating right there


I can see right now, you’ve got to take off all of your clothes
Do what? Now doctor, don’t get fresh, I’m a married woman
I can see right now madam, you’ve got to take off all of your clothes
Oh, I understand that, I can see you know what I need
Yes, better than anyone knows
Oh, doctor


Oh doctor, doctor I can’t undress before you
Alright now, don’t be bashful, don’t be bashful, I’m a doctor
I know, but doctor oh doctor, I cant ‘u’nress before you


But you do a lot of funny things, honey
When?
Before the doctor sees
Oh doc, you don’t mean to tell me that
Quiet


I know but look, what’s that you got there doctor? What’s that you got holding in your hand?
Don’t you worry about that, now don’t you worry I’m, the doctor
Yeah, but a woman knows doctor
Please tell me, what’s all of that you’ve got holding in your hand
That’s nothing but my tools honey, can’t you understand?
Oh, I understand now


Now be real quiet madam, lay flat on your back
This way doc? This way?
No, just kinda raise that left leg a little
Oh, now, I can do that
Now be real quiet madam, lay flat on your back
How am I doing now?
Fine


But if you hurt me doctor, I swear I ain’t never coming back
I won’t hurt you
Oh, doctor you’re hurting me...
Oh... oooo.. yes, that is nice, you’re doing so much good
O doctor, kiss me, kiss me
Be quiet


Now how do you feel sweet lady?
Is there anymore that the doctor can do?
Now how do you feel sweet lady?
Is there anymore that the doctor can do?
Put your clothes on now


Oh, I could stay right here forever
and take off a reason from you
Kiss me again doc....

In 1924, Clara Smith sang about needing a doctor to cure her blues in Prescription for the Blues:

All day long I'm worried, all night long I'm blue
I'm so awfully lonesome, I don't know what to do
So I ask you doctor, see if you can find
Something in your practice to pacify my mind
Doctor, doctor write me a prescription for the blues, the weary blues


Let me tell you doctor why I'm in misery
Once I had a love, he went away from me
Been to see the Gypsy, hoodoo doctors too
Shook their heads and told me, nothing they could do
Doctor, doctor write me a prescription for the blues, the mean old blues


Like a little baby, all day long I cry
And if you can't cure me, I'm just as sure to die
Give me something poison, doctor won't you please
Then I'll sign a paper, died with the heart disease
Doctor, doctor write me a prescription for the blues, the plain old blues

Memphis Minnie sang about how tough it is when the doctor tells you not to drink anymore in Doctor, Doctor Blues:

Doctor stopped me from drinking, boys, I can't smoke no more
Doctor stopped me from drinking, boys, I can't smoke no more
And I can't see no peace, seems like nowhere I go


Oh, doctor, doctor, you know I got a lot of faith in you
I'd trust you everywhere
Oh, doctor, doctor, you know I got a lot of faith in you
But it hurt me so bad, when you say if I took another drink, nothing you could do


Oh, doctor, doctor, I ain't drinked in a great long time
Oh, doctor, doctor, I ain't drinked in a great long time
Bring us half a pint
I'm gonna take a drink of this, if the good Lord don't change my mind


Now, look here, doctor, don't you know my mama's done gone blind?
Now, look here, doctor, don't you know my mama's done gone blind?
I know her trouble
I was doing the best I could, but she wouldn't pay the doctor no mind


Oh, doctor, doctor, tell me what's my trouble now
Oh, doctor, doctor, tell me what's my trouble now
If you take another drink, I bet they put you in the ground
Doctor, you all right with me anyhow

Songs:
Going Down Slow - St. Louis Jimmy Oden
High Fever Blues - Bukka White
Sick Bed Blues - Peetie Wheatstraw
Terrible Operation Blues - Georgia Tom and Jane Lucas
Operation Blues - Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon
Prescription for the Blues - Clara Smith
Doctor, Doctor Blues - Memphis Minnie

Show 48 - Disease Blues

Pneumonia -- it’s a disease of the lungs. Even by the first part of the twentieth century, medical developments had improved the prognosis for people with pneumonia, but it was still dangerous in the 1920s (as it is today). In 1929, Blind Lemon Jefferson sang about the aches and pains after catching pneumonia while running down alleys in a cold rain trying to catch his woman cheating. Pneumonia Blues:

I'm aching all over, believe I got the pneumonia this time
I'm aching all over, believe I got the pneumonia this time
And it's all on account of that lowdown gal of mine


Slinking around the corner, running up alleys too
I said slinking around corners, running up alleys too
Watching my woman trying to see what she going to do


Stood out in the street one cold dark stormy night
I stood out in the street one cold dark stormy night
Trying to see if my good gal going to make it home alright


I believe she's found something that probably made her fall
She must have found something that made her fall
I stood out in the cold all night and she didn't come home at all


Wear BVDs in the winter, traveling around in the rain
Wear BVDs in the winter, traveling around in the rain
Last time my baby give me this pneumonia pain


Now when I die, bury me in a Stetson hat
I said when I die, bury me in a Stetson hat
Tell my good gal I'm going but I'm still standing pat

Big Bill Broonzy talked about aches from pneumonia in Pneumonia Blues (I Keep on Aching) in 1936:

I’m feeling sick and bad, my head is hurting too
Go get the doctor so he can tell me just what to do
Because I keep on aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away


I have got the pneumonia, I’ve got it in both my sides
My friends treat me so bad, til I just cant keep from crying for me
I keep aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away


I have used big fan(?), I used everything my friends say
Now I believe I’ll drink a hot toddy and go to bed
Because I keep aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away


My friends told my wife they had did all they could
They said put him in the hospital before he ruins the neighborhood
I keep aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away


The doctor said my fever was 103
The nurse said put him in crowded room, that’s where he ought to be
Because he keeps aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away

Influenza or the flu killed countless millions around the world in the twentieth century. One of the pandemics broke out in 1918. This was a few years before blues music was being recorded, but given the incredible virulence of what they called Spanish Flu, it’s surprising there aren’t more blues records about it. At east a couple recording artists did mention the flu including gospel great Blind Willie Johnson when he recorded Jesus is Coming Soon:

Well, we done told you, our God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, our God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon


In the year of 19 and 18, God sent a mighty disease
It killed many a-thousand, on land and on the seas
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon.


Great disease was mighty and the people were sick everywhere
It was an epidemic, it floated through the air
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon


The doctors they got troubled and they didn't know what to do
They gathered themselves together, they called it the Spanish influ
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon


Soldiers died on the battlefield, died in the count too
Well the Captain said to the lieutenant, "I don't know what to do"
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon


Well, God is warning the nation, He's a-warning them every way
To turn away from evil and seek the Lord and pray
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon.
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon.


Well, the nobles said to the people, "You better close your public schools"
"Until the events of death has ending, you better close your churches too"
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon

Read the book of Zacharias, bible plainly says
Said the people in the cities dying, account of they're wicked ways

Ace Johnson was recorded for the Library of Congress by John Lomax at Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas.  Influenza:

In nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, men and women sure was dying
From the disease, what the doctors called the flu
People was dying everywhere, death went creeping through the air
For the groans of the sick sure was sad


It was God's almighty hand, he was judging this old land
North and South, East and West can be seen
Yes, he killed the rich and poor, and he's going to kill more
If you don't turn away from your sins


It was Memphis, Tennessee, doctors said it soon would be
In a few days, influenza we’ll control
But God showed that He was head, and He put the doctor to bed
And the nurse they broke down with the same


It was God's almighty hand, he was judging this old land
North and South, East and West can be seen
Yes, he killed the rich and poor, and he's going to kill more
If you don't turn away from your sins


Influenza is a disease, that makes you weak all in your knees
Tis a fever everybody sure does dread
Puts a pain in every bone, a few days and you are gone
To a place in the ground called the grave


It was God's almighty hand, he was judging this old land
North and South, East and West can be seen
Yes, he killed the rich and poor, and he's going to kill more
If you don't turn away from your sins

Silicosis, is a lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust. It’s common to tunnel diggers and mine workers. Josh White sang something of a labor protest song called Silicosis is Killing Me:

I said silicosis, you made a mighty bad break of me
Awww, silicosis made a mighty bad break of me
You robbed me of my youth and health
All you brought poor me was mis..


Now silicosis, you're a dirty robber and a thief
Awww silicosis, dirty robber and a thief
Robbed me of my right to live and all you brought poor me was grief


I was there digging that tunnel for six bits a day
I was there digging that tunnel for six bits a day
Didn't know I was digging my own grave, silicosis eating my lungs away


I says mama, mama, mama, cool my fevered head
I says mama, mama, come and cool my fevered head
I’m going to meet my Jesus, God knows I'll soon be dead


Six bits I got for digging, digging that tunnel hole
Six bits I got for digging, digging that tunnel hole
Takes me away from my baby, it sure done wrecked my soul


Now tell all my buddies, tell all my friends you see
Now tell all my buddies, tell all my friends you see
I'm going way up yonder, please don't grieve for me

Blind Blake used the parasitic hookworm as a metaphor for that man you don’t want hanging around:

Hookworm in your body and your food don't do you no good
Hookworm in your body, your food don't do you no good
Same way with a rounder come in a nice neighborhood


Dirty old hookworm got into my room, causes me to walk, groan and moan
Man like a hookworm got a hold to my baby
He got to point it fast people and I don't mean maybe


Never can tell what a hookworm man will do
You never can tell what a hookworm man will do
Take your baby and make her stop loving you


I'm going to leave my baby and let her have her way
I'm going to leave my baby and let her have her way
She’ll want me back some day when he throws her down


Mmmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm
Her man like a hookworm taking a hold to my babe

Bumble Bee Slim used or a cold or tonsilitis to address a fear of pain and death in I Done Caught My Death of Cold:

Doctor, please give me something just to ease these awful pains
Doctor, please give me something just to ease these awful pains
I done caught my death of cold and it’s settling on my brain


I can’t hardly breathe, I got a wheezing in my chest
I can’t hardly breathe, I got a wheezing in my chest
Well, I’m having tonsilitis, doctor you should know the rest


Give me Oil of ninety-nine, three-sixty , anything
I done caught my death of cold
Lord have mercy


Ay doctor, is there any cure for me?
Ay doctor, is there any cure for me?
Well I’m in so much misery, I’m in so much misery


I done caught my death of cold, now my friends cannot be found
I done caught my death of cold, well my friends cannot be found
Well I been wading deep water and I been sleeping on the ground

It’s great to see how these different musicians use diseases. Blind Lemon Jefferson sees the aches and pains of pneumonia as yest another consequence of being with a no-good woman. Big Bill sees the aches and pains as a blues situation themselves and Bumble Bee Slim does something similar singing about his tonsilitis. Blind Blake uses the hookworm as a metaphor for a man showing up where’s he’s not wanted. The common thread is the abandonment of friends, family, or lovers with the disease. The fear of sickness and death was all to real, but the fear of the blues that comes from being truly alone never leaves.


Songs:
Pneumonia Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
Pneumonia Blues (I Keep on Achin') - Big Bill
Jesus is Coming - Blind Willie Johnson
Influenza - Ace Johnson
Silicosis is Killing Me - Josh White
Hookworm Blues - Blind Blake
I Done Caught My Death of Cold - Bumble Bee Slim