1919 Influenza Blues
Essie Jankins

A
It was nineteen hundred and nineteen
D                  A
Men and women were dying
A                                         E
With the stuff that the doctor called the flu
            A
People were dying everywhere
          D                        A
Death was creepin' all through the air
        E             D             A    E
And the groans of the rich sure was sad

CHORUS
            D
Well it was God's almighty plan
        A
He was judging this old land
A                                        E 
North and south, east and west it can be seen
              A
He killed the rich, killed the poor
           D                  A
He's gonna kill just a little more
       E           D             A   E
If you don't turn away from your sin

Down in Memphis, Tennessee
The doctor said it soon would be
In a few days influenza would be controlled
Doctor sure man he got had
Sent the doctors all home to bed
And the nurses all broke out with the same

REPEAT CHORUS

Influenza is the kind of disease
Makes you weak down to your knees
Carries a fever everybody surely dreads
Packs a pain in every bone
In a few days, you are gone
To that hole in the ground called your grave

REPEAT CHORUS