Your browser does not support the audio tag. 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 m

Your browser does not support the audio tag. 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 d