At the LC Lomax collection, Lomax Home Page here there's a song called "Influenza" as follows: (If I format right, it's Joe Offer's fault.)


INFLUENZA

In nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, men an' women sure was dyin',
From de disease what de doctors called de flu.
People was dyin' ev'ywhere; death was creepin' th'ough de air,
For de groans of de sick sure was sad.

CHORUS: It was God's almighty hand; he was judgin' this old land;
North an' South; East an' West could be seen,
Yes, he killed de rich an' poor, an' he's goin' to kill more
If you don't turn away from your sins.

In Memphis, Tennessee, doctors said it soon would be,
In a few days influenza will [or "we'll"?] control.
But God showed that He was head, an' He put de doctor to bed,
And the nurse they broke down with de same. CHORUS

Influenza is a disease, makes you weak all in your knees;
'Tis a fever ev'ybody sure does dread;
Puts a pain in ev'y bone, a few days an' you are gone
To a place in de groun' called de grave. CHORUS
^^

Tune basically "Jesus Christ" ("Jesse James") and may be hearable by copying the link, pnm://lcweb.loc.gov/data/ammem/afcss39/3552b3.ra directly in the RealAudio Location line. (I don't think it will be clickable but here it is, if it is: Click here ) Sung by Ace Johnson, Clemens state farm, Brazoria, Texas, April 16, 1939.

So, a question. There was always death from flu, especially in the under health-cared South. But this song seems to speak of the great pandemic of 1919, not 1929. Far as I know, US flu death were at an extreme low about 1929.

Another one of those oddities. There's plenty of (blues) songs about TB but oddly rare on the flu. I mean the Spanish (ie, originating in China) Flu that killed some 22,000,000 people.

Have a nice day.