Marlow’s Plague Chronicle Notes — Part XIX — Plague Blues in the Night
Editor’s Note: In Virginia, our Governor has announced a new set of officials who can harass us, his constituents. Marlow notes what is happening in his Coastal Empire as America seems to be opening up again…
-Vic
Author’s Note: Recently I heard Savannahian Johnny Mercer’s original version and felt its perfection as a, if not the, blues standard of its era would be apropos of this moment.
-Marlow
Quarantine done told me,
When I wore its bracelets
Quarantine done told me, son,
Plague is two-faced
It’ll show you its death eye,
When its harvesting seems done.
Plague is two-faced
A horrid thing who’ll leave you crying,
Plague blues in the night.
April rains didn’t come a-fallin’
No more trains came a-callin’ whooee
No lonesome ships whistles
Trillin’ over the live oaks,
Quiet’s replaced the clickety-clacks,
Now comes echoing back, folks crying,
Plague blues in the night.
From Seattle to Miami,
From New York to Frisco,
Wherever the plague winds blow,
It’s been in some big towns
And we’ve seen lotsa experts frowns,
But there is one thing we know.
Plague is two-faced, a horrid thing who’ll leave us to cry,
Plague blues in the night.
Quarantine done told me,
When I wore its bracelets
Quarantine done told me, son,
Plague is two-faced
It’ll show you its death eye,
When its harvesting seems done.
Plague is two-faced,
A horrid thing who’ll leave you crying,
Plague blues in the night
Copyright © 2020 From My Isle Seat/Mercer
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