Singing the diabetes blues

[Northerner]

Lord, I'm sick an' down

Can't tell my head from my feet

Lord, I'm sick an' down

Can't hardly tell my head from my feet

Well, I got the sugar diabetes

Somebody please. Lord have mercy on me.

When Delta Blues guitarist and singer Big Joe Williams sang "Sugar Diabetes Blues" on his posthumous 1999 album, Going Back to Crawford, he was singing about a problem haunting his Mississippi hometown, the Delta, and the nation.

As of 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported, 20.9 million Americans had diabetes, a nearly fourfold increase since 1980. Worldwide, 347 million people have diabetes. That really makes us want to sing the blues.

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/diabetes/20150208_Singing_the_diabetes_blues.html

 

[Northerner]

I wrote my own 'Blood Sugar Blues' song:

I woke up this mornin’
My levels were high…
Feelin’ sluggish and poorly,
Like I felt I might die!
Musta messed up my basal,
Now that ain’t good news!
For it means that all day I’ll have the blood sugar blues!

Oh, the blood sugar blues,
Blood sugar blues, oh my!
When your level’s off the meter,
You wanna lay right down and die!

Thought I’d fix me some coffee,
Put some life in my legs…
Some strong black coffee -
Drink it down to the dregs!
But it ain’t doin’ nuthin’
Don’t feel better, no sir!
That diabetes fairy – put a curse on her!

Oh, the blood sugar blues,
Blood sugar blues, oh my!
When your level’s off the meter,
You wanna lay right down and die!