An appropriate time to ask this question.
I'm revisiting Tampa Red's "No Matter How She Done It," with the lyric
"I know a gal, her name is May Lou,
She shook it so much she got the German flu."
I noticed that the lyric shows up in Weenie threads for Romeo Nelson lyrics and an SOTM ("Nobody Knows You"), but that's it.
Does "German flu" simply refer to the flu pandemic of 1918 (usually referred to as the "Spanish Flu"), or does it have another meaning?
A online search located an "anti-fascist blog" containing a story about a rumor that Germany created a flu virus in 1916 as part of its WWI chemical warfare effort, to be carried to the US and spread around New York and other cities. But it looks like a one-off mention. If it was a rumor that got passed around in 1916, it might have been an item in the press that musicians picked up on.
Looks like Tampa Red recorded the tune in 1932.
Lindy
I'm revisiting Tampa Red's "No Matter How She Done It," with the lyric
"I know a gal, her name is May Lou,
She shook it so much she got the German flu."
I noticed that the lyric shows up in Weenie threads for Romeo Nelson lyrics and an SOTM ("Nobody Knows You"), but that's it.
Does "German flu" simply refer to the flu pandemic of 1918 (usually referred to as the "Spanish Flu"), or does it have another meaning?
A online search located an "anti-fascist blog" containing a story about a rumor that Germany created a flu virus in 1916 as part of its WWI chemical warfare effort, to be carried to the US and spread around New York and other cities. But it looks like a one-off mention. If it was a rumor that got passed around in 1916, it might have been an item in the press that musicians picked up on.
Looks like Tampa Red recorded the tune in 1932.
Lindy