The Plague

from Unstuck In Time by Rick Miller

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Based on church records made during the plague outbreak in London in 1665. A third of the population of the city died.

lyrics

I live with my family in Cock and Key Alley
The year 1665.
The son of a gravedigger gave me a trade,
A shilling a grave kept us alive.

But then the darkness comes as I greet the rising sun.
The pall of the black death hangs over me,
As I count the morning dead.
Their doors are marked with red.
The stench of miasma in the air,
From which the plague is fed.

The dogs and the cats have now been taken away.
There’s nothing left to stop them now so the rats rule the day.
My mother and brother are now locked up inside,
Along with my father who they tell me has died.

But then the darkness comes as I greet the rising sun.
The pall of the black death hangs over me,
As I count the morning dead.
Their doors are marked with red.
I’m certain that God has forsaken this place,
Where angels fear to tread.

The plague came and went that year in Cock and Key Alley,
A third of the population died.
My family were counted with the numbers of dead.
I dig their unmarked graves as I cry.

credits

from Unstuck In Time, released October 26, 2020

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