Discover the story of the song > Washington DC Hospital Center Blues – Skip James

The protagonist of the song is a poor man who ends up in the hospital in Washington D.C. with nobody to visit him. The doctors and nurses are unsure of who he is at first, but eventually realize that he is a good man even though he is poor. The protagonist meets a woman who promises to love him, but when she finds out he is poor, she leaves him. Eventually, the doctors and nurses shake his hand and tell him he can go home because they recognize that he is a good man, even though he is poor. The protagonist thanks his doctor and vows to keep playing the "Hospital Blues" until he becomes a wealthy man.