Florence Nightingale Turns 200 – ‘Florence’: A Statistics Song

‘Florence’: A Statistics Song
Lyric ©2017 Lawrence Mark Lesser

To the tune of Julie Gold’s Grammy-winning song “From a Distance,” a No. 2 hit for Bette Midler during the first Gulf War.

This new lyric honors the bicentennial of the birth of Florence Nightingale, adapting her quote, “To understand God’s thoughts, we must study statistics, for these are the measure of His purpose.”

With statistics,
many soldiers were saved
in the Crimean War.
With statistics,
Florence Nightingale
found what made the death rate soar.
With statistics, Florence graphed the data
in innovative ways:
A rose diagram, circular histogram,
a polar area display.

With statistics,
England and India
were healthier places to live.
Oh, statistics
shone like the lamp
Florence brought from bed to bed.
With statistics, she set an example
of vision and of strength:
More than pie charts, her mind and heart
would light and lead the way.