The Ballad of John Henry

John Henry was a steel drivin’ man.
They say one day
He’ll die with that hammer in his hand.
John Henry would whistle,
And just as often sing,
But in the mountain in the mornin’
You could hear his hammer ring.

That Yankee had a great machine
To drill the rock away.
It was said to drill like ten tall men,
All the livelong day.
The captain told John Henry,
“Boy, you got a willin’ mind,
But you’d best lay your hammer down.
You won’t beat this machine of mine.”
John Henry told the captain,
“Boss when you go to town,
Buy me a twenty-pound hammer, and I’ll drive that steel drill down.
I swear by all that’s holy, I’ll drive that steel drill down.”

John Henry looked at the mountain,
And he got in the lead to drive,
But the rock was so tall and John Henry so small,
That he hung down his head and he cried.

That Yankee had a great machine
To steal their pride away.
A machine of faceless, hateful men
Who played the part by day.
The captain told John Henry,
“Son you got a willin’ mind,
But you’d best lay your hammer down.
You won’t beat this machine of mine.”
John Henry told the captain, “A man is just a man,
But before that machine can beat me down I’ll die with a hammer in my hand.”
John Henry told the captain that a man is just a man,
“And I swear by all that’s right and wrong I’ll kill you where you stand.”

John Henry, O John Henry,
John Henry’s hammer too,
Beat a man like a wounded dog,
There’s no tellin’ what a man might do.
No tellin’ what a mighty man do.
John Henry kissed his hammer;
Kissed it with a groan;
Sighed a sigh and closed his eyes,
Said “Wife, I’m coming home.”

John Henry was on the mountain,
And the mountain was so high.
He called to his pretty little wife,
Said “I can almost touch the sky.
I can almost touch the sky.”

John Henry, O, John Henry!
The blood is running red!
John Henry falls down with his hammah to th’ groun’,
And he knows he is better off dead.
Not because of men with guns,
Or clubs or rope and lies;
John Henry saw the future through the whites of a baby’s eyes.

They took John Henry to the white house,
And buried him in the sand,
And every locomotive come roarin’ by,
Says “There lays a steel drivin’ man,”
There lays a steel drivin’ man.