Big Bad John chords by Jim Ed Brown

SimplifiedC · D · Bm · G · A …

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Verse 1
C 
D 
C 
D 
Big John, Big John
C 
D 
Every morning at the mine
you could see him arrive
C 
D 
C 
Stood six foot six and weighed 245
D 
Kind of broad at the shoulder
C 
and narrow at the hip
D 
And everybody knew
C 
D 
you didn't give no limb to Big John
Bm 
G 
Big John, Big John
A 
D 
C 
A  big bad John
D 
Nobody seemed to know
C 
where John called home
D 
G 
Just drifted into town
C 
D 
and stayed all alone
C 
D 
Didn't say much, kinda quiet and shy
C 
D 
If you spoke at all,
C 
D 
you just said hi to Big John
C 
Somebody said he came from New Orleans
D 
F 
Where he got in a fight
C 
over a Cajun queen
D 
G 
In a crash and blow from
C 
D 
a huge right hand
G 
C 
Sent a Louisiana fella to the promised land
D 
Bm 
G 
Big John, Big John, Big John,
A 
D 
C 
a big bad John, Big John
D 
C 
Then came the day at the
D 
bottom of the mine
when a timber cracked
C 
D 
and men started crying
C 
D 
Miners were praying and hearts beat fast
C 
D 
and everybody thought they had breathed
C 
D 
their last except John
C 
Through the dust and the smoke
D 
of this man -made hell
C 
D 
Walked a giant of a man
that the miners knew well
G 
C 
D 
Grabbed a saggin' timber
and gave out with a groan
C 
D 
Like a giant oak tree
G 
just stood there alone
F 
D 
Big John
Bm 
Big John
G 
Big John
A 
D 
A  big bad John
C 
D 
Eb 
Big John, Big John
C# 
Eb 
With all of his strength
he gave a mighty shove
Db 
Eb 
Then a miner yelled out,
Db 
there's a light up above
Eb 
Twenty men scrambled from
Db 
a would -be grave
Eb 
Db 
Eb 
Now there's only one left down there to save,
Db 
Eb 
Big John
With jacks and timbers
Db 
Eb 
they started back down
Db 
Then came that rumble way
Eb 
down in the ground
Db 
Eb 
The smoking gas belched out of that mine
Db 
Eb 
And everybody knew it was
the end of the line
Db 
Eb 
For Big John
Cm 
Big John
Ab 
Big John
Bb 
Eb 
A big bad John
Db 
Eb 
Big John
Now they never reopene
Db 
Eb 
d that worthless pit
Db 
They just placed a marble
Eb 
stand in  front of it
Db 
Eb 
These few words are written
Db 
on that stand
Eb 
At the bottom of this mine
Cm 
Eb 
lies a big, big man
Big John
Eb 
Cm 
Big John
Ab 
Big John
Bb 
Eb 
A big bad John
Db 
Eb 
Big John
Db 
Eb 
Eb 
Db 
Eb 
Big jump, big jump, big jump