John Henry chords by Josh White, The Golden Gate Quartet
Verse 1
C
Best known of the Negro ballads is John Henry,
the story of the steel -driving hero
of the Negro working class.
A recent Broadway play
strove to make him a cotton
-toting roustabout of the deeper South,
but most of those who honor his memory
know that he was a steel -driving man,
great God, he was a steel -driving man,
and he belongs in Virginia, or West Virginia.
In little shacks perched
in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains,
or in the deep gorges of West Virginia,
Eb
wherever rail layers, drillers,
C
Eb
tunnel builders,
mule skinners,
coal miners
C
Eb
C
gather and spin their yarns,
or listen to a guitar player strumming his chords,
there the ghost of John
Henry still walks.
Accepting the challenge
Am
of the newfangled steam drill,
C
threatening his supremacy as
a steel -driving man,
John Henry said to his captain,
A man ain't nothing but a man.
But before I let that steam driver
beat me down,
Am
C
I'll die with my hammer in my hand.
I'll die with my hammer in my hand.
The story of the Titanic contest,
against great odds,
will now be sung for us. John
F
Henry.
C
Am
C
Am
C
Am
C
Now John Henry was a little baby
Yes, he's sittin'
Am
F
on his mamma's knee
C
Am
Well he stuck out his hand
F
C
and he looked on some steel
Am
C
I'm gon na be a steel -drivin' man
Am
C
Yes, I'm gonna be a steel -drivin' man
Well, John Henry said to his captain,
Said, you bring your steel drill around.
Well, I'll take this hammer
and I'll beat it to the bottom,
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Lord, I'll beat your steel drill down.
C
Well, I'll beat your steel drill down.
Now John Henry said to his captain,
Am
Now a man ain't nothing but a man.
C
Am
And before I let that steam
C
beat me down,
I'm gonna die with
that hammer in my hand
Well John Henry said to his shaker,
said now shaker you better pray
Cause if my hammer missed
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this little piece of steel,
C
Am
C
tomorrow be your bearing day
John Henry had a little woman,
Am
and the dress that she wore was red
Well she went down the railroad
C
and she never looked back
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Says, I'm goin' where
C
John Henry fell dead
Am
Lord, Lord, I'm goin' where
C
John Henry fell dead
Well, John Henry went up on the mountain
On the mountain, Lord, so high
Well, he drove so hard,
he broke his poor heart
And he laid down his hammer and died
Lord, Lord, he laid down
his hammer and died
Then they took John
Henry on the mountain
And they buried him in the sand
Well, now every locomotive
that come rollin' by
Said, lies a steel -drivin' man
Lord, Lord, say, there lives
that steel -drivin' man
Lord, Lord, say,
Am
there lives that steel -drivin' man
Lord, Lord, say,
C
there lives that steel -drivin' man
Thank
John Henry
Josh White, The Golden Gate Quartet
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