JOHN HENRY^©

Album's version

One, two, three

When John Henry was a little baby
Sittin' on his daddy's knee
He picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel
And cried, "hammer's gonna be the death of me, Lord, Lord
Hammer's gonna be the death of me"

Now the captain he said to John Henry
"I'm gonna bring that steam drill around
I'm gonna bring that steam drill out on these tracks
I'm gonna knock that steel on down, God, God
I'm gonna knock that steel on down"

John Henry told his captain,
"Lord a man ain't nothin' but a man
But before I let this steam drill beat me down
I'm gonna die with a hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord
Die with a hammer in my hand"

Ready Sue!

John Henry driving on the right side
That steam drill driving on the left
Says, "'fore I'll let your steam drill beat me down
I'm gonna hammer myself to death, Lord, Lord
I'll hammer my fool self to death"

Well, captain said to John Henry
"What is that storm I hear?"
John Henry said, "That ain't no storm
Captain, that's just my hammer in the air, Lord, Lord
That's just my hammer in the air"

John Henry said to his shaker
"Shaker, why don't you sing?
'Cause I'm swigin' thirty pounds from my hips on down
Yeah, listen to my cold steel ring, Lord, Lord
Listen to my cold steel ring"

Come on ???!

I wanna hear that banjo now too!

I want it now!

Now John Henry he hammered in the mountains
His hammer was striking fire
But he worked so hard, it broke his heart
John Henry laid his hammer and died, Lord, Lord
John Henry laid down his hammer and died

Well now John Henry he had him a woman
By the name of Polly Ann
She walked out to those tracks, picked up John Henry's hammer
Polly drove steel like a man, Lord, Lord
Polly drove that steel like a man

Come on!

Well every, every Monday morning
When a bluebird he began to sing
You could hear John Henry from a mile or more
You can hear John Henry's hammer ring, Lord, Lord
You can hear John Henry's hammer ring
Set out again!
So you can hear John Henry's hammer ring, Lord, Lord
You can hear John Henry's hammer ring
Come on! Woah!

One, two, a one two three four!*

It's good

Bruce Springsteen recorded this traditional song with The Seeger Sessions Band during the "Seeger Sessions". The song is included on Bruce's 2006 cover album, We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions.

The Seeger Sessions consist of three recording sessions (a 2-days session on 01 and 02 Nov 1997, a 1-day session in Dec 2005, and a 1-day session in Jan 2006), during which all the album's songs were cut live in the living room of Bruce's New Jersey farmhouse. The songs were not rehearsed and all arrangements were conducted as Bruce and the band played. It is not clear during which one of the 3 sessions this song was recorded.

The above lyrics refer to Bruce's version from the We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions album.

The in-studio performance of the song opens the DVD side of the DualDisc album.

This song was reported to be rehearsed for the Seeger Sessions tour by Bruce Springsteen with his Seeger Sessions Band on 13, 20, and 21 Mar and 06 and 07 Apr 2006 at the Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, NJ, and 12 Apr 2006 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ. Some comments from the people who listened to the rehearsals:

• "Lots of Soozie violin. There was also a guitar solo and an accordion solo." [20 Mar]
• "Bruce sang one line of this kiddingly, 'John Henry had him a red-headed woman'." [21 Mar]
• "A big finish from the band on this one." [07 Apr]

Played during all 4 public rehearsal shows for The Seeger Sessions tour -- 20, 24, 25, and 26 Apr 2006 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ.

The song was also played on 30 Apr 2006 at New Orleans Fair Grounds, New Orleans, LA, when Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band closed the first weekend of the New Orelans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Pete Seeger, to whom the above album is dedicated, has recorded JOHN HENRY in the 50's. His version can now be found on several of his releases, including:

• Clearwater Classics (1995 - Sony Special Products 17865)
• Sing-A-Long (1992 - Smithsonian/Folkways 40027)
• Folk Songs For Young People (2000 - Smithsonian/Folkways SFW CD 45024)
• American Favorite Ballads Vol. 1 (2002 - Smithsonian/Folkways).

JOHN HENRY, written in the late 19th century, describes a larger-than-life African-American man who used a twelve-pound hammer to drive steel rods into mountainsides. Dynamite, placed in the holes left by the rods, was blasted to build tunnels for railroads. John Henry is probably the most famous worker in United States history. The song has been recorded by numerous musicians, including Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, Van Morrision, and Harry Belafonte. Every artist includes his own favorite verses. Check out the early traditional version.

Alternate titles include: "John Henry Blues", "Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hands", and "The Ballad Of John Henry". For detailed history and info about John Henry and the song, check out the John Henry The Steel Driving Man website. Check also Dave Marsh's liner notes below for additional details.

The above lyrics refer to Bruce's album version. Check also the early traditional version.

* This line is from the original mix of the song and can be heard on the video from the DVD side of the DualDisc. It was taken off in the shorter remix that made the audio side.

Thanks Daniel W, Paul Waltzing, and Karin for the lyrics help.

Dave Marsh's liner notes about JOHN HENRY:

"John Henry" must be one of the most recorded of all American folk songs. It's also one of the songs that seems least likely to be based on a real incident but it was. This true story of man versus machine combat occurred during the building of Eastern railroads in the late nineteenth century.

The purpose of the steel-drivers was not to pound spikes into the ground, securing the track. John Henry and men like him were driving holes in the faces of mountains into which explosive charges would be placed, as the railroads blasted locomotive tunnels. In the 1880s, it became possible to do this work with steam drills and, like all automation, that meant throwing a lot of people out of work: Not only the driver but also his "shaker," the man who held the wedge or spike that the sledgehammer forced into the rock.

John Henry met this challenge by offering to race the drill, to see which of them could open a deeper hole in the mountain in a given period of time. The site of this race is not known for certain, but many believe it happened during the blasting of the tunnel through Big Bend Mountain in West Virginia. Or maybe some other Big Bend Mountain.

A fascinating case is made by John Garst of the University of Georgia that the events took place at the Coosa or Oak Mountain tunnel of the C&W Railroad (now the Norfolk Southern) in Alabama on September 20, 1887. (You can read it at www.ibiblio.org/john_henry/alabama.html). According to this version, John Henry was a black man, born a slave, who came from Crystal Springs, Mississippi. He beat the steam drill by driving 27 and a half feet to its mere 21, then expired on the spot.

The details are less important than the outline, because this is a legend. Railroads were the most important instrument of America's westward expansion and there was virtually no place they didn't touch. Wherever railroads were built, a variety of hammer songs (the other notable one being "Take This Hammer") came along.

"John Henry" was the best of the batch because it carried the most complex set of messages. It is a protest song, sometimes against human expendability, sometimes against over work (in one version, "This old hammer killed John Henry / But it won't kill me, it won't kill me"). It also a song about the love of work (one version says "John Henry kissed his hammer / Kissed his hammer with a groan.") It's the archetypal tale of man versus machine, and at another level, a tale of the unity of men and their tools. Since John Henry is understood to be a black man--menial occupations on the railroad were racially distributed--it is a story about the strength and courage of the African-American people. It is a story about the callousness of the bosses and of the whole power structure that works men to death without blinking. In the version Pete and Bruce sing, it is a story about marital fidelity and female strength, too.

The first printed version of "John Henry" appeared in 1900, but by then, it had been circulating aurally for years. In 1924, Fiddlin' John Carson cut the first record of it; Ragtime Henry Thomas made the first version by a black artist in 1927. Since then, it has been recorded hundreds of times by dozens of well-known performers including Dock Boggs, Big Bill Broonzy, Charlie Daniels, Arlo and Woody Guthrie, Ronnie Hawkins with the group now called The Band, John Lee Hooker, Leadbelly, Erskine Hawkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Monroe, Van Morrison, Paul Robeson, Billy Preston, and Porter Waggoner. Pete Seeger's version is on The Essential Pete Seeger, American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 1 and Clearwater Classics, among others.