Children love to hear the same story again and again. Once I asked my son why he wanted to hear Hats For Sale again (for the nth time in a row!!!). He responded simply: “Because it’s a good story”. So here’s John Henry, a song I love to play because, well…because it’s a good story and I love to play it.
The story, of course, tells of this giant, Afro-American workingman, a steel-drivin’ man, who challenged the power of the machine, the steam drill. And who died with a hammer in his hand. A mythologically-large folk-hero, John Henry was apparently a real guy, who, according to some accounts, died in West Virginia in 1871 trying to dig through a mountain. His last words were: “Gimme a cool drink of water before I die”.
The harmonica riff is copied from Sonny Terry, one of my personal heroes.
An Occasional Story 
hi Stephen, John Henry nowadays could be seen as a statement about job losses – by increasing faster and faster development of technologies: the end of the line for many photographers, printers, book writers, journalists, musicians etc. – greetings by
I found out about John Henry’s story through Nickelodeon’s Legends of the Hidden Temple show so many years ago, if memory serves me right!
Yes, it’s a great story!
greetings from
https://soundcloud.com/fingerstyle_guitar/bass-kazoo-zoom
P.S.:
I’ve just uploaded TAKE THIS HAMMER – played on my Dobro / resonator steel guitar – with a similar protest message:
https://soundcloud.com/fingerstyle_guitar/take-this-hammer
you, performing the ballad, are making a real good job!
Thanks. You know what a great song it is. It’s always a pleasure to play it.
greetings by
good comment by Shimon: “…still around today, between men who see themselves as work horses, and the forces of automation…”
hi Steve,
in Europe we at first learned the version of skiffle Lonnie Donegan – it took some time to discover Leadbelly – I like your new version very much – and: Sonny Terry would applause too …
I learned this song mostly from Sonny and Brownie.
I first heard this song many years ago, and thought of it as one of many that celebrated ‘larger than life’ figures in American history. But listening to it now, I felt really sad. It is about the competition, still around today, between men who see themselves as work horses, and the forces of automation.
That’s true. I think that’s what Marx (not Groucho) said: that there’s a dialectic between classes, a ceaseless interplay and conflict between classes or between movements. The plain heroism of John Henry still rings true.
I have 3 children (all adults now) and yes, I’ve heard that one many times – tell us the story about (fill in the blanks same story) 🙂
…and “because I like to hear it!”!!!!
🙂
Thanks Marina. You know I’ve played/posted John Henry a number of times already on this blog. If you encourage me like this, I’ll keep on doing it!
GOOD!
🙂