Chords for Jason Isbell - The Day John Henry Died

[F] I might have told this story last year or [C] I might have told a story that [Dm] completely contradicts this last year so
Don't pay any [F] attention that you got to take
_ [C] _ _ [F] My _ _ granddad [Dm] died I
[F] Was in Kmart not [C] right then but like a couple weeks after that
I was in Kmart [F] and I saw this guy like with like a suit like a three-piece suit
It [Cm] was quite a bit older [F] than my granddad had probably been when he died _ _ _
You know somebody was taking care of him and [C] I got really pissed about [F] it and
_ [N] It was just it made me really angry to see somebody that old [Gm] alive right there
You [F] know, _
_ _ [C] _ _ [Dm] I'm just trying to [C] start off on an up note
_ _ [Bb] I'll get to the sad [Dm] songs later.
But anyway, I wrote this song about [A] that just about [Gm] that experience in [F] general and about
Kind [C] of winning the battle but [F] losing the war
_ _ _ [C] _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Watch the [C] rain
Settling in [F]
we disappeared for days again _
most of us were [C] staying in
[F] _
lazy like the sky
_ _ Let us [C] move across the wire
_ [F] _ [Bb]
Filtered [F] through a million wires and the whole world smell [C] like burning tires
[F] on the day John Henry _ died
We knew about [C] that big machine
[F] The man on a human hope and steam that's on John [C]
far between
[F] my wish lay on the _ side
We heard he put up [C] quite a fight
_ [F] His hands and feet turned so it was
_ _ Raining [C] out in the night
[F] The day John Henry died
with John Henry _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [F]
Baby
Nobody ever taught him how to read
_ [C] _ _ [F] But he knew the perfect way to hold a hammer
_ [C] In the [Dm] hand
There _ [C] and help [F] the deed _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ And it didn't [C] matter if he won [Bb] he [F] had lived if he had run
They changed the way [C] his job was done
_ [F] labor costs were high
But that he she _ [C] was help
[F] No, John can work as well.
[C] So I [F] left him laying [C] where he [F] fell
day John Henry died _ _ _
_ John Henry was [Bb] steel [F]-driving _ Master
[C] _ _ _
[F] John Henry was a bastard just the same
_ _ [C] _ _ And [F] the engine never thanks about his daddy
[C] _ The _ [F] engine never
needs to ride [C] his [F] name _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ So pack your [C] bags and head west
_ [Bb] There ain't [Dm] no place for [F] it.
You'll need some [C] sleep
That's the tip
[F] Of this song on the _ fly _
Say your [C] prayers John Henry
[F] Cuz we don't need your work no more.
You should have [C] no final score
[F] But day John Henry died
_ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ No _ [C] final [F] score
day John Henry died _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _