Chords for Johnny Cash - The legend of John Henry´s hammer - Live at Folsom Prison

[N] Anybody got any special [Ab] requests for us to do?
[D] _
_ _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
John [Gb] Henry?
_ _ _ [Db] Well, let me do John Henry, and then we'll go on. _ _ _
[Fm] _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
John Henry's pappy woke him up one midnight.
He said, before the sheriff comes, I want [F] to tell you.
He said, listen, boy.
[Bb] Learn to hoist a jack, and learn to lay a [Bbm] track.
Learn to pick and [Bb] shovel, too.
And take that hammer.
_ It'll do anything you tell it to.
_ _ John Henry's mammy had about a dozen babies.
_ _ John Henry's pappy broke jail a [F] dozen times. _
[Bb] The babies all got sick, and when the doctor wanted money,
he said, I'll pay you a quarter at a time.
Start tomorrow.
Had to pay for a steel [A] driver on this [Bb] line.
_ Then a section foreman said, hey, hammer swinger. _
Said, [Db] I see you brought your own hammer, boy, but [B] what else can [G] all them muscles do?
[D] And he said, I [Bb] can hoist a jack, and [F] I can lay a track.
[Bb] I can pick _ and shovel, too.
He said, can you [Bbm] swing that hammer?
And he said, do [F] anything you hire [Bb] me to.
_ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [Abm] _
_ _ _ _ Said, now ain't you something?
You so high and mighty [Ab] with all them muscles.
Go ahead, boy, pick up that hammer and show me what you can do. _
He said, get a rusty spike and swing that hammer [Db] down three [Ab] times.
Pay you a nickel a day for every inch you sink it to.
Go on and do what you say you can do. _
With a steep-nosed hammer on a four-foot switch handle,
_ _ John Henry raised it back and I touched his [Eb] heels.
And the spike [Ab] went through the cross-pie and [Db] it split it [Ab] half in two.
Thirty-five cents a day for driving steel.
Said, sweat, boy, sweat, you owe me two more swings.
Said, I was born for driving steel.
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Well, now, John Henry hammered in the mountains.
He'd give a grunt and he'd give a groan with every swing.
The women poked from miles around and the dirty men come down.
Said, watch him make the coal steel ring.
Lord, what a twinger.
_ Watch him make the coal steel ring. _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ Then the bad boys come up laughing at John Henry.
_ He said, you're full of vinegar now, but you bowed through.
[Eb] _ _ _
[Ab] We're going to get a [Fm] steam drill to do your share of [Ab] driving.
Then what's all the muscles going to do?
Oh, John Henry, going to take a little bit of vinegar out of you.
_ _ John Henry said, I feed poor little brothers. _
And my baby sisters walk in on her [Eb] knees.
_ _ [Ab] Now, did the Lord say that machines ought to take the place of living? _
Then what's a substitute [Bb] for bread and [Ab] beans?
I ain't seen it. _ _
Do [Eb] engines get rewarded for their [Ab]
steam?
_ _ _ [Abm] _ _ _ _
_ _ John Henry said to his captain, _ [Ab] said, a man ain't nothing but a [Eb] man.
_ But you [Ab] can bring that steam drill around and I'll feed it paradise. _
I'll die with that hammer in my hand, but I'll be laughing.
Plus, you can't [Eb] replace a steel [Ab] driving man.
_ There was a big crowd of people at the mountain.
_ John Henry said to the steam drill, how is you?
[Eb] He said, pardon me, Mr.
Steam Drill, [A] I suppose you didn't hear me.
I [Gb] said, how are you, huh?
[Ab] Can you hoist a jack?
Can [Db] you lay a [Ab] track?
Can you pick and shovel too, huh?
Listen, this hammer swinger's talking to you. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Two thousand people on a go, John Henry. _
_ Somebody hotter than mountains [Eb] gave him in.
[Abm] John Henry told his captain, tell the kind folks don't [Ab] worry.
That ain't nothing but [Abm] my hammer sucking wind.
It keeps me breathing.
This steel driver's muscle, I ain't ten.
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Captain told the people, move back further.
_ _ I'm at the finish line and ain't no drill.
_ It's so far behind, but you ain't got the brains to quit it.
When she goes [Fm] up, she'll scatter across the hills, laud, laud.
When she goes up, she'll scatter across the hills. _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ Now John Henry had a little woman.
_ I believe the lady's name was Polly Ann.
[Gb] Yeah, that was his good woman.
John Henry threw his hammer over his shoulder and he went on [Bb] home.
Early the [Gb] next morning he said, [E] come here, Polly Ann, come [D] here, sugar.
[B] He said, you know, I've been laying here watching that [Ab] sun come up.
[A] And I believe this is the first [Gb] time I've seen the sun come up that I couldn't come up with it.
He said, dirty man, he [F] said, take that hammer, [Ab] Polly Ann, go to that railroad.
And when you swing it with a lead man, you tell him that ain't all I can do.
Tell him, I could hoist a jack and I could lay a [Abm] track.
I could pick and shovel too.
Ain't no [Ab] machine can.
_ That's been [Eb] proved to [Ab] you. _ _ _ _
There was a big crowd of mourners at the church house.
The _ sectioned hands waiting in [Eb] the tent.
_ _ _ [Ab] Strange goodbye on the rails, John Henry. _ _
They slow down and take off their hats when they come to where he's resting [Gb] his back.
They say, morning, [Ab] steel driver.
[E] You sure [Eb] was a hammer swinger.
Then they go on by [A] picking up a little speech before [Ab] they get a clap. _
_ Yeah, young alive, the steel driving man, Lord, Lord.
Young alive, [Eb] the steel [Ab] driving man.
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ Yeah, young alive, the steel driving [Bbm] man, Lord, [Bb]
Lord.
[F] Young alive, the steel [Bb] driving man. _
Oh, young alive. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Gbm] _
Thank you very much.
[Ab] You know, John Henry was a real [B] man.
He worked on the tunnel [Ab] up in West Virginia, building a tunnel for [A] the C&O Railroad.
He was a mighty big man, they say, [Bb] that from his [D]
heels on around [Bb] to the ground, he had a [Ab] stroke of 19 [Gb] feet.
Oh, that's a long stroke, you know.
[Ab] _ _
Wow, that's a long stroke. _ _ _ _