John Henry Chords by Tennessee Ernie Ford

_ _ _ When John Henry was a little baby, no bigger than the palm of your hand,
his mommy looked down at little Johnny and said,
My Johnny gonna be a steel-driving man, yes, Johnny gonna be a steel-driving [Ab] man.
_ [B] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
John Henry was a steel-driving man, drove steel all [Fm] over the land.
[Ab] Before I let the steam hammer get me down, I'm gonna die with my hammer in my hand,
die with my hammer in my hand.
[Abm] _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ John Henry went to the tunnel to drive steam hammer [Fm] by his side.
He [Ab] beat the [Cm] steam hammer to the top of the hill.
He laid down his hammer [F] and he cried, [Ab] Lord, laid down his hammer and he cried.
[Abm] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Fm] _
[Ab] John Henry had a loving little wife.
Her name [Fm] was Polly Ann.
[Ab] Johnny got sick and he had to [Cm] go to bed.
Polly drove steel like a [Abm] man, yes, [Ab] Polly drove steel like a man.
[Abm] _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ They buried John Henry in the graveyard.
They laid him down in the sand.
Every time a freight train come puffing by, they'd say, yonder lies a steel-driving [Db] man.
_ _ _ yonder lies a steel _ _ _ _ -driving man.
[F] _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [Ab] _
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _