\"Lyrics
SEARCH HERE:
BROWSE 409412 LYRICS BY ARTIST/BAND NAME:
#A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
SITE MENU
Last Updates
Request Lyrics
Submit / Correct
Popularity Charts
VISITORS
Login / Register
Your Thoughts
My Playlists
[ More Johnny Cash lyrics ]
add to playlist     see a mistake?    comment

Artist/Band: Johnny Cash
Lyrics for Song: Legend Of John Henry's Hammer
Lyrics for Album: Other Songs - Johnny Cash



John Henry's pappy woke him up one midnight

He said, "'Fore the sheriff comes I wanna tell you, listen boy"

Said, "Learn to ball a jack, learn to lay a track

Learn to pick and shovel too and take my hammer

It'll do anything you tell it to"



John Henry's mammy had about a dozen babies

John Henry's pappy broke jail about a dozen times

The babies all got sick and when the doctor wanted money

He said, "I'll pay you a quarter at a time startin' tomorrow

That's the pay for a steel driver on this line"



Then the section foreman said, "Hey, hammer swinger

I see you brought your own hammer boy

But what else can all those muscles do

And he said, "I can turn a jack, I can lay a track

I can pick and shovel too"



Can you swing a hammer boy?

Yes sir, I'll do anything, you hire me to



Now ain't you somethin'

So high and mighty wif your muscles

Just go ahead, boy and pick up that hammer

Pick up the hammer



He said, "Get a rusty spike and swing it down three times

I'll 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 nose hammer on a four foot switch handle

John Henry raised it back 'til it touched his heels then

The spike went through the cross tie and it split it half in two

Thirty-five cents a day for drivin' steel



Sweat, sweat boy, sweat, you owe me two more swings

I was born for driven steel



Well John Henry hammered in the mountain

He'd give a grunt, he'd give a groan with every swing

The women folks for miles around heard him and come down

To watch him make the cold steel ring, Lord what a swinger

Just listen to that cold steel ring



But the bad boss come up laughin' at John Henry

Said, "You full of vinegar now, but you about through

We gonna get a steam drill to do your share of drivin'

Then what's all them muscles gonna do? Huh, John Henry?

Gonna take a little bit of vinegar out of you"



John Henry said, "I feed four little brothers

And baby sister's walkin' on her knees

Did the Lord say that machines oughtta take the place of livin'?

And what's a substitute for bread and beans? I ain't seen it

Do engines get rewarded for their steam?"



John Henry hid in a coal mine for his dinner nap

Had thirty minutes to rest before the bell

The mine boss hollered, "Get up, whoever you are, and get a pick axe

Give me enough coal to start another hell and keep it burnin'

Mine me enough to start another hell"



John Henry said to his captain," A man ain't nothin' but a man

But if you'll bring that steam drill round, I'll beat it fair and honest

I'll die with my hammer in my hand but I'll be laughin'

'Cuz you can't replace a steel drivin' man"



There was a big crowd of people at the mountain

John Henry said to the steam drill, "How is you?

Pardon me mister steam drill, I suppose you didn't hear me"

I said, "How're you?"



Well can you turn a jack, can you lay a track

Can you pick and shovel too?

Listen, this hammer swinger's talkin' to you



Two thousand people hollered, "Go, John Henry"

Then somebody hollered, "The mountain's caving in"

John Henry told the captain, "Tell the kind folks don't worry

That ain't nothin' but my hammer suckin' wind, it keeps me breathin'

A steel driver's muscle I intend"



Captain, tell the people, move back further

I'm at the finish line and there ain't no drill

It's so far behind but yet ain't got the brains to quit it

When she blows up she'll scatter 'cross the hills, Lord lordy

When she blows up she'll scatter 'cross the hills



Well John Henry had a little woman

I believe the lady's name was Polly Ann

Yeah that was his good woman

John Henry threw his hammer over his shoulder and went on home



He laid down to rest his weary back and early next mornin'

He said, "Come here Polly Ann, come here sugar

Ya know, I believe this is the first time I ever watched

The sun come up that I couldn't come up"



"Take my hammer, Polly Ann and go to that railroad

Swing that hammer like you seen me do it

And when you're swingin' with the lead man

They'll all know, they'll all know you're John Henry's woman

But, but tell them ain't all you can do"



"Tell 'em I can hoist a jack, and I can lay a track

I can pick and shovel too, ain't no machine can

That's been proved to you"



There was a big crowd of mourners at the church house

The section hands laid him in the sand

Trains go by on the rails John Henry laid

They slow down and take off their hats, the men do



When they come to the place where John Henry's layin'

Restin' his back, some of 'em say, "Mornin', steel driver

You sure was a hammer swinger"

Then they go on by, pickin' up a little speed

Clickity clack, clickity clack, clickity clack, clickity clack



Yonder lies a steel drivin' man, oh, Lord

Yonder lies a steel drivin' man

Yonder lies a steel drivin' man, oh, Lord

Yonder lies a steel drivin' man



Yonder lies a steel drivin' man, oh, Lord

Yonder lies a steel drivin' man


Album Lyrics: Other Songs - Johnny Cash


Johnny Cash
"Other Songs - Johnny Cash"


1. 25 Minutes To Go
2. A Satisfied Mind
3. Big Bad John
4. Cocaine Blues
5. Cry Cry Cry
6. Danny Boy
7. Dark As A Dungeon
8. Delia's Gone
9. Drive On
10. Five Feet High And Risin'
11. For You
12. Ghost Riders In The Sky
13. Girl In Saskatoon
14. God Bless Robert E. Lee
15. Hardin' Wouldn't Run
16. Heart of Gold
17. Highway Patrolman
18. Hung My Heart
19. Hurt
20. I Got Stripes
21. I Guess Things Happen That Way
22. I Shall Not Be Moved
23. I'm On Fire
24. I've Been Everywhere
25. If I Were A Carpenter (With June Carter Cash)
26. In My Life
27. Jackson
28. Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream
29. Let It Be Me
30. Like A Soldier
31. No Good Chain Gang
32. One
33. One Piece At A Time
34. Personal Jesus
35. Ragged Old Flag
36. Rockabilly Blues
37. Rowboat
38. Rusty Cage
39. San Quentin
40. Solitary Man
41. Tennessee Flat Top Box
42. Tennessee Stud
43. The Baron
44. The Big Battle
45. The Man Who Couldnt Cry
46. The Night Hank Williams Came To Town
47. The One On The Right Is On The Left
48. The Rebel-Johnny Yuma
49. The first time ever I saw your face
50. Thirteen
51. Water From The Wells Of Home
52. We'll Meet Again
53. When The Man Comes Around
54. god
55. A Half A Mile A Day
56. A Little At A Time
57. Abner Brown
58. After Taxes
59. All Mama's Children
60. Angel And The Badman
61. Ballad Of The Green Beret
62. Beans For Breakfast
63. Belshazzar (Album Version)
64. Brown-Eyed Handsome Man
65. Children Go Where I Send Thee (Album Version)
67. Christmas Spirit
68. Cindy
69. Closing Medley
70. Devil Went Down To Georgia - Johnny Cash & Travis Tritt
71. Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes
72. Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
73. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
74. Father & Son
75. Flushed...
76. Galway Bay
77. Gifts They Gave
78. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
79. Have A Drink Of Water
80. Have Thine Own Way Lord
81. He'll Understand And Say Well Done (Album Version)
82. Help Me Make It Through The Night
83. Hot Rod Lincoln
84. How Great Thou Art (Album Version)
85. I Hardly Ever Sing Beer Drinking Songs
86. I Wanted So
87. I'll Always Love You (in My Own Crazy Way)
88. I'll Say It's True (With George Jones)
89. I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
90. I'm An Easy Rider
91. I'm Gonna Try And Be That Way
92. If He Came Back Again
93. If Jesus Ever Loved A Woman
94. In The Land Of Israel
95. In Them Old Cottonfields Back Home
96. In Your Mind
97. Invertebraes
98. It Is No Secret (what God Can Do) (album Version)
99. It Takes One To Know Me
100. It's All Over
101. Jacob Green
102. Jim, I Wore A Tie Today
103. Kneeling Drunkards Plea
104. Legend Of John Henry's Hammer
105. Let The Lower Lights Be Running
106. Lights Of Magdala
107. Little Drummer Boy
108. Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man (with June Carter)
109. Lord, Lord, Lord
110. Louisiana Man
111. Matthew Twenty-Four (Is Knocking At The Door)
112. Me And Bobby Mcgee
113. Missouri Waltz
114. My Ship Will Sail (Album Version)
115. Oh Come, Angel Band (Album Version)
116. Oh, Bury Me Not
117. Old Account Was Settled Long Ago
118. Old Chunk of Coal
119. One Of These Days I'm Gonna Sit Down And Talk To Paul
120. Orleans Parish Prison
121. Paradise
122. Rdemption Day
123. Ride This Train (part 3)
124. Rose Of My Heart
125. Saginaw, Michigan
126. Singing In Vietnam Talking Blues
127. Strawberry Cake
127. The Cremation Of Sam Mcgee
127. The Engineer's Dying Child
127. The Evening Train
127. The General Lee
127. The Great Speckle Bird (Album Version)
127. The Hard Way
127. The House Is Falling Down
127. The Last Of The Drifters (W. Tom T. Hall)
127. The Lily Of The Valley
127. The Loving Gift
127. The Man Who Couldn't Cry
127. The Old Account (Album Version)
127. The One Rose (That's Left In My Heart)
127. The Reverend Mr. Black
127. The Running Kind
127. The Way Worn Traveler
127. The Winding Stream
127. There's A Mother Always Waiting At Home
127. This Train Is Bound For Glory
127. Virgie
127. Waiting On The Far Side Banks Of Jordan
127. Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) (Album Version)
127. West Canterbury Subdivision Blues
127. When I Stop Dreaming
127. Why Me Lord
127. Will The Circle Be Unbroken
127. Wrong Song
127. You'll Remember Me
127. Angels Love Bad Men
127. Arkansas Lovin' Man
127. Blue Suede Shoes [Live][#][*]
127. Boa Constrictor
127. Brakeman's Blues [Incomplete]
127. Broken Freedom Song
127. Children, Go Where I Send Thee.
127. Gospel Boogie (A Wonderful Time Up There)
127. Hey, Good Lookin' [Undubbed]
127. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) [Undubbed]
127. I Just Thought You'd Like To Know [Alternate Take]
127. I've Got A Thing About Trains
127. Is This My Destiny
127. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
127. It'll Be Her
127. Melva's Wine
127. My Clinch Mountain Home
127. No Charge
127. No Expectations
127. Oh, Lonesome Me [Overdubbed Master]
127. Oh, What A Good Thing We Had
127. Old Time Feeling
127. Orphan Of The Road
127. Pack Up Your Sorrows
127. Please Don't Play Red River Valley
127. Silver Threads And Golden Needles
127. Sweet Baby James
127. Tender Years
127. Texas, 1947
127. The Devil To Pay
127. The Greatest Cowboy Of Them All
127. The Prisoners Song [Live]
127. We Oughta Be Ashamed
127. What Have You Got Planned Tonight Diana
127. What'd I Say
127. White Lightning
127. Who At My Door Is Standing [#]
127. You Can't Beat Jesus Christ
127. You Comb Her Hair