John Henry was volgens de overlevering een Afro-Amerikaanse spoorwegarbeider die betrokken was bij het graven van de Big Bend tunnel. Henry was trots op zijn werk, zijn kracht en zijn vakbekwaamheid. De legende wil dat hij weigerde te accepteren dat een stoomboor zijn meerdere zou zijn, niet – of niet alleen omdat hij in zijn trots gekwetst werd – maar omdat het hem zijn baan zou kosten. Om te bewijzen dat hij beter was dan een machine ging John Henry een wedstrijd aan met een stoomboor. Hij won de wedstrijd, maar stierf de dag erna aan uitputting.
De overlevering is mogelijk gebaseerd op een historische gebeurtenis:
This man, known as Neal Miller, told me in plain words how he had come to the tunnel with his father at 17, how he carried water and drills for the steel drivers, how he saw John Henry every day, and, finally, all about the contest between John Henry and the steam drill.
“When the agent for the steam drill company brought the drill here,” said Mr. Miller, “John Henry wanted to drive against it. He took a lot of pride in his work and he hated to see a machine take the work of men like him.
“Well, they decided to hold a test to get an idea of how practical the steam drill was. The test went on all day and part of the next day.
“John Henry won. He wouldn’t rest enough, and he overdid. He took sick and died soon after that.”
Mr. Miller described the steam drill in detail. I made a sketch of it and later when I looked up pictures of the early steam drills, I found his description correct. I asked people about Mr. Miller’s reputation, and they all said, “If Neal Miller said anything happened, it happened.”
Well, John Henry was a little baby
Sitting on his daddy’s knee
He picked up a hammer and
A little piece of steel
And cried, “Hammer’s going to
Be death of me, Lord, Lord
Hammer’s going to be the death of me”Now the captain he
Said to John Henry
“I’m going to bring that
Steam drill around
I’m going to bring that
Steam drill out on these tracks
I’m going to knock that
Steel on down, God, God
I’m going to knock that
Steel on down”John Henry told his captain
“Lord, a man is nothing but a man
But before I let that steam drill
Beat me down
I’m going to die with a hammer
In my hand, Lord, Lord
I’ll die with a hammer in my hand”John Henry driving
On the right side
That steam drill driving
On the left
Says, “Before I let your
Steam drill beat me down
I’m going to hammer
Myself to death, Lord, Lord
I’ll hammer my fool self to death”Well captain said to John Henry
“What is that storm I hear?”
John Henry said, “That
Is no storm captain
That’s just my hammer
In the air, Lord, Lord
That’s just my hammer in the air”John Henry said to his shaker
“Shaker, why don’t you sing?
Because I’m swinging thirty pounds
From my hips on down
Yeah, listen to my cold steel
Ring, Lord Lord
Listen to my cold steel ring”
John Henry he hammered
In the mountains
His hammer was striking fire
But he worked so hard
It broke his heart
John Henry laid down his hammer
And died, Lord, Lord
John Henry laid down his hammer and diedWell, now John Henry
He had him a woman
By the name of Polly Ann
She walked out to those tracks
Picked up John Henry’s hammer
Polly drove steel like a man, Lord, Lord
Polly drove that steel like a manWell every, every Monday morning
When a blue bird he began to sing
You could hear John Henry
From a mile or more
You could hear John Henry’s hammer
Ring, Lord, Lord
You can hear John Henry’s hammer ringYou can hear John Henry’s hammer
Ring, Lord, Lord
You can hear John Henry’s hammer ring
Uitgelichte afbeelding: By QuenEllis – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52861903
