Big Bad John

Every morning at the mine you could see him arrive

He stood six-foot six and weighed two forty-five

Kinda broad at the shoulders and narrow at the hip

Everybody knew you didn’t give no lip to Big John

(Big John) (Big John) Big Bad John (Big    John)

Nobody seemed to know where John called home

He just drifted into town and stayed all alone

He didn’t say much kinda quiet and shy

And if you spoke at all you just said hi to Big John

Somebody said he came from New Orleans

Where he got in a fight over a Cajun Queen

And a crashing blow from a huge right hand

Sent a Louisiana fellow to the Promised Land Big John

(Big John) (Big John) Big Bad John (Big    John)

Then came the day at the bottom of the mine

When a timber cracked and men started crying

Miners were praying and hearts beat fast

And everybody thought that they’d breathed their last ‘cept John

Through the dust and the smoke of this man made hell

Walked a giant of a man that the miners knew well

Grabbed a sagging timber and gave out with a groan

And like a giant Oak tree just stood there alone Big John

(Big John) (Big John) Big Bad John (Big    John)

With all of his strength he gave a mighty shove

Then a miner yelled out there’s a light up above

And twenty men scrambled from a would-be grave

And now there’s only one left down there to save Big John

With jacks and timbers they started back down

Then came that rumble way down in the ground

And smoke and gas belched out of that mine

And everybody knew it was the end of the line for Big John

(Big John) (Big John) Big Bad John (Big    John)

Now they never reopened that worthless pit

They just placed a marble stand in front of it

These few words are written on that stand

At the bottom of this mine lies a big big man Big John