Contact
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)
Artist: Fiddlin' John Carson
Author: traditional
Label: Okeh
Year: 1924
John Henry's tune has Scottish roots in ballad The Lass Of Loch Royale (Child #76) and inspired This Old Hammer's tune (see there). Most John Henry's end with exactly the same lines as in The Lass Of Loch Royale: "Who's going to glove your little hand, shoe your little foot".
Covers:
Uncle Dave Macon [as Death Of John Henry]
Gid Tanner [as Steel Driving Man]
Williamson Brothers & Curry [as Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand; part of Harry Smith's Anthology]
DeFord Bailey [as harmonica instrumental, distributed both as 'race music' and 'hillbilly']
Two Poor Boys [Joe Evans & Arthur McClain]
Paul Robeson [in film Emperor Jones]
J.E. Mainer [as John Henry Was A Little Boy]
Blind Blues Darby [as Spike Driver]
Josh White [released a whole album in '55 dedicated to the story of John Henry]
Sid Hemphill [Lomax recording]
Ed Lewis [Lomax recording]
Elizabeth Cronin [as Lord Gregory (The Lass Of Roch Royal); Lomax recording on Classic Ballads Of Britain And Ireland - Vol. 1]
Neil Morris [as The Lass Of Loch Royale, on Vol. 1 of the Southern Journey series in The Alan Lomax Collection]
Brothers Four [as The Thinkin' Man John Henry, where John is challenged by a computer]
Merle Travis [as John Henry Jr.]
Johnny Cash [as The Legend Of John Henry's Hammer; outtake At Folsom Prison]
Van Morrison [saved up for The Philosopher's Stone compilation]
Snakefarm [with Anna Domino]
Steve Earle [as John Henry Was A Steel Drivin' Man]
John Henry was the strongest steel driver during the Big Bend tunnel works on the C&O line in West Virginia about 1873. He had to drill holes for explosives in the worst of working conditions. Archives got lost. All we know for sure is that about ten horses died each month. Now the life of a horse was considered a lot more valuable than that of a negro worker, so that tells us something about the estimated casualties among men. They worked for years on that tunnel. To speed up the pace, steam drills were used. Much against John Henry's liking. He was the strongest hammer around and challenged those steam drills. According to legend he won purely on force: "It was the flesh against the steam". When he died, myth began.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)