Listening to the folk station WUMB today on the internet. Damn, I think I’ve already heard three songs this morning that sing about him.
Not being a big fan of Folk Radio, I’m not sure I’ve even heard one. I was very surprised to learn, from Robert Schenkman’s book Legends, Lies, and Popular Myths of American History that he was a real person (although he didn’t die trying to beat a steam-powered rail driver), and that Eugene O’Neill wrote a play about him to "disinter him ".
Here’s a page abouit him, which says it’s not known if he did exist:
Ever hear the Tom Smothers version?
“When John Henry was a little baby,
Sittin’ on his daddy’s knee,
His father picked him up and he threw him on the ground
And said ‘this baby’s wet all over me!’”
Yes, the definitive version is the Smothers Brothers’ version (available here)!
John Henry said to the Captain
“By God I ain’t no fool
Before I die with my hammer in my hand
I’m gonna get me a steam drill too, Lord Lord
Get me a steam drill too!”
Drive-By Truckers recorded The Day John Henry Died a couple years back. It’s not exactly a complete retelling of the legend, but it’s a pretty good rock song.
Van Morrison burns it up on the CD The Philosopher’s Stone.I mean burns it with a white hot fire. Van the Man.
Ayup, when you’re going to become a legend, be sure that you have a name that’s manly, and that scans well. And that doesn’t rhyme with “stink.” Or “onion.”