I remember my father introduced me to these songs when I was growing up. They were always two of my favorite songs, partly because they remind me of my father and partly because they are classic recordings.
For some reason lately I decided to pull these songs out of the cd cabinet and well, I cant tell who is a bigger bad-ass –
Big Bad John - “If you see me comin’ you better step aside. A lot of men didn’t and a lot of men died; I got one fist of iron and the other of steel; And if the right one don’t get ya, the left one will.”
Or
Johnny - “Devil, just come on back, If you ever want to try again; But I told you once, you son of a bitch, I’m the best that’s ever been"
I am referring to the recordings by Tennessee Ernie Ford and The Charlie Daniels Band, respectively. These songs have the ability to raise my adrenalin a few notches and I haven’t ever been able to stop myself from putting each song on repeat for at least 3 spins at a time.
Big Bad John ain’t in “16 Tons” is he? I thought he was the guy from the Jimmy Dean song, “Big Bad John”:
"Evry morning at the mine you could see him arrive
He stood six feet six, weighed two-forty-five
etc, etc.
“Some folks say he came from New Orleans
Where he got in a fight over a Cajun Queen
With one (crushing?) blow of that huge right hand
He sent a Louisiana man to the promised land”
BIG BAD JOHN
He eventaully wimps out and saves everybody’s life in a cave-in though.
Actually, I have that song to thank for meeting my wife. To make a long story very short, I was performing it on stage (it was amateur night), and she was in the crowd. She liked my rendition so much, she introduced herself later and told me how much she liked it. The rest, as they say, is history.
But nobody ever did that when I did “Sixteen Tons.”
Seriously, the narrator of “Sixteen Tons” (I agree that Big Bad John was another song) may be a tough guy, but he shows up to work every day, does his thing, probably buys more stuff at the company store, getting into more debt, and continues on. No real reaction from him except a complaint.
Johnny the fiddler, on the other hand, doesn’t have to accept the Devil’s bet–but he does anyway. That took guts and a lot of confidence.
Johnny stood up to the Devil. The “Sixteen Tons” narrator could have stood up to the straw boss, but didn’t. Johnny the fiddler gets my vote.
Thank you for correcting me, the protaganist in 16 Tons doesn’t have a name, and maybe its better that way. We’ll just call him the “Coal Miner”.
Another good one ! But I dont think he could take our other two contestants - “Well, those two men took to fightin’; And when they pulled them from the floor; Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle; With a couple of pieces gone.”
And wolfman I suppose we’d have to nominate “Slim” for the contest, because it sure didnt take long for Big Jim Walker to get beat !
Cyn I’m glad you agree with me, but I think Spoons just convinced me to change my mind ! I mean, both guys may look the same on paper, but its how they perform in real-life action that counts. Poor old Coal Miner mighta kicked the Devils @ss if he had the chance, but our Johnny did it with a wink and a smile - and got away with the lady
Well yall,
I have to vote for Dark as a Dungeon as recorded by Merle Travis- especally the last two verses:
**The midnight, the morning, or the middle of the day/
It’s the same to the miner who labors away/
Where the demons of the death often come by surprise/
One fall of the slate and you’re buried alive/
I hope when I’m gone and the ages shall roll/
My body will blacken and turn into coal/
Then I’ll look from the door of my heavenly home/
And pity the miner a-diggin’ my bones/**
Maybe you can best the devil by playin’ a fiddle- but you sure as hell won’t outlast the mines.
-BMoK
How about the story of John Henry, as memorably retold by the great man in black himself, Mr. Johnny Cash?
He could beat all the other men mentioned in this thread with one hand tied behind his back.
We need a battle between the guy that kicked Leroy Brown’s ass (a.k.a. the jealous man/ Dora’s husband) and the Devil from “The Devil went down to Georgia”, or at least the guy that plays the stratocaster in the Charlie Daniels’ song. (is that Charlie?). Why? Because the Devil’s solo is more kickass than Johnny’s. Come on. Never mind that the Devil was big enough to admit that he’d lost (had there been a moderator there, the outcome may have been different).
But what I DO like is that Johnny was just sitting there playing his fiddle all happy-go-lucky before the Devil came along and fucked with him. Johnny said, “Fine, asshole… give your fiddle away. But consider yourself warned”. SPOONS pointed out the guts and confidence.
That’s what it’s all about in the end… Sooooooo
One vote for Johnny… regardless of the irrelevance of the bread-eating chicken and Grandma’s pleasntly demeanored dog (probably a Golden Retreiver)
[quuote]Because the Devil’s solo is more kickass than Johnny’s.
[/quote]
Pessor - careful now, it might seem as if you’ve been enchanted by the band of demons that joined in - surely one of those guys was whacking on an electric guitar. The Devil barely seemed to be playing a chromatic scale with his golden fiddle.
This is how so true… unfortunately my tilted view on the whole thing will always be weighted by the fact that when I think of “The Devil Went…” I’m reminded of driving a ‘71 Datsun 510 at 93mph in a 55… For 40 minutes or so. Just like the OP, kept hitting ‘rewind’.
So the Devil is like a cocky little lawyer with some funky quota, jaundices his way into Johnny’s life, and is pretty confident himself that he can kick his butt, even after he admittady had come across a "a young man sawin’ on a fiddle an’ playin’ it hot". You REALLY are down on your luck if you fuck with people that are obviously better at playing the fiddle than you are.
Devil is a dumbass, but he’s got some guys working for him that play decent rhythm under his saw. Piano, guitar, funky bass.
there’s my mod FWIW… funny thread!
ps sold the datsun for $100.50 on eBay last summer
Polly rocks too. She was married to a serial killer who drowned his wives/fiancees. She used her womanly wiles and false modesty to save herself. She may not last forever but it is the earliest American folksong I know (and one of the few in general) that has the woman as the hero.
Now I’ll take off my silken dress
Likewise my golden stay
But before I do so you false young man
You must face yon willow tree.
And as he turned his back around
And faced yon willow tree
She caught him around so small
And throwed him into the cold salt sea.
HUGS!
Sqrl
