G D Cadd9 Em7
I watched the rain; it settled in. We disappeared for days again.
G D Cadd9 G
Most of us were staying in, lazy like the sky.
G D Cadd9 Em7
The letters flew across the wire filtered through a million liars.
G D Cadd9 G
The whole world smelled like burning tires the day John Henry died.
G D Cadd9 Em7
We knew about that big machine that ran on human hope and steam.
G D Cadd9 G
Bets on John were far between and mostly on the side.
G D Cadd9 Em7
We heard he put up quite a fight. His hands and feet turned snowy white.
G D Cadd9 G
That hammer rang out through the night the day John Henry died.
Em7 Cadd9 G D
When John Henry was a little bitty baby
Em7 Cadd9 G D
nobody ever taught him how to read
Em7 Cadd9 G D
but he knew the perfect way to hold a hammer
Cadd9 Am
was the way the railroad baron held the deed.
G D Cadd9 Em7
It didn't matter if he won, if he lived, or if he'd run.
G D Cadd9 G
They changed the way his job was done. Labor costs were high.
G D Cadd9 Em7
That new machine was cheap as hell and only John would work as well,
G D Cadd9 G
so they left him laying where he fell the day John Henry died.
Em7 Cadd9 G D
John Henry was a steel-driving bastard
Em7 Cadd9 G D
but John Henry was a bastard just the same.
Em7 Cadd9 G D
An engine never thinks about his daddy
Em7 Cadd9 Am
and an engine never needs to write its name.
G D Cadd9 Em7
So pack your bags, we're headed west and L.A. ain't no place to rest.
G D Cadd9 G
You'll need some sleep to pass the test, so get some on the flight
G D Cadd9 Em7
and say your prayers John Henry Ford 'cause we don't need your work no more.
G D Cadd9 G
You should have known the final score the day John Henry died.
