I watched the rain; it settled in. We disappeared
for days again. Most of us were staying in, lazy
like the sky. The letters flew across the wire
filtered through a million liars. The whole world
smelled like burning tires the day John Henry
died.

We knew about that big machine that ran on human
hope and steam. Bets on John were far between and
mostly on the side. We heard he put up quite a
fight. His hands and feet turned snowy white. That
hammer rang out through the night the day John
Henry died.

When John Henry was a little bitty baby nobody
ever taught him how to read but he knew the
perfect way to hold a hammer was the way the
railroad baron held the deed.

Find more similar lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.com/NEmIt didn't matter if he won, if he lived, or if
he'd run. They changed the way his job was done.
Labor costs were high. That new machine was cheap
as hell and only John would work as well, so they
left him laying where he fell the day John Henry
died.

John Henry was a steel-driving bastard but John
Henry was a bastard just the same. An engine never
thinks about his daddy and an engine never needs
to write its name.

So pack your bags, we're headed west and L.A.
ain't no place to rest. You'll need some sleep to
pass the test, so get some on the flight and say
your prayers John Henry Ford 'cause we don't need
your work no more. You should have known the final
score the day John Henry died.