Every m oning at the mine you could see him arri ve
He stood s ix foot six and weighed 245
Kinda b road at the shoulder and narrow at the hi p
And e verybody knew you didn't give no li p to Big Joh n.
Big J ohn, Big J aw--wo n, Big Bad Joh n.
Nobody seemed to know where John called home
He just drifted into town and stayed all alone
Didn't say much a-kinda quiet and shy
And if you spoke at all you just said high to Big John
Somebody said he came down from New Orleans
Where he got in a fight over a Cajun Queen
And a crashing blow from a huge right hand
Sent a Louisiana fellow to the Promised Land Big John
Then c ame one day at the bottom of the mi ne
When a t imber cracked and the men started cr ying
Miners were paraying and their hearts beat fast
And e verybody thought they'd breathed their la st 'cept Joh n
Through the d ust and the smoke of this man made He ll
Walked a g iant of a man that the miners knew we ll
Grabbed a s agging timber and gave out with a gr oan
And like a g iant oak tree just stood there alo ne Big Joh n
Big J ohn, Big J aw--wo n, Big Bad Joh n
With a ll of his strength he gave a mighty sh ove
Then a m iner yelled out "There's a light up abo ve
And 2 0 men scrambled from w would be gr ave
Now there's o nly one left down there to sa ve Big Joh n
With j acks and timbers they started back do wn
Then c ame that rumble way down in the gr ound
And s moke and gas belched from outta that mi ne
Everybody knew it was the end of the line for Big J ohn
Big J ohn, Big Ja w--won , Big Bad John .
Now they never re-opened that worthless pit
They just placed a marble stand in front of it
These few lines are written on that stand
"At the bottom of this mine, lies one Helluva man.--BIG JOHN".