He met a fair maiden, One bright may morning, When he went a-hunting In Midsomer County. The Ballad Of John Henry 2. The Ballad of John Henry. And pale was the skin Of the Midsomer maiden, Blue were her eyes The Ballad of John Henry #3. When I heard the previews of his new songs like the title track and "The Great Flood," I thought, wow we are in for a great sounding album … He is famous for racing against a steam powered hammer. Often, a ballad does not tell the reader what’s happening, but rather shows the reader what’s happening, describing each crucial moment in the trail of events. John Henry is an American mythical (usually African-American) folk hero, who has been the subject of numerous songs, stories, plays, and novels. In those days the men that worked on the railroad used song as a form of entertainment. With a very Tom Morello sounding riff, Bonamassa gives his own version of the legend with some epic flare and discussion of good versus evil. SUPERIOR Joe Bonamassa The Ballad Of John Henry J&R Adventures/Mascot, 2009. John Henry was, reportedly, a former slave who went to work as a steel-driver for railroad construction as a young man. For the first time in his life, John Henry … So It's Like That #4. Last Kiss 4. Wimberly wrote a note in admiration of Johnson's John Henry and praised the ballad as great literature, for its theme "of the individual pitting his lone strength and courage against an en- vironment" and "its ringing hammer music" and portrayal of "the struggle of sentient hu- 1. Blues-rock musician Joe Bonamassa released an album called The Ballad of John Henry in 2009. Originally, the popular ballad was passed down by word of mouth, not written down, so it has been subject to changes in lyrics and tune. Whether or not we believe the ballad of John Henry, we shall never know the truth as a fire destroyed C&O … Early folk historians confused the ballads of John Hardy and John Henry. Happier Times 8. But young men don't stray. Some accounts and records show that because of his skill set and large size he earned $1.75/day instead of the usual $1.25/day. There are many poems and ballad about the American folk hero John Henry. John Kelly (Kelly of Killanne) (1773 – c. 25 June 1798) lived in the town of Killanne in the parish of Rathnure, west of Enniscorthy, in County Wexford in Ireland, and was a United Irish leader who fought in the Irish Rebellion of 1798.. Kelly was obviously well known to rebel and loyalist alike during the short duration of the Wexford Rebellion … While it was being repaired, John Henry kept hammering away. ... Who wrote A Little in Love. Lyrics. A Man Ain't Nothin' but a Man: John Henry and Racial Equality The phrase “a man ain’t nothin’ but a man” probably appears in over 50 percent of the documented versions of “John Henry", and I consider it to be the ballad’s key line, the linchpin in a seemingly simple but quite complex song (see Note 1). Lyrics (Page 1) — General Topics — Joe Bonamassa Forum — The official forum for all things Joe … And in time, it has become timeless, spanning a century of generations with versions ranging from prisoners recorded at Mississippi's Parchman Farm in the late 1940s to present … Studio 360's David Krasnow traces the ballad back to its origins as a cautionary tale, and finds the answer song: a blues about a railroad worker who wants no part of martyrdom. Lonesome Road Blues 7. Stop! Saying, "Hammer's going to be the death of me, Lord, Lord, Hammer's going to be the death of me." “Barbara Allen” dates back at least to the 17th century. The Ballad of John Henry” is a traditional song, also called a popular ballad. Feelin' Good 9. D. Clay Walker. of young John Henry. Before the screen fades to black, a ballad plays with the lyrics: "Well John Henry drove into the mountain. 1M. Last Kiss #5. Some people say he was able to cut a path of three to six meters a day. 12 tracks (72:28). 3. Every Bonamassa album is guided by a keyword, and for this seventh it was ‘swampy’. B. Blake Shelton. It was perhaps the most commonly sung of tragic ballads from the British Isles that had been carried to the New World by early European settlers.. Often the ballad begins with a view of John Henry as a baby on his mother's or father's knee, a baby who notes that either hammer, steel or the Big Bend tunnel itself will eventually cause his death. It describes his contest with a steam drill, in which John Henry crushed more rock than the machine did but died ‘with his hammer in his hand.’ Writers and artists see in John Henry a symbol of the worker’s foredoomed struggle against the machine. John Henry was a man just six feet high, Nearly two feet and a half across his breast. Fittingly for a record named after a hammer-toting US folk hero, John Henry was heavier than anything Bonamassa had released before. At the end of the contest, when the dust cleared, John Henry had driven the steel 14 feet and the steam drill had made only 9. If the machine won, the boss would fire the men and use the machine to drill through Big Bend Mountain. Mythology Like other "Big Men" such as Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and Iron John, John Henry served as a mythical representation of a particular group within the melting … And warm was the blood That flowed from his body. The John Henry ballad with which we are so familiar tells a basic story, in spite of its seemingly infinite number of verses. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the "Fireside Poets," wrote lyrical poems about history, mythology, and legend that were popular and widely translated, making him the most famous American of his day.