Ballad of John Henry's Hammer

[Lamegameful]

Where's the sound of my hammer?

[DieGwinners]

AW.....



[MJRookieRook]

Yeeeeaahhh I'm not understanding the gut on this guy. Nor am I understanding why his "hammer" looks like a push broom lol

[chrisb4nu]

Classic video...very nice.

[darksied87]

Im John henry!!!......the third

[alightinflesh]

echlocution AHORA MISMO!!!

[Brettsburg20]

John Henry and Johnny Cash. Pure GOLD!

[1bullsderrickrose]

John Henry a true worker unlike today's lazy asses!!!

[notmepoopoo]

@1bullsderrickrose You are a punce, you are only saying that because it is you own internal representation of your efforts

[derail14]

He was a real person, this happened at the big bend tunnel on the ex c&o railroad, john henry was actually a track labor person, they built the tracks & the tunnels.

[dorkozoid]

try hitting the machine with your hammer

[Pigpenskates]

Look for west virginia a film history. It's long but tells the actual story of the real John Henry. He did out hammer a few machine drills but sorry he wasn't hammering rail road spikes he broke up rock with his hammer for them to come lay track.

[starfish50]

Thank you for posting this. Not only for the song, but the story of John Henery. - wonderfull tribute.

[NateD91]

who is john Henry was he a real person 

[kabukikitsune]

@griffo1968 John Henry wasn't a spiker as this story and video seems to suggest, but instead he drove a steel. That steel was hard, and about six feet long (as Henry says) and was the same thing as a modern drill. The steel man would hit the drill head with his hammer, and the shaker would turn it about 90 degrees.  The steel would hit it again, and they'd repeat. Once they got in oh...three, maybe four feet, they'd tamp in some TNT, blow open the holes, and repeat. It's how they dug tunnels.

[Nunatag1]

Pardon me Mr.steam drill i suppose you dint hear me, i said how is you ?

[lowmask2]

in the cartoon version he was more bugger and bigger

[h8erXsk8er]

this song reminds me of jimmy deans song "big bad john"

[DrydicGuy]

@h8erXsk8er Should be the other way around, John Henry's legend is by far older than Jimmy Dean.

[Aztexwarrior]

my brother and i listened to this when we reconstructed our grandparents house on a hot summer day good times on a good old record

[Aeschylus]

Yes John Henry died, but Polly Anne can drive steel like a man...

[tik999]

John Henry proved that the spirit could overcome the body. Sure he died, but he beat the machine.

with the hammer in his hand. Don't get more badass than that.

[bigge0369]

love this song but that guy cant swing that hammer. sorry

[adheeshz]

God Dham.. I mis this nigger, My fav Tv Show, theres a better version tho cant find it!

John Henrys hammer rain....

[justwannamakeluv]

~some of the guys with the biggest are also the bigges wimps. I know many lumberjacks who could beat the hell out 95 percent of these so called bodybuilders of today, its not the size of the muscle its the amount of fight~

[PrdTB]

Johny Henry was a "Giant among men" He raced against a Stream drill and died of a heart attack during the race.

He wanted to prove that a man could punch a hole into the mountain face faster than a steam drill could. - The holes was used to put dynamite charges in to blow tunnels through the mountain.

[wehappyfewmusic]

What a great version - Thanks for posting!

[42whatelse]

Its John Henry! Not John Henty!

[herringtunes]

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have corrected.

[quik76]

@42whatelse people say henry lol :P

[AragornIsStrider]

Who is John Henty?

[Huhakungfu]

...muscles are nothing.

Heart ist important...

[ilmatador13]

He could have been a bit more muscular. like the guy from the green mile.

[Dogote82]

my three year old son loves this song. i cant wait to show him this video tomorrow morning when he wakes up. he's absolutely mad about trains :D

[faljare]

long love johnny cash

[vickferrari1]

This is my favorite John Henry song.

[wycliffe35]

Amazing video - thanks for the posting...

[grannydyess]

awesome! but then johnny was always great!

[leekenobi21]

Why did they decide to cast an actor with a beer gut to play John Henry? Every interpretation I've ever seen of him thus far depicts him as being lean and muscular.

[AwesomeMullet69]

My guess is that this movie was shot sometime in the sixties/early seventies when "body sculpting" or body building was still relatively new. So the casting choice here does depict what, at the time, was perceived to be a muscular man: Tall, big boned, etc.

[ivansnyder]

I dunno, he looks pretty strong, media portrays strong people with six packs, and bulgy muscles, but if you look at some of these farm boys or steel workers or whatever they don't have the big bunch muscles but they are built for working all day, at a steady pace , but they are strong, and I wouldn't want to tangle with any of them ...

[Dogote82]

i agree. theres a term for it and i've seen it before. you can lift weights all day long but you got to use them in a full range of motion(aka actual work)

you can always tell a working man from a weight lifter.

[bulldog32220]

@ivansnyder true im 6'1 275 dont have a six pack but i becnch 325lbs and can work all day im farm raised country boy

[notmepoopoo]

@bulldog32220 fuckin hicks

[jjobie]

@notmepoopoo Who are you referring to?

[mrDebbie8746]

@notmepoopoo ...fucking yankies................

[DeepGreen31]

Really? I'd like to see your ass get out there and swing the hammer as many times as this guy did to make this video! I mean are you all buff and cut from typing comments on youtube??

[awkwardangle]

@leekenobi21 I suspect the casting director was white. Also it's a song about John henrys' hammer which did whatever it was told, it's not actually about the man and the legend.

[IvarForkbeard]

@leekenobi21

simple fact is that you ever seen blue collar workers? The miners, loggers, the men that DO for a living rather than shuffle paper...

I have, born n raised in minin country and I will take 1 guy with a 80 inch chest, 25 inch arms, and a 48 inch waist over 5 sculpted greek god types, cause when the pretty boys are all in and cashed out, my guy will still be slingin a pick.

[isveryniceyes]

@leekenobi21 Back in the 1800's thats was strong men looked like. They didn't have lean bodes or ver much muscle definition because back then nobody had heard of eating only certain sorts of vegetables and only lean meat and all of that healthy stuff that we know today, they just worked hard and ate a shit-load of red meat and bread so they were still tough mothers but they just had a layer of fat over the same, or even greater, muscle mass that body-builders have today.

[OKflyboy]

@leekenobi21

Right... because a man with a slight bit of gut couldn't *possibly* still be pretty damn strong.

lol

[DrunkenM0nkey87]

@leekenobi21 the actor is the kind of strong and msucular u get when u work hard, and not muscular like the hollywood gym gayboys u thinking about... and btw swinging a hammer does not train ur apps^^

[The6568]

@leekenobi21

because you don't know how a worker does look like. Today and yesterday. Try to look paintings of the 19th century representing the working class… I'm a carpenter. I'm french (near Paris, France). And sorry for giving you a lesson…

[FriedEggsWithChips]

@leekenobi21 True, but people did drink a LOT in those days so it's not impossible he had the gut to show for it.

[XxpandaskaterxX]

@leekenobi21 i have to say that if u do that job for a long time it would not work your stomach much..just your uper body..therefore he would not really have abs ..but maybe im wrong but thats just my thought

[thcthc]

@XxpandaskaterxX actually it differs from the time of the year..beacuse of the food...miners usualy were all lean muscular and strong even if they were skinny LOOK UP PAKISTAN MINERS IN THESE DAYS they carry up to 50 tons of coal in one day one bag is about 100kg and there is no problem....for them ;) heart is more than gym . GOD BLESS ! PEACE!

[ektrules]

@leekenobi21 Perhaps because that's what working men look like, instead of people who work out in their spare time just for looks?

[skatejoni]

@leekenobi21 just because it's more realistic?

[JJohnston4Life]

I hated the video. The song version wasn't the best in the world. The best version was Folsom Prison Live.

[stanjarin]

Johnny Cash's voice is the John Henry of our times. The sound of that goddamm voice does the same job to us as the legend of John Henry did to people back then. John, keep singing, keep us thinking and keep us feeling.

Johnny Cash's voice is the 20 pound hammer.

[iBiteUranus]

@stanjarin keep singing??? he's dead....

[est794]

startin tomorrow

[wolfgangfuck]

i havent seen this since i was about 4

[derail14]

The story is true, it happened at the big bend tunnel on the ex c&o railroad

[TFPBassist02]

does anyone know what happened to the video of the folsom performance of this?

[railmogul2]

its in the DVD the American Train Story

[newgness]

I hear Brasky had said that Johnny had no mortal equals. LMAO

[savesprinkles5678]

I heard that Bill Brasky and Johnny Cash once lifted a 600 car freight train above their heads to save kitten that was stuck on the tracks. To Bill Brasky! (Raises glass)

[newgness]

with one hand tied behind his back.

[LykopisGilneas]

Cool

[ajb221]

i never knew jonny cash did mini history lessons before his songs

[savesprinkles5678]

Yeah, he used to teach history at Harvard.

[ajb221]

oh cool

[savesprinkles5678]

He also discovered an element (Cashium), and circumnavigated the earth twice in a bicycle operated flying machine that he crafted out of old cigar boxes.

[newgness]

Him and bill brasky were best friends :)

[savesprinkles5678]

You sure are right about that! I like how you think!

[savesprinkles5678]

John Henry he knew how to swing a hammer just like my old granpappy. I loved my granpappy and the stories of steel drivin' he used to tell. Well, actually, they weren't really steel drivin' stories. They were porno movies, and he wasn't my grandpappy, he was just the creepy neighbor next door.

[ajkharrypotter6]

I heard this song in English on monday!!! good song!!!

[johnbrown037]

My brother hgave me the nickname JOHN HENRY because of this man and this song

[savesprinkles5678]

Were you or are you a steel drivin' man?

[vooduality]

We lost a great historian and freedom fighter when Johnny moved on up to the lord. This is one man who can dispel the myth that all country folk are racist. Johnny fought for all folks!!

[savesprinkles5678]

My friend used to be a limo driver at WOlf Trap. He drove Johnny, and said he had the biggest bag of weed he'd ever seen. He must have also like to fight for weed. I know he loved it. He's up in heaven smokin' a fat blunt.

[ThrottleStuckOpen]

How dare you say he's in heaven smoking blunts. Insulting. It'd be a bong.

[savesprinkles5678]

I'm sure he wouldn't have objected to either. Old Johnny loved his weed!

[5peterbilt5]

sure cut that song down bout a 3min diff minus the intro on the video

[PERI59]

i enjoyed this but it is different fromthe old folk songin some ways

[mikeg8866]

the best