622. John Henry (Traditional American)

A well-known song about a black American folk hero.

Some of the many who have recorded this song are Lead Belly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Jesse Fuller, Paul Robeson, Mississippi John Hurt, Woody Guthrie, Merle Travis, Pete Seeger, Mike Seeger, Big Bill Broonzy, Josh White, Odetta, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Fred McDowell, Harry Belafonte, Roberta Flack, Bill Monroe, Dave Van Ronk, Lonnie Donegan, John Jacb Niles, Lew Dite and Bruce Springsteen. Many of these performances can be found on YouTube.

Lyrics, tune and detailed information can be found on my website.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• song
• america
• african
• american
• railroad
• worker
• labor
• modern
• machine
• tall
• story
• hero
• leadbelly

[UchihaEnma]

like it but this is not the one i am looking for it was on

anthology of keystone

is maded by a pete something i don't remember well

[raymondcrooke]

@UchihaEnma Maybe Pete Seeger?

[rachelcullett]

Nice job. Most of the versions on youtube pretty much suck, but you did a great job :)

[raymondcrooke]

@rachelcullett Thanks. Glad you liked it.

[dsmessinger]

Nice version

[raymondcrooke]

Thank you.

[UchihaEnma]

@raymondcrooke yes man pete seeger :D

[tipetu]

harry belafonte? I`ve heard the session in roay albert hall I believe it was

[raymondcrooke]

Folk songs are for everyone to sing. I make no apologies for doing my bit to pass on great songs like this. Maybe people hearing this for the first time (believe it or not, there are some) might be interested in seeking out some of the more authentic versions.

[HonRevPTB]

You know we have such a shortage of milk toast, white, middle aged, pudgy baby boomers singin classic folk songs, like they've ever experienced any type of hardships growing up. It must've been just horrible! Don't know how we survived w/out this cappucino drinking yuppie version of this song.