Big Bad John

G                                 
Every moning at the mine you could
     F
 see him arrive
         G                       
He stood six foot six and weighed 
   F
245
      G                        
Kinda broad at the shoulder and 
               F
narrow at the hip
    G                              
And everybody knew you didn't give 
   F          G
no lip to Big John.
    Em        C      D            
Big John, Big Jaw----won, Big Bad 
G
John.
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

(Chorus)

     Ab                            
Then came one day at the bottom of 
    Gb
the mine
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       Ab                        
When a timber cracked and the men 
         Gb
started crying
Ab                           
Miners were paraying and their 
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hearts beat fast
    Ab                      
And everybody thought they'd 
                Gb         Ab
breathed their last 'cept John
            Ab                   
Through the dust and the smoke of 
               Gb
this man made Hell
         Ab                     
Walked a giant of a man that the 
             Gb
miners knew well
          Ab                     
Grabbed a sagging timber and gave 
            Gb
out with a groan
           Ab                      
And like a giant oak tree just 
         Gb       Ab
stood there alone Big John
    Fm        Db     Eb           
Big John, Big Jaw----won, Big Bad 
Ab
John
     A                             
With all of his strength he gave a 
       G
mighty shove
       A                           
Then a miner yelled out "There's a 
          G
light up above
    A                              
And 20 men scrambled from w would 
  G
be grave
            A                      
Now there's only one left down 
     G        A
there to save Big John
     A                             
With jacks and timbers they started
      G
 back down
     A                           
Then came that rumble way down in 
     G
the ground
    A                              
And smoke and gas belched from 
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outta that mine
A                                 
Everybody knew it was the end of 
   G            A
the line for Big John
    F#m       D      E            
Big John, Big Jaw----won, Big Bad 
A
John.
Return to G

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".

(Chorus)