Every mornin' at the mine you could see him arrive He stood six foot six and weighed 2-45 Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip And everybody knew you didn't give no lip to Big John
Nobody knew where John called home He just drifted into town and stayed all alone Didn't say much just kinda quiet and shy And if you spoke at all you just said hi to Big John Somebody said he come from New Orleans Where he got in a fight over a Cajun Queen An’ a crashin' blow from a huge right hand Sent a Louisiana fellow to the Promised Land Big John (Big John Big John) Big Bad John
Then there came that day way down in the mine When a timber cracked and men started cryin' And miners were prayin' and hearts beat fast And everybody thought that they'd breathed their last 'cept John Through the smoke and the dust of this man made hell Walked a giant of a man that the miners knew well Grabbed a sagging timber and gave out with a groan And like a giant oak tree just stood there alone Big John (Big John Big John) Big Bad John
With all of his strength he gave a mighty shove And a miner hollered out there's a light up above And as twenty men scrambled from a would be grave Now there's only one left down there to save Big John With jacks and timbers they started back down And then they heard a rumble way down in the ground And as smoke and gas belched out of that mine Everybody knew it way the end of the line for Big John (Big John Big John) Big Bad John
They never reopened that worthless pit They just put a marbled slab over it These few words're written on that stand At the bottom of this mine lies one hell of a man Big John (Big John Big John Big John Big John) Big Bad John