OK, I’m not sure how familiar everyone is with the story of John Henry, the steel drivin’ man, so here’s the wikipedia summation:
“John Henry is an American folk hero, famous for having raced against a steam powered hammer and won, only to die in victory with his hammer in his hand. He has been the subject of numerous songs, stories, plays, and novels.
Like other “Big Men” such as Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill, John Henry also served as a mythical representation of a group within the melting pot of the 19th-century working class. In the most popular version of the story, Henry is born into the world big and strong weighing 33 pounds. He grows to become the greatest “steel-driver” in the mid-century push to erect the railroads across the mountains to the West. When the owner of the railroad buys a steam-powered hammer to do the work of his mostly black driving crew, to save his job and the jobs of his men, John Henry challenges the owner to a contest: himself alone versus the steam hammer. John Henry beats the machine, but exhausted, collapses and dies.”
From that, if you think like these demo knuckleheads do, then, DUH, John Henry was a wrath bringing hellion coming down from above and murdering the vengeful. Yes, the tracks will run red with the blood of sinners, when John Henry comes to judge the living and the dead. Let the cookie monster backing vocals be your guide to the sound that hammer makes when it comes crashing down on your skull.
Watch your backs railroad professionals (and professional sinners like us)!
