The day john henry died - chords ver. 2 Chords & Tabs

View Guitar Chords for The day john henry died - chords ver. 2

    G                    D              Cadd9           Em7

I watched the rain; it settled in. We disappeared for days again.

G               D           Cadd9         G

Most of us were staying in, lazy like the sky.

G                 D              Cadd9              Em7

The letters flew across the wire filtered through a million liars.

    G                        D                 Cadd9          G

The whole world smelled like burning tires the day John Henry died.

   G               D                Cadd9             Em7

We knew about that big machine that ran on human hope and steam.

G                 D               Cadd9         G

Bets on John were far between and mostly on the side.

   G               D                  Cadd9                 Em7

We heard he put up quite a fight. His hands and feet turned snowy white.

G                    D                 Cadd9              G

That hammer rang out through the night the day John Henry died.

           Em7         Cadd9        G      D

When John Henry was a little bitty baby

   Em7      Cadd9              G      D

nobody ever taught him how to read

       Em7              Cadd9         G     D

but he knew the perfect way to hold a hammer

        Cadd9                            Am

was the way the railroad baron held the deed.

 G                  D             Cadd9            Em7

It didn't matter if he won, if he lived, or if he'd run.

G                        D             Cadd9            G

They changed the way his job was done. Labor costs were high.

 G                   D                 Cadd9           Em7

That new machine was cheap as hell and only John would work as well,

        G               D                 Cadd9          G

so they left him laying where he fell the day John Henry died.

     Em7         Cadd9         G      D

John Henry was a steel-driving bastard

         Em7         Cadd9            G      D

but John Henry was a bastard just the same.

   Em7          Cadd9            G      D

An engine never thinks about his daddy

       Em7          Cadd9              Am

and an engine never needs to write its name.

   G                     D               Cadd9         Em7

So pack your bags, we're headed west and L.A. ain't no place to rest.

       G                  D                 Cadd9           G

You'll need some sleep to pass the test, so get some on the flight

    G                     D           Cadd9                    Em7

and say your prayers John Henry Ford 'cause we don't need your work no more.

    G                     D               Cadd9          G

You should have known the final score the day John Henry died.