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I watched the rain; it settled in. We disappeared for days again. |
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Most of us were staying in, lazy like the sky. |
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The letters flew across the wire filtered through a million liars. |
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The whole world smelled like burning tires the day John Henry died. |
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We knew about that big machine that ran on human hope and steam. |
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Bets on John were far between and mostly on the side. |
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We heard he put up quite a fight. His hands and feet turned snowy white. |
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That hammer rang out through the night the day John Henry died. |
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When John Henry was a little bitty baby nobody ever taught him how to read |
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but he knew the perfect way to hold a hammer was the way the railroad baron held the deed. |
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It didn't matter if he won, if he lived, or if he'd run. |
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They changed the way his job was done. Labor costs were high. |
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That new machine was cheap as hell and only John would work as well, |
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so they left him laying where he fell the day John Henry died. |
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John Henry was a steel-driving bastard but John Henry was a bastard just the same. |
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An engine never thinks about his daddy and an engine never needs to write its name. |
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So pack your bags, we're headed west and L.A. ain't no place to rest. |
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You'll need some sleep to pass the test, so get some on the flight |
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and say your prayers John Henry Ford 'cause we don't need your work no more. |
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You should have known the final score the day John Henry died. |
