John Henry

John Henry is about a man named John Henry who from when he was a kid said that working on the railroad would kill him. “Setting on his mamma’s knee, He said The Big Bend Tunnel on the C. & O. Road Is gonna be the death of me.” (Verse 2) The ballad later goes on to tell that John Henry will be participating in a contest in which he has to race a steam drill. While John Henry beats the steam drill he died afterward. My interpretation on why he raced the steam drill is that it could have been for money or to fight a technological process because he wanted to prove that a man could beat technology. So, if John Henry did this contest because he was fed up with how the railroad company was treating him this ballad could have influenced the songs “The Message” and “N.Y. State of Mind.” In both of these songs the artist sings about how he is either about to be pushed over the edge or has been. In the ballad, “John Henry”, I think that he has been pushed over the edge because he let himself be. However I think that this ballad relates more to “The Message” because in that song the artist tells of how he is trying to the right thing throughout a struggle. In John Henry the railroad system is pushing more towards efficiency and not so much concerned about the workers. John Henry proves to them that a man can beat a steam drill and that the workers should be treated better. What makes me think that the railroad didn’t treat the workers well is because John Henry’s last words were, “Give me a cool drink of water ‘fore I die.” (Verse 19) To me that says that the workers had to work long hours without water or food. In “The Message” it also talks about living in a harsh environment, the ghetto. Both the ballad and “The Message” tell stories of how living life was hard.