The day before he was born a rainbow stretched across the sky from east to west The night was black as black as a crow’s wing dipped in ink There was a red copper moon that didn’t give off any light and the stars were a million years away Roosters crowed dogs howled and somewhere in the woods a wild creature screamed A huge dark cloud came and covered the moon and stars Forked lightning and rain poured out of that cloud and the thunder made a hammer out of itself that pounded the earth until the roots of the trees shook The Mississippi River ran upstream for a thousand miles and John Henry was born 6
Some folks say he was born with a hammer in his hand Others say that’s the first thing he reached for a hammer hanging on the cabin wall But everyone agrees he weighed thirty-three pounds when he first came into this world His daddy took one look at him and said That boy’s gonna be a natural man I can see that as plain as a row of cotton runnin uphill Yes sir he’s gonna be a natural man Starting so big John Henry naturally grew fast and he grew big so fast and so big that he was only two when he sat on his mother’s knee for the last time And that time John looked up and said Big Bend Tunnel on the C and O Road gonna be the death of me 8
