I die wid de hammer in my han’.”

John Henry say to his captain,

“I have been with you ninety-nine-years,

An’, captain, you don’t hurry nobody,

But always hurry me.”

K

John Henry was a little boy,

Was settin’ ’roun’ playin’ in the san’,

Two young ladies come a-ridin’ by,

Say, “I want you to be my man.”