Big Bad John:Jimmy (Ray) Dean.
#1 Hot 100..#1 Adult Contemp..#1 Country in 1961.

INTRO:
F   G     F   G
Big John, Big John..

#1.
G                                   F
Every morning at the mine you could see him arrive,
         G                        F
he stood six foot six and weighed two forty five.

#2.
      G                         F
Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip,
    G                         F                   G
and everybody knew you didn't give no lip, to Big John.

CHORUS:
    Em        C   D           G
Big John, Big Jo..hn..Big bad John..
F   G     
Big John.

#3.
G                           F
Nobody seemed to know where John called home,
        G                     F
he just drifted into town and stayed all alone.

#4.
   G                      F
He didn't say much, kinda quiet and shy,
    G                        F                     G
and if you spoke at all, you just said, hi, to Big John.

#5.
G                          F
Somebody said he came from New Orleans,
         G                     F
where he got in a fight over a Cajun Queen.
      G                    F
And a crashing blow from a huge right hand,
       G                       F                  G
sent a Louisiana fellow to the Promised Land, Big John.

CHORUS:
    Em        C   D           G
Big John, Big Jo..hn..Big bad John..
F   G     
Big John.

#6.
G                        F
Then came the day at the bottom of the mine,
       G                  F
when a timber cracked and men started cryin'.
G                       F
Miners were praying and hearts beat fast..
    G                             F
And everybody thought that they'd breathed their last,
      G
'cept John.

#7.
G                                      F
Through the dust and the smoke of this man-made hell,
         G                       F
walked a giant of a man that the miners knew well.
          G                       F
Grabbed a sagging timber and gave out with a groan,
           G                      F                      G
And like a giant Oak tree he just stood there alone, Big John.

CHORUS:
    Em        C   D           G
Big John, Big Jo..hn..Big bad John..
G   Ab  
Big John.

#8.
Ab                                     F#
And with all of his strength he gave a mighty shove,
       Ab                           F#
then a miner yelled out, 'There's a light up above!'
    Ab                          F#
And twenty men scrambled from a would-be grave..
             Ab             F#                      Ab
Now, there's only one left, down there to save..Big John.

#9.
Ab                          F#
With jacks and timbers they started back down,
     Ab                   F#
then came that rumble way down in the ground.
         Ab                    F#
And then smoke and gas belched out of that mine..
Ab                        F#                       Ab
Everybody knew it was the end of the line, for Big John.

CHORUS:
    Fm        C#  Eb          Ab
Big John, Big Jo..hn..Big bad John..
F#  Ab    
Big John.

#10.
Ab                            F#
Now, they never reopened that worthless pit,
          Ab                       F#
They just placed a marble stand in front of it.
Ab                          F#
These few words are written on that stand..
        Ab                          F#                Ab
'At the bottom of this mine, lies a big, big man, Big John.'

CHORUS:
    Fm        C#  Eb         Ab
Big John, Big Jo..hn..Big bad John..
F#  Ab     
Big John.

OUTRO:
F#  Ab    F#      Ab
Big John..Big Bad John..(Fade.)


A sixties smash from Kraziekhat.