[philman_36]

Big Bad John
Through the dust and the smoke of this man-made hell
Walked a giant of a man that the miners knew well
Grabbed a saggin' timber, gave out with a groan
And like a giant oak tree he just stood there alone-Big John
(Big John, Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)

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

[TxBec]

the last line of that song always gets me.

[Thumper1960]

From memory...................

With jacks and timbers they started back down,
Then came that rumble way down in the ground,
As smoke and gas belched outta that mine,
Everyone knew it was the end of the line, for Big John.

Well, they never reopened that worthless pit,
They just placed a marble stand in front of it,
These few words were written on that stand:
At the bottom of this mine lies a big, big man.....Big John.