When you live on the other side of the world … it isn’t easy to predict what might make you suddenly nostalgic for “home.”

So it was with a little surprise that I noted the death of singer-songwriter Jimmy Dean at age 81 … and found myself listening to his classic, 1961 hit, a grand exemplar of the traditional American storytelling song … “Big Bad John.”

First, let’s give you a link to a youtube recording of the song, because if you’re under 40 you may not have heard it.

Here it is, what certainly sounds like the original recording.

The song is famous enough to have generated its own wikipedia entry. Which includes a note about how an original piano accompaniment was dumped in favor of using a hammer to bang on a piece of a steel … giving the impression of miners at work. A touch of sheer inspiration.

What I love about this song …

–The story. In eight verses, we have the physical description of an intimidating man, a life with mysterious back story that includes romance and violence … a life that is expiated by heroism and self-sacrifice … and rewarded with remembrance. A lot to cram in to about three minutes, but Jimmy Dean did it.

–The lyrics. Particularly the fragments “through the dust and the smoke of this man-made hell walked a giant of a man who the miners knew well” … as well as “with all of his strength he gave a mighty shove, then a miner yelled out ‘theres a light up above!’ And 20 men scrambled from a would-be grave …”

–The key change which brings a heightened sense of anticipation to the most dramatic part of the song. You know the next verse is important even before it arrives.

–Jimmy Dean’s accent. These storytelling songs are always best in a working-class/rural accent. Jimmy Dean was from Texas, and even though “mines” are to Texas what steers are to West Virginia, Dean’s twang sounds right. And you hear it right up front, the “kinda broad at the shoulder and narra at the hip” pronunciation of an early lyric, which is a very American sound. (The sort of thing you notice, away from home.)

Here are the lyrics, not that Dean is difficult to understand:

(“Big John; Big John”)

“Every mornin’ at the mine you could see him arrive.

“He stood six foot six and weighed two-forty-five.

“Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip,

“And everybody knew you didn’t give no lip to Big John.”

(“Big John; Big John”) “Big Bad John” (“Big John”)

“Nobody seemed to know where John called home,

“Just drifted into town and stayed all alone.

“He didn’t say much he kinda quiet and shy,

“And if you spoke at all you just said ‘hi’ to Big John.

“Somebody said he came from New Orleans,

“Where he got in a fight over a Cajun queen,

“And a crashin’ blow from a huge right hand

“Sent a Loosiana fellow to the Promised Land, Big John.”

(“Big John, Big John”) “Big Bad John” (“Big John”)

“Then came the day at the bottom of the mine

“When a timber cracked and men started cryin’

“Miners were prayin’ and hearts beat fast

“And everybody thought that they’d breathed their last — ‘cept 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 and 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.

“With jacks and timbers they started back down,

“Then came that rumble way down in the ground

“And the smoke and gas belched out of the mine

“And everybody knew it way the end of the line for Big John.”

(“Big John, Big John) “Big Bad John” (“Big John”)

“Now they never reopened that worthless pit,

“They just placed a marble stand in front of it.

“These few words’re written on that stand:

“At the bottom of this mine lies a big, big man: Big John.”

(“Big John, Big John) “Big Bad John” (“Big John, Big John”) “Big Bad John” 

Love this song. Love it. Jimmy Dean made movies and he made sausage, but I predict he will be remembered longest and most fondly for this classic bit of Americana: Big Bad John.