Every morning at the mine you could see him arrive.
 He stood six-foot-six and weighed twofortyfive.
 King of broad at the shoulder
 at naroow at the hip
 and everybody knew you did'nt give no lip to Big John.
 Somebody seemed to know where John called home.
 He just drifted into town and stayed all alone.
 He did'nt say much a kind a quiet and shy
 and if you spoke at all
 you just said "hi" to Big John.
 Big John. Big John. Big John.
 Big Bad John.
 Nobody said he came from New Orleans
 where he got in a fight over a Cajun Queen
 and a crashing blow from a huge right hand
 sent a Louisiana fellow to the promised land. Big John.
 Big John. Big John. Big John.
 Big John.
 Then came the day at the bottom of the mine
 when a timber cracked and the men started craying.
 Miners were praying and hearts beat fast
 and everybody thought that they'd breathed their last 'cept John.
 Through the dust and smoke of this man made hell
 walked a giant of a man that the miners knew well.
 Grabbed a sagging timber and gave out with a grown
 and like a giant oak tree
 just stood there alone. Big John.
 Big John. Big John. Big 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
 and 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 smoke and gas belched out of that mine
 everybody knew
 it was the end of the line for for Big John.
 Big John. Big John. Big John.
 Big Bad John.
 Now they never reopened that worthless pit
 they just placed a marble stand in front of it;
 These few words are 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