John Henry - Spirit of the Working Man - American - Extra Mythology
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- čas přidán 12. 01. 2021
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John Henry is a myth that embodies a lot of America. From the story of hard work and the working man overcoming the cold unfeeling steel of machinery; to its bitter history of exploiting marginalized people and infrastructure built on the bodies of those literally worked to death. As in a lot of Americana, the line between the historical figure and the mythical hero is blurry at best, if not entirely indistinguishable. What does the story of John Henry mean to you?
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Fun fact: in some versions of the song, it's said that thunder and lightning are actually John Henry still driving steel in heaven!
Either he's making Heaven a railroad, or someone needs to tell him to take a break
That would be some bs if you still have to work in heaven lol
@@bigghomie24 maybe he enjoys it
I believe it is also said storms travel on the rails he drove
What part of that is fun
John Henry cut through the mountain with all the exaggerated swagger of a steel-driving man.
lolll i get it
Nice
Nice
Nice
Nice
John Henry said to the captain: “A man ain’t nothin but a man. But before I let your steam drill beat me down, I’ll die with a hammer in my hand”
I heard that in the voice of Leonard Nimoy.
That’s where that came from!! Thank you. Read it in that beautiful deep voice I’ve heard it spoken in so many times
You have discovered Steel
@@pequod_ *pling*
John Henry was workin' on the mountain / and his hammer was strikin' fire. /
He struck--so--hard that he broke his poor old heart / and he laid down his hammer and he died.
[Lord Lord]
he laid down his hammer and he died.
They took John Henry to the graveyard / and they buried him in the sand. /
[and] Ev'ry Locomotive that goes rolling by goes, "There lies a steel-drivin' man."
[Lord Lord]
"There lies a steel-drivin' man."
"They say, that there is one dead Chinese man for every mile of that track."
-Anonymous Chinese labourer from Canadian Heritage minute: Nitro
Yeah they forgot there were a hell of a lot of chinese immigrants who worked on the railroads.
That's what they say...
The Chinese did much of the work in digging the train tunnels. This, as seen in the video, was far more dangerous work.
@@EdricLysharae The reason they hired the Chinese for a 1 dollar a day is because the Irishmen would ask for 1 dollar and 50 cents. Or so the story goes...
Every railroad track in the south was built by a slave
Polly: John we're free, you dont have to do this
John: Polly, if they steal our dreams they put a chain on our souls
That line always got me
Despite knowing how the story ended, few things have made me whisper "oh no!" to myself quite like McTavish sadly mumbling "It's not sundown yet..."
God damn what a sad movie
From what movie is this quote?
@@FeCyrineu Disney's American legends from 2001 it's an anthology film about Paul Bunyan, john Henry, Johnny Appleseed, and the brave engineer
@@troperhghar9898 Casey Jones is the engineers name. Hope you're having a good day
Hell yeah! As a kid I felt insecure because my country didn’t have a Hercules or a Beowulf. Then I discovered John Henry.
We also have Paul Bunyan, but he’s a bit more problematic simply because he kinda gets attributed things that the Native Americans did.
Folk tales are like American mythology
Also Johny Appleseed
@@darealist690 how many American myths do you know
@@christiaanvanstek1300 Like 3
John Henry, John Henry John Henry is a mighty man! born with a hammer, a ten pound hammer *a twenty pound Hammer* right in his hand!*
I heard John's mama liked to sew at night, So he pulled down the moon for a little bit of light. It took a lot of cooking to keep John fed,
@@blacklambcta4271 ten dozen eggs and 8 loaves of bread!
@@vittoriolepporio122 John Henry, John Henry,
John Henry is a mighty man.
Born with a hammer, born with a hammer,
Born with a hammer right in his hand.
He plowed the earth so wide and deep,
The seed he sowed the ground had to keep.
His hammer hit the earth with such a mighty blow,
Everything he planted would jump up and grow.
@@mettatonbutflesh8589 John Henry, John Henry,
John Henry is a powerful man.
All our lives we've been so poor,
John let me show you what we're working for.
Canaan Land, Canaan Land,
Everybody workin' for the Canaan Land.
Home and freedom hand in hand,
Workin' for the Canaan Land.
I love everyone that keeps this song going this was the song my mom sang to me as a kid
I remember old TV classics about this dude.
"John Henry, John Henry, John Henry was a powerful man.
Born with a hammer, boorn with a hammer, born with a hammer in his hand"
His poor mother.
I think I remember seeing that in elementary school.
I bet John Henry could lift Thor's hammer
And tonight he feasts in Valhalla, for he died in combat.
John Henry would definitely be worthy to wield Mjölnir.
In accordance to Marvel's new canon, he absolutely would be able to. He knew who he was. And I think the Magnus Chase series put him as a child of Thor
But would hor be able to weakd henry’s hammer? That that is the quesrion
There's a DC character based on him:
John Henry Irons, AKA Steel.
I remember learning about John Henry as a kid. Even now, hearing his story brings a tear to my eyes.
*_"John and the drill_* made the valley shake!
Rumblin' almost _caused an earthquake!_
_Thunder_ and _lightning_ was everywhere...
*_Oh, Lord, that battle was beyond compare!"_*
He was a victim of the system.
A personal favorite interpretation of the story is that John’s hammer was forged with the chains that ounce bound him, chains that ounce held him back now help him move forward over fields and through mountains
love the ballads of John Henry, especially Harry Fontaine's version
id recommend Who Killed John Hemery by Joe Bonnamassa a damn good track
Thank you very much, as an European I've only known John Henry from the quotes in civilization and didn't knew there were Songs until watching this video and since I now don't have to watch random videos, but instead know which versions to look up. I would like to say thank you.
I like Johnny Cash’s version
My personal favorite is Doc Watson’s version, Billy strings does a good rendition as well!
Bruce Springsteen does a great version of it in the Seeger Sessions, and then even improves it in the album Live in Dublin.
Other remarcable versions are the one from Pete Seeger himself, Johnny Cash, Henry Belafonte y Mississipy John Hurt. Big Bill Broonzie also has a very good cover of it.
I remember being told his story as a boy, but I'd never stopped to really reckon with what he meant to me. Thank y'all.
I remember when I was a kid we had a John Henry picture book. And before I could even read I would just flip through and look at the cool art work. It had this scene where John’s sweat became rainbows or something and it was just fantastic.
*_"John and the drill_* made the valley shake!
Rumblin' almost _caused an earthquake!_
_Thunder_ and _lightning_ was everywhere...
Oh, Lord, that battle was *_beyond compare!"_*
"John Henry smiled at the Crawler and he said: 'Sure, you can move a lot of dirt, but let's see who gets to the Mohorovicic discontinuity first.' And he picked up his shovel and waited for the starting gun." - The Uncle Nevercloned Stories
It also enjoy civ games.
I'd love for an action movie where a Harlem Hellfighter with a John Henry theme goes all John Wick/Rambo on the Klu Klux Klan.
Oh yea i'd pay money to watch that
You might want to read P. Djeli Clark’s Ring Shout. It has a similar idea but with some lovecraftian horror mixed in
Driving klan members into the ground with a single hammer blow? Instant gold! :D
I’d be first in line for that.
That is exactly the sort of movie the world needs right now.
It's astonishing that this video comes out literally the morning after I decide John Henry would be the perfect subject for a work song.
"some people say a man is made outta mud, the poor man's made outta muscle and blood, muscle and blood and skin an bone. a mind that's weak and a back that's strong"
"You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt"
@@Lucarioguild7 St. Peter don't you call me 'cuz I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store.
@@neiana *snap, snap, snap*
I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine
Picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
@@ypsilionofsoliii8556 I loaded 16 ton, of, number 9 coal and the straw boss said “well a bless my soul”
If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't get you
Then the left one will
So this is where John Henry Irons, aka DC's superhero Steel comes from.
Where did you get that idea?
@@OctopusWilson A black superhero literally named "John Henry", background is construction worker, weapon of choice is a giant hammer, debut as a superman side-character, who was another superhero inspired by mythical heroes of strength.
Not enough subtelty to think otherwise.
Uh his intruduction comic has him telling the story of John Henry to the neighbors kids
@@sharilshahed6106 Steel was also depicted as a very brilliant man. Doctorate in metallurgy and very physical strong (for a human). He was saved by Superman and in awe by him. The day Superman was reported dead. He saw it his duty to take up the mantle of being a Superman. And that is when we had the Supermen stories.
I love Steel!!!
As much as I love stories about ancient myths, I’d love to see more episodes covering more modern tall tales like this one.
Heck, if anything, I’d really love to see an episode dedicated to the legendary Steel Worker of Pittsburgh, Joe Magarac.
(He’s depicted in a lot of art, but there are very few sources about him)
Never heard that one, how does it go?
@@chukola Long story short, he was a man of Iron (literally) who emerged from the forges of the Pensilvania Steel Mills to help out the workers by squeezing iron into ingots with bare hands, bending bars into shape, and making sure the “boiling soup” (molten iron) never spilled on any of the workers.
There some smaller tales involving him, but generally his story ends when the mills run out of iron while building the bridges of Pittsburgh, and Joe melts himself down so the project can finish
I learned about this tale from the Disney short
Edit: thanks for the likes, this the most liked comment i made
Aye, I can remember the song featured in that short.
John Henry, John Henry, John Henry was a mighty man! Born with a hammer! Born with a hammer right in his hand!
Same
Me too
Springsteen song for me.
"No! I swore I'd work myself to death by the age of 35!"
“Anything more means I didn’t work hard enough!”
For me it's 30, think I've been living too safe.
who are you quoting here, bud?
That would be Howie Honeyglow from the CZcams miniseries "Epithet Erased."
Didn't expect an Epithet Erased reference here.
This is an interesting version of the story. The way I always heard it told, they drove in the railroad spikes and the competition was to spike a certain length of rail, John Henry on one side and the machine on the other. John Henry wins, but the machine doesn’t break.
All the versions of the song I've heard mention a 'shaker', the man who held the drill bit and rotated it.
The version you describe would at least make sense, for there to be a competition(because such a machine would threaten their livelihood). The story presented above, on the contrary, is just dumb. A steam-DRILL would not threaten their work, it would just do the one part of the job the workers dreaded (because of the much higher risk).
Amid all the crap that i've suffered in this country, John Henry's legend still rings as bright as the first day I heard about it
I know John Henry because of Civilization V, his tale is quoted in the game
And in Civ IV as well. :)
@@poilboiler And in Alpha Centauri when you build the Robotic Assembly Plant. :)
From which tech was that again?
@@rattvisa steam engine i believe (not sure though, I am French and so playing the French version of the game)
@@rattvisa You need to research industrial nanorobotics and then build the robotic assembly plant. :)
"We can't go over it, we can't go under it, oh no! We've got to go through it!"
- John Henry
Its been so long since I heard this tale and im happy its back in my head
When you realize that a My Little Pony episode with an apple cider making machine was inspired by John Henry...
That was the first thing that I thought of
@Paul Calixte Oh yeah, that's a good one too!
Or like bender in futurama
An episode from SpongeBob as well
Welp I was today years old when I realized that
"The endless miles of railroad track"
The union makes us strong 💪
Gonna be honest, I first heard this story from “Spongebob.”
Same lolol
What ep?
@@dreliq981 “Spongebob versu the Patty Gadget.”
I myself didn't do much better, I learned from a death message in Minecraft.
My lord, I haven't heard about this tale in years. Finally.
John henry is the man we are all going to need to be due to automation.
Work ourselves to death? I'd rather be re-train as a technician maintaining automation, or be free for more creative endeavors.
@@LaceNWhisky It's a nice idea, but the numbers don't add up. Remember that the automation is introduced because it saves money - so the wages of those it displaces will always be greater than the wages of those needed to maintain it. The effect of automation is to replace a large number of low-skill jobs with a much smaller number of high-skill jobs. Sure, you can re-train.. but everyone else who sees their job vanish is going to be doing the same thing, and there won't be enough jobs to go around.
@@vylbird8014 psst, universal basic income can rectify this,*slithers away*
i mean technically speaking everything is automation, even the human body, its a series of carbon based mechanisms, and in a world of computers and technology, things are based on silicon, now imagine if you change silicon to carbon, you have made a machine based on the material we are made of
As an american I respectfully say, that universal basic income is not likely to happen hear.
I worked in Americorps, TxCC, and as part of a trail crew we spent a lot of time in the woods. One thing we did was tell stories. I remember telling the story of John Henry to my crew while we were working. I embellished it, as all story-tellers do, but like you say, it’s important to keep telling the story.
I always loved this tale, along with Johnny Appleseed. And Davey Crockett.
Apparently, Davvy Crockett voted against Andrew Jackson's 1830 Indian resettlement act, y'know, the trail of tears? He lost reelection over it too.
Remember learning about this in school
Ah yes , instead of idk , history before the 1700 , or philosophy afther the 1600 ...
This wasn’t all we learned about
In elementary school
That story reminds me that SpongeBob episode " bobsponge v.s the patty machine"
I think that episode is a direct reference to this story
Pretty much every modern man vs machine story comes from John Henry
Or the Catdog episode where Cat invents a remote control drone that could take people's trash on garbage day far faster than a guy on a regular garbage truck.
@@juanferrer5924 make sense
Cold the air and water flowing
"John Hennery, John Hennery, John Hennery was a mighty man! Born with a hammer, born with a hammer, born with a hammer right in his hand!"
Thank you for this story. I always loved the story of John Henry as a child. Even though I am not a person of color, I have always been inspired by his perseverance and kindness.
Inspiration isn't limited to race or gender.
This gave me mad flashbacks to Disney's American Legends. Good stuff, Extra Mythology
John Henry has always been my favorite American legend/folktale. Thanks EC for covering him!!!
John Henry, truly a name that embodies the common man.
Real moral of the story: the problems caused by loss of jobs to automation are social in origin and not inevitable
Yep. If the workers wouldn't have lost their livelyhood without their jobs, the railroad could have gone forward and they could have turned their efforts to other matters that were more their passion.
Aye. The real victory was not human over machine in this tale, but humanity over a System that treats people as expendable.
The story is seen more as a tragedy in most of the countries I've lived in, where they don't understand why the US sees this as a heroic tale - it's a man working himself to death for the opportunity for other men to keep working themselves to death. It can be hard to convey that in context you are expected to view being in a job that will eventually break or kill you as a privilege, not a burden.
Yeah Ima call bullshit. No real point to automating if you still have the same amount of people working for the same hours. You either cut jobs or dont automate. Anything else is just a waste of manpower. Hell, even in the story they only keep their jobs cause the steam drill isnt efficient enough.
But note that after John Henry literally worked himself to death, steam machines replaced them anyway. Progress is inevitable.
John Henry is my all time favorite legend. I tear up ever time I hear it.
Always one of the most inspirational stories to me; the power of the independent work ethic still beats the machine.
My favorite American tale 🥲
it says you commented this 16 hours ago, lol
How did you get so early
And the only
@@christiaanvanstek1300 the only what
@@user-biscut I disagree on paul bunyan (what do you have against a giant lumberjack and his big blue ox)
"When John Henry was a little pity boy,
sittin' on his momma's knee,
he picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel,
said "This hammer's gonna be the death of me, Lord, Lord,
this hammer's gonna be the death of me."
Suddenly, I'm getting Paul Bunyan flashbacks
I learned of John from the movie Tall Tale
I loved this story so much as a kid it's one of my kids bedtime stories
Ironically this legend inspired a superhero named steel that also wielded a sledge hammer
Dont think it's ironic. DC's been always taking inspiration from mythical heroes, (Superman based on Hercules, Wonder Woman being an Amazon).
Busting in the heads of klansmen. As he should
Steel was originally one of the four Superman clones wasn't he?
He even got a movie
@@danmenard6917 not clones, but claimants as successor. Although one of the others were a clone.
I've been watching the streams and vids for a while now and I just wanted to thank you guys, you've really helped me through quarantine, your awesome
Really good one. I remember the story from elementary school days, but I never knew the backstory until now.
This is your president, John Henry Eden, and you're listening to Extra Credits
I LOVE the sheer beefiness of John Henry in this design.
I remember reading this story back in school. I always remembered a few lines saying John Henry went so fast that rainbows made of dust and dew appeared in the arc of his hammers. And he sang "I've got rainbows round my shoulders."
Sometimes when I need inspiration or boost in my drive I listen to this and it gives me hope
Hey Extra Credit, do you know where I can read about ashanti myths that aren't about anansi
"work until your heart bursts and you die and we replace you with machines anyway" ahh yes, truly a tale worthy of expectations business owners have for their employees. Truly a heartwarming tale.
This is one of those tales I've always heard the name of but just never actually got around to finding the story itself. Thanks for making the video of it 😊
John Henry was always my favorite story growing up, and I'm glad to see it on this channel. Man...it's been ages since I've heard it.
Haven't heard John Henry's story in so long. Love it and Fontaine's version.
I love this story. i remember being a little kid and singing along to the song riding in the backseat of my mom's minivan. good times. i think growing up with this song and other stories like it made me a less bigoted man, as i greatly respect the men and women who do this kind of work because their circumstances preclude them from anything else. i believe the people who do this kind of grueling manual labor should be compensated better, as this kind of work is potentially very dangerous, and requires a lot of skill, despite it being called "unskilled labor"
I grew up on this song!
"When John Henry was a little baby, sittin' on his papa's knee
He picked up a hammer and a lil' piece of steel
Said 'This hammer's gonna be the death of me, oh lord, this hammer's gonna be the death of me"
I remember learning about john henry in school, we were going over American myths and legends. John henry was always my favorite, and no one seems to tell this but he worked with irish too. I remember my teacher telling us about how it wasn't just African-Americans treated poorly but other groups too. Now it seems people run past it.
4:40
John Henry: *T-Poses neoluditically*
John Henry: Now get the F out of here.
The might of the American worker can never be beaten! Hammer on John Henry!
Being from West Virginia John Henry is taught here as a brave and heroic worker and is considered a legend among all the blue collard workers in the mines he isn’t just a hero for other African Americans he’s a hero for all Americans his race has nothing to do with anything for most people
I cannot express to you how excited I am that you are covering this myth! I go to Talcott West Virginia every summer (that there isn’t a pandemic) to celebrate the story with family at the John Henry Days festival. If there ever was a worker’s, “people’s hero” it was John Henry. The story is especially relevant in today’s age of accelerating automation, growing corporate power, and in reminding us that people of color mater.
One of the best Jonny Cash songs
Was looking for this comment!
Really like the Drive By Truckers song too, though it's a different song not just a cover.
Its my favorite version
1:53 that’s some nice animations. Keep up the good work!
Yah the whole video is amazing
I'm afraid the animation is actually quite rigid. A good piece of EC animation is the "For Science!" bit from the Pellagra episode.
I remember watching a short movie of John Henry, and I found him to be so cool, so it was nice learning more about him
every child is told this story differently. In my childhood it went like this.
The machine drilled through the mountain with ease and defeated John Henry. John Henry felt the machine in the tunnel next to him speed right past him, he knew he had lost. John Henry said to himself and his observers "A man ain't nothing but a man. But before I let your steam drill beat me down, I'll die with a hammer in my hand" John Henry swung his hammer stronger and Faster he was determined to stand up for his family and workers to prove that no machine is capable of a man's job. Hours after the drilled finished its own tunnel through the mountain John Henry burst through the other side, the race was over. The only people waiting on the other side after the celebration was his family, friends and his workers. It was a bittersweet defeat. John Henry turned to look at the empty tunnel drilled by the machine then smiled back at his own tunnel for one last time. He collapsed at the end of his tunnel at the end of his track.
While John Henry lost the race. John Henry won the company contract. While the machine drilled through the mountain, John Henry both drilled and laid down track.
1:53 Damn those animations smooth
His hammer was made out of netherite, and enchanted with efficiency 5. The cheering is like Haste 2 beacon
I have been to the memorial for John Henry near the Big Bend tunnel in WV. I know Virginia and Alabama both have claims to his story too, but still I wanted to thank you for sharing this folk story from my area. :)
Thanks for this guys. Everything's so crazy at the moment, its nice to have these videos to distract.
You should do the Casey Jones (The brave engineer) sometime
His great grandson Peter Sutcliffe was a dab hand with a hammer too
Another great episode! Thank you and love you guys.
I loved watching the disney short when I was little and even now; throughout this epeisode i was humming the tune.
Insightful as usual! Thanks!
"Before that steam drill shall beat me down, I'll die with my hammer in my hand."
"and he drove so hard that he broke his heart, and he laid down his hammer an he died... he laid down his hammer and he died"
Instead of re-training as a technician maintaining that machine
Greeks has Heracles, Ireland has Cu Chulain, Babylon has Gilgamesh, Scandinavia has Beowolf and America has John Henry.
The legend of John Henry is one of the first books I got as a child and I still do remember it fondly.
John Henry beat the steam engine, like he went through the mountain.
Yooooooooo John Henry slaps I’m so excited to watch this
It's cool to see folk tales based in relatively modern history featured in this series. Now I'm imagining you covering Janosik, or the stories of Carpathian robbers in general.
I first learned of John Henry through a kids' video tape in the 80s, a compilation of 1940s "Puppetoons". I later saw him in the Nintendo 3DS game "Codename S.T.E.A.M." as one of the team members.
One of my favourite quotes in civ 5. For steel tech. I can still remember it even now.
"Before I let your steam drill beat me down, I'll die with a hammer in my hand."
A tale of technology and the worker, and redundancy
What has always struck me is that the story works equally well to show the resolve of man as it does the need for the technology. John Henry may have won, but he literally had to kill himself to do it. The more that you build him up, the more impressive the technology that he was fighting against seems in comparison. It is a tale where everyone comes out looking good, and that is likely why it has endured. The tale may have even been told by the people selling the machine to say that it can keep up with the best of the best going all out, and even if it loses, at least you will on lose anyone in the process.
Fun Fact: On the game wasteland 2 there's a tribe in the post apocalypse focused around railroads that developed a religion around the John Henry.
ya gotta love that most post civil war American mythos are a mix of "technology I coming for ya, bitches", "your boss will kick your ass to the curb the second something better/cheaper/faster comes along", and "this one guy did this crazy and/or awesome thing and *insert land mark here* is proof of it"
Everybody is talking about how they had heard about the tale when they were younger and here I am remembering Sponge-bob.
God I love American mythology like this. Like it feeds into those greater myths of America that if we strive to make real will guide the nation through our current tumult to true equality and freedom. To an America that matches her marketing materials.
About 130 years after this man struggled against a machine, we all are on the cusp of being replaced by machines, for better or worst
I love learning about American folk heroes like John Henry. Because one day in Hundreds of years, they'll be studied alongside the Greek or Scandinavian mythologies, and its super interesting to see something similar in its living state
Love this story!
While truly an inspiring story, I do hope that we can learn to treat human lives better. Those men getting to keep their jobs was a blessing and a curse for them. Ideally, machines replacing people should enrich everyone's lives, not just the owners of the machines while the former workers go hungry.
Hey I Really Respect your Effort In your videos keep it up 👍
I've heard this story many times in the past but never told quite like this well done EC