Big Bad John

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"Big Bad John" is a country song originally performed by Jimmy Dean and composed by Dean and Roy Acuff. Released in September 1961, by the beginning of November it went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Dean the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording.

The song and its sequel tell a story typical of American folklore, reminiscent of Paul Bunyan or John Henry.

Big Bad John was also the title of a 1990 television movie starring Dean.

Contents

[edit] Story

The song tells the story of a mysterious and quiet miner who earned the nickname Big John because of his height, weight and muscular physique ("He stood six foot six and weighed two forty-five"). He supposedly came from New Orleans, where he killed a man over a Cajun woman.

One day, a support timber cracked at the mine where John worked. The situation looked hopeless until John "grabbed a saggin' timber, gave out with a groan / and like a giant oak tree just stood there alone", then "gave a mighty shove", opening a passage and allowing the other miners to escape the mine. John, however, didn't make it outside, meeting his demise in the depths of the mine. The mine itself was never reopened, but a marble stand was placed in front of it, with the words "At the bottom of this mine lies one hell of a man - Big John" written on it. (Some versions of the song change the last line to "lies a big, big man" to remove the borderline profane language.)

Its 1962 sequel, "The Cajun Queen", describes the arrival of "Queenie", Big John's Cajun Queen, who rescues John from the mine and marries him. Eventually, they have "one hundred and ten grandchildren". The sequel's events are more exaggerated than the first, extending the story into the realm of tall tales.

In June of 1962, the story continued (and evidently concludes) with the arrival of "Little Bitty Big John", (the flip side to "Steel Men" on Columbia 4-42483), learning about his Father's act of heroism.

[edit] Reception

"Big Bad John" was at number one on the pop chart for five weeks, on the country chart for two, and on the adult contemporary music chart for ten in the U.S. It was also a number-two hit in the United Kingdom. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Male Solo Vocal Performance.

Dean's LP Big Bad John and Other Fabulous Songs and Tales, where the song first appeared, reached number twenty-three in the pop charts. The song was the B-side of "I Won't Go Huntin' with You Jake", but ended up becoming much more popular than the latter.

[edit] History

Columbia Records was considering dropping Dean before the release of this million-selling single, as he hadn't had a hit in years. Dean wrote the song on a flight from New York to Nashville because he realized he needed a fourth song for his recording session.

There are varying accounts as to who was the inspiration for the character of Big John. Most tell of an actor or football player Dean knew who reminded him of a football player named John Mentoe, who was around 6'5".

Country pianist Floyd Cramer, who was hired to play piano on the song, came up with the idea to use a hammer and a piece of steel instead. This became a distinctive characteristic of the recording.

There are several known recordings of the song by Dean. Notably, there are two different versions of the inscription on the marble stand in front of the mine. The original, "At the bottom of this mine lies one hell of a man - Big John", was deemed too controversial, so in the version that was most often heard on the radio, one could hear "At the bottom of this mine lies a big, big man - Big John" instead.

The refrain was also used to end the Jimmy Dean song "PT-109", referring to John F. Kennedy.

[edit] Other recordings

Artists that have covered the song include:

Michigan-based a cappella quartet Three Men and a Tenor also covered the song on their 2002 album Listen to the Music. Three Men and a Tenor's version is notable in that the verses are sung instead of recited.

San Diego-based Deadbolt's cover of the song includes an extra verse following the traditional ending.

[edit] Parodies

  • Cleveland DJ Phil McLain had a #21 hit in early 1962 with "Small Sad Sam".
  • "Big Bad John" by Jim Johnston and the Morning Crew at radio station WCSX in Detroit. The song is re-written with lyrics about Jonathan Schmitz and the incident on The Jenny Jones Show.
  • "Big Bruce" by Steve Greenberg (not the same person as the Lipps, Inc. producer) was one of several gay-themed parodies of the song [1]. Greenberg's version incorporated some of the lyrics from "Big Bad John" though the tune is completely different. The song only charted at #97 in 1969, but is notable as the first song with an unambiguously gay theme to make the Billboard Hot 100.
  • The bleach brand Domestos ran an advertising campaign in the late 80s based on the song. A bottle of the bleach moved around a bathroom in the style of a cowboy along with music titled "Big Bad Dom".
  • "Big Bad Jane" by the Four Saints was featured on their 1962 album (Warner Bros. W/WS 1477). It told the story of a brawny female prisoner involved in a jailbreak.
  • Saturday Night Live produced a commercial parody starring Will Ferrell entitled "Big Brawn," also a parody of Brawny brand paper towels. Will Ferrell stars as a lumberjack reminiscent of Paul Bunyan, who creates "Big Brawn" brand ultra-absorbent feminine wipes from pure lumber.
  • Sheb Wooley had a song entitled "Big Sweet John"
Preceded by
"Runaround Sue" by Dion		 Billboard Hot 100 number one single
November 6, 1961		 Succeeded by
"Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes