Ev'ry mornin' at the mine you could see him arrive He stood six foot six and weighed 245 Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip And everybody knew, ya didn't give no lip to 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 And with all of his strength he gave a mighty shove Then a miner yelled out, "There's a light up above" And 20 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 then smoke and gas belched out of that mine Everybody knew it was the end of the line for Big 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"