Free download
Fingerstyle Country-Blues Lesson
Song Info
Genre
Charts
Peak #363
Peak in subgenre #59
Author
John Hurt
Uploaded
October 28, 2008
Track Files
MP3
MP3 7.2 MB • 128 kbps • 7:54
Story behind the song
I was asked to do a tab to work with this tune and this sound-clip goes with it.
Lyrics
#-----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE-------------------------------#
# This file is the author's own work and represents his interpretation of the #
# music below. It's intent is for study or scholarship purposes only and is #
# not intended for publication, nor for any other commercial use whatsoever. #
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#
Tabbed by Dadfad (John M) 10/14/08
For re-copying: Originally tabbed in Microsoft Notepad using Courier New 10-Font.
SPIKE DRIVER BLUES
by Mississippi John Hurt
This is the hammer that killed John Henry, but it won't kill me,
But it won't kill me, but it won't kill me
This is the hammer that killed John Henry, but it won't kill me,
But it won't kill me, ain't gonna kill me
Take this hammer 'n carry it to my captain, tell him I'm gone,
Won'tcha tell him I'm gone, tell him I'm gone
Take this hammer 'n carry it to my captain, tell him I'm gone,
Just tell him I'm gone, tell him I'm gone
It a long ways from East Colarado, honey to my home,
Honey to my home, honey to my home
It a long ways from East Colarado, honey to my home,
Honey to my home, that where I'm going
John Henry he left his hammer, layin' side the road,
Layin' side the road, layin' side the road
John Henry he left his hammer, all over in red,
All over in red, thats why I'm gone
John Henry was a steel driving man, but he went down,
But he went down, but he went down
John Henry was a steel driving man, but he went down,
But he went down, that's why I'm gone
+ + + +
The lyrics vary a bit from recording to recording in both order as well as
minor word changes. Other verses are also added. The "East Colorado" verse
is omitted in some versions, etc.
SPECIAL NOTE: It is worth noting that I did a search on the net for the lyrics
to "Spike Driver" to save me the trouble of typing them over above if I didn't
need to. Surprisingly, I found numerous sites giving the lyrics to the tune as
(starting with) "She walked down the yard, caught the longest train she seen..."
These ARE NOT the lyrics to Spike Driver. (Or any other John Hurt tune. They are
the lyrics to Rev. Robert Wilkins' 1929 tune "Long Train 'A Coming." Wilkins is
most famous for his tune "Poor Boy A Long Way From Home" which the Rolling Stones
"borrowed" for their tune "Prodigal Son.") I don't know how those lyrics got to
be entered as the lyrics to Spike Driver on so many different sites. I guess one
person made the original mistake and then that mistake was re-copied over and over
again to lots of lyric-sites. (You can tell it was re-copied because even the very
same punctuation and a footnoted number is found on every site.) Anyway, those ARE
NOT the lyrics to John Hurt's "Spike Driver's Blues" or any tune ever recorded by
Mississippi John Hurt.
========THE TAB=======
The tune is in the Key of G. It can be done identically in both standard tuning
and Open-G (DGDGBD). I believe John Hurt used both, whichever was most convenient
at the time, for example being played after another tune that needed to be done in
one tuning or another. I will tab it in both standard and open-G (Spanish Tuning)
and you can use whichever you choose.
I'm tabbing the intro's approximately first eight bars (of the Rainbow Qwest video,
an old PBS TV show, which can be seen on YouTube or purchased on the internet).
To be able to play that part is to be able to play the entire tune as the rest of it
is just repeating figures done in that intro. (On that RQ-video Hurt used relative
standard tuning although his guitar was tuned up a half-step to E#A#D#G#B#E#.)
=====In Standard Tuning=============
Begin by holding the common G-chord 320003, held RMOOOP to make the change to G7
with the index easier. Near the start below for playing the successive notes on
the third frets of the one and two strings, it's easier if you
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