"Big Bad John" is a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...

song originally performed by

Jimmy Dean Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials. He became ...

, who wrote and composed it. It was released in September 1961 and by the beginning of November it had gone to number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It won Dean the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording, and was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Song of the Year The Grammy Award for Song of the Year is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. The Song of the Year award is one of the four most prestigious categories at t ...

. The song and its sequels tell a story typical of

American folklore American folklore encompasses the folklores that have evolved in the present-day United States since Europeans arrived in the 16th century. While it contains much in the way of Native American tradition, it is not wholly identical to the tribal ...

, reminiscent of

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the ...

or John Henry. ''Big Bad John'' was also the title of a 1990

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

starring Dean.

Story

The song is about a mysterious and quiet

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting ...

who earns the nickname Big John because of his height, weight, and muscular physique – ''"He stood six foot six and weighed 245".'' He apparently hails from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

Queen. One day, a support timber cracks at the mine where John works. The situation looks 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 20 other miners to escape. Just as men are about to re-enter with the tools necessary to save him, the mine fully collapses and John is believed dead. The mine itself is never reopened, but a marble stand is placed in front of it, with the words "At the bottom of this mine lies one hell of a man – Big John." (Some versions of the song change the last line to "lies a big, big man" to replace what was considered profane language.)

Sequels

In October 1961,

Dottie West Dorothy Marie Marsh West (October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and fellow recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most in ...

recorded a sequel called "

My Big John "My Big John" is a song written by Jean Dean, Ira Louvin and Charlie Louvin of the Louvin Brothers, and J. Newman. The song was recorded by American country music artist Dottie West, as an answer song to Jimmy Dean's hit "Big Bad John "Big ...

". This song is told from the point of view of the "Cajun Queen" that drove John away – her search for him, then discovering about his death. Its 1962 sequel " The Cajun Queen" (written and performed by Dean), describes the arrival of "Queenie", Big John's Cajun Queen, who rescues John from the mine and marries him. Eventually, they have "110 grandchildren". This song's events are more exaggerated than the first, extending the story into the realm of tall tales. In June 1962, the story concludes with the arrival of "

Little Bitty Big John Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

", the flip side to "

Steel Men Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength of materials, strength and fracture toughness, fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that ...

" on Columbia 4-42483, learning about his father's act of heroism.

Reception

In the US, "Big Bad John" spent five weeks at number 1 on the pop chart, two weeks on the country chart, and nine weeks on the

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

chart. It was also a number 2 hit in the United Kingdom. The song received a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination for Record of the Year, while Dean's performance earned him a nomination for Best Male Solo Vocal Performance, and Dean won Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. Dean's LP ''Big Bad John and Other Fabulous Songs and Tales,'' where the song first appeared, reached number 23 in the pop charts. It was the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

of "I Won't Go Huntin' with You Jake", but it ended up becoming much more popular than the latter. The song frequently ranks as one of the best

songs of the 1960s, and of all time. "Big Bad John" was translated into

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i lyricist

Ehud Manor Ehud Manor (Hebrew: אהוד מנור; born Ehud Weiner; July 13, 1941 – April 12, 2005) was an Israeli lyricist, translator, poet and radio and TV personality. He is widely considered to have been Israel's most prolific lyricist of all time, h ...

, under the title "John Biryon" (lit. "Strongman John"), as part of the 1982 Israeli television show "Red River Valley" dedicated to Manor's translations of famous

songs. Performed by Israeli singer and radio personality

Dory Ben Ze'ev A dory is a small, shallow-draft boat, about long. It is usually a lightweight boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. It is easy to build because of its simple lines. For centuries, the dory has been used as a traditional fishin ...

, it became a hit in Israel.

Chart performance

All-time charts

History

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

was considering dropping Dean before the release of this million-selling single, as he had not had a hit in years. Dean wrote the beginnings of "Big Bad John" on a flight from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

because he realized he needed a fourth song for his recording session.

Roy Acuff Roy Claxton Acuff (September 15, 1903 – November 23, 1992) was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the "King of Country Music", Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedow ...

later helped him polish it. The inspiration for the character of Big John was an actor, John Minto, whom Dean had met in a summer stock play, '' Destry Rides Again,'' who was 6'5" (195.6 cm). Dean would call him "Big John" and grew to like the rolling sound of the phrase. Country pianist

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "half step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...

, 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. (However, a verse earlier in the song, ''"Through the smoke and the dust of this man-made hell..."'' remains intact in both versions, with no apparent controversy.) The refrain was also used to end the Jimmy Dean song " PT-109", referring to John F. Kennedy.

Parodies

There were multiple contemporary parodies of "Big Bad John". Cleveland DJ Phil McLean, had a minor hit about a cowardly character, "Small Sad Sam", which was released in December 1961. Country Yossi, an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...

composer and singer, spoofed it as "Big Bad Moish" on one of his children's albums. There were several gay-themed takes, such as Steve Greenberg's "Big Bruce", and

Ben Colder Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, � ...

's "Big Sweet John". The Barron Knights performed the song "Big Bad Bond" about Alan Bond and the

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one ...

Challenge. A

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in ...

translation was made in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and named "Gros Jambon"''(Big Ham)''. It was done as a one-time novelty act by TV show host

Réal Giguère Réal Giguère (24 May 1933 – 11 February 2019) was a Canadian television host and broadcaster. Early life He began his career as a radio announcer from 1956 to 1961. He worked as a talk show host on French Canadian network television:; ' ...

but it caught the public's attention and was afterwards recorded by popular demand, selling over 300,000 copies. In an episode of '' The Jimmy Dean Show'', Dean and Rowlf the Dog performed a parody called "Big Bad Dog". An

Icelandic language Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Due to being a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely r ...

version was written and performed by Guðmundur Jónsson, named "Jón tröll" ''(Jón ogre)''. The song was used in a television advertisement for British supermarket chain

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company w ...

for their car insurance featuring a character named "Little Bill". It was also adapted for a series of UK television advertisements starting in 1987 to promote

Domestos Domestos is a British brand of household cleaning range which contains bleach (primarily sodium hypochlorite NaOCl). It is manufactured by Unilever. Domestos (and Chlorox, essentially a 10–25% solution of sodium hypochlorite) contains 100, ...

as "Big Bad Dom".

Political parodies

Political candidates have run advertisements that make use of "Big Bad John", retaining the music while substituting lyrics that support their particular political bids. In Australia, a parody by John Vincent was released in September 1971 called "The Ballad of

John Grey Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician who served as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a lo ...

", with lyrics that dealt with Gorton's tenure as Prime Minister of Australia. In Texas Senator

John Cornyn John Cornyn III ( ; born February 2, 1952) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the Senate majority whip fo ...

's 2008 parody, he presented himself as a maverick politician, seeking a return to the Senate to fight to set things right. "You see I'm from Texas and we do things quick / And the way this place

he Senate He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

is run is about to make me sick", the advertisement states. Several advertisements were released by Democrats refuting some of the claims made in the song. In the same year, the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well ...

employed the song in an advertisement that targeted presidential candidate John McCain. The advertisement dubbed McCain "Exxon John", while highlighting $2 million in contributions by

Exxon-Mobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

to McCain's campaign, as well as the supposed role of

Big Oil Big Oil is a name used to describe the world's six or seven largest publicly traded and investor-owned oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors. The term, particularly in the United States, emphasizes their economic power and influenc ...

lobbyists in his campaign. The song was also used in the closing credits of the UK politics show '' This Week,'' whenever the show discussed the former Speaker of the House of Commons,

John Bercow John Simon Bercow (; born 19 January 1963) is a British former politician who was Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham between 1997 and 2019. A member of the Conservative Party prior ...

. It was used to humorous effect due to Bercow's short stature and perceived weak control in Parliament.

References

{{Jimmy Dean 1961 singles Jimmy Dean songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Columbia Records singles Songs about fictional male characters Songs written by Roy Acuff Songs written by Jimmy Dean