Sandman,
You're right, I agree with you that Mississippi John Hurt's "Spike Driver Blues" is based on "John Henry". But it is also based on work songs which have been classified as John Henry hammer songs. So, in my response to an earlier question, it would have been more accurate for me to say that "Spike Driver Blues" is based upon both songs. Below are the first two stanzas of Hurt's "Spike Driver Blues." These same verses (except for minor variations in language) appear in the John Henry hammer songs collected by Guy B. Johnson which appear in his book "John Henry: Tracking Down a Negro Legend" (published in 1929). For comparison, an example of stanzas from one of those hammer songs is also below. Clearly, "Spike Driver Blues" draws from the hammer songs. But, it also has other verses which make reference to John Henry, so, in my opinion, its is based upon both the ballad and the hammer songs.

"Spike Driver Blues":

Take this hammer and carry it to my captain
Tell him I'm gone, tell him I'm gone, tell him I'm gone
Take this hammer and carry it to my captain
Tell him I'm gone, just tell him I'm gone, I'm sure is gone

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



Hammer song from Johnson's book:

This is the hammer,
Hammer killed John Henry.
This is the hammer,
Hammer killed John Henry.
Won't kill me.
Lawd, Lawd, won't kill me.

Take this hammer,
Hammer to the captain.
Take this hammer,
Hammer to the captain.
Tell him I'm gone
Lawd, Lawd, tell him I'm gone.


Hurt's recording of "Spike Driver Blues" came out in 1928. It was preceded in 1925 by Sippie Wallace's more obscure "Section Hand Blues", a recording which is one of the earliest by an African American to make mention of John Henry. Like Hurt's recording, Wallace's has stanzas which are very similar to the stanzas cited above which appear in the John Henry hammer songs. Her reference to Lincoln freeing the slaves serves as a comment on how black laborers were treated after slavery's end. Selected verses are below.

If my captain ask for me
Tell him Abe Lincoln done set us free.
Ain't no hammer on this road
Gonna kill poor me.

This ole hammer killed John Henry,
But this hammer ain't gonna kill me.

I am heading for the shack,
With my shovel on my back.
Although money's what I lack,
I'm goin' home.

Wallace's recording is just one of many which I cite in my website (John Henry: The Rebel Versions) as examples of racial resistance, protest, and rebellion in the ballad and legend of John Henry. Some of these examples appear in my article published on The African American Folklorist website. The article also points out the connection between "John Henry" and the other great black ballad "Stagolee" and discusses my theory that both songs are black freedom songs. Specifically, I believe that many African Americans saw John Henry's race with the steam drill and Stagolee's fight with Billy over a Stetson hat as symbolic of the struggle for black freedom. The web address for the article is below.

Stagolee and John Henry: Two Black Freedom Songs?
http://theafricanamericanfolklorist.com/2020/11/29/twoblackfreedomsongs/