The Thinking Man, John Henry-Gibson/The Brothers Four/Camp

[00:00.00]Now a famous American folktale [00:00.000] 作曲 : Gibson/Camp [00:09.27]When John Henry was a little baby [00:12.74]he was sittin’ on his mammy’s knee [00:16.53]well He picked up a slide rule and a book on mathematics [00:19.98]sayin’, “Thinkin’s gonna be the job for me” [00:23.76]sayin’, “Thinkin’s gonna be the job for me” [00:33.50]When John Henry was just a little baby [00:35.77]He decided when grew he was gonna be a thinkin’ man [00:38.79]With a filter [00:41.81]So he decided to go to college [00:43.25]and study all about thinkin’ [00:46.10]He did and he learned all about [00:47.93]algebry and thinkin’ [00:51.50]Geometry and thinkin’ [00:54.37]Trigonometry and thinkin’ [00:58.19]Calculus and thinkin’ [01:01.60]He always had trouble with English, though [01:04.44]Grammer’s gonna be the death of me, Lord Lord [01:08.90]Grammer’s gonna be the death of me [01:12.48]He didn’t do too well in Greek either [01:14.50]Homer’s gonna be the death of me, Lord Lord [01:17.45]Homer’s gonna be the death of me [01:21.16]Well John Henry finished college [01:23.84]and became a very competent thinker [01:25.31]Which is unusual [01:26.73]And he went out into the business world where they do a lot of heavy thinkin’ [01:30.67]And got a job as a thinkin’ man [01:31.49]Well this first job was with the John Burch Society, [01:36.59]thinkin’ up communists . [01:47.70]He had a little trouble with his next job though [01:50.24]that was with the Ford Motor company, ha ha [01:53.14]He thought up the etso [01:58.54]Then John Henry got a job with the CIA [02:01.36]Thinkin up excuses [02:06.16]As you all know, the government is very economy minded [02:11.36]Concerned with cuttin’ down on costs [02:14.60]So one day, the CIA brought in an efficiency expert. [02:17.19]Tryin to cut down on man power. [02:20.60]He looked around and hollered out [02:22.39]“Automation!” [02:23.80]“Automation!” [02:24.80]“Automation!” [02:26.21]Now the experts said to John henry [02:29.53]I’m gonna’ to bring me a computer ‘round [02:33.24]I’m gonna’ to bring me a computer and electronic brain [02:36.91]Cybernetics’ gonna’ put the answer down [02:40.87]Computers help to keep the pay roll down [02:44.33]Now the man who invented the computer, [02:47.82]was from a place called MIT [02:51.45]Well he punched out cards [02:53.32]and tapes by the yards, [02:55.18]on the nearer, my God to thee [02:58.88]on the nearer, my God to thee [03:06.80]Now John Henry said to the inventor, [03:10.28]“oh your tubes don’t mean a damn [03:14.00]All your wires and your circuits, [03:15.89]they are just a modern quirk [03:17.59]It’s never ever gonna’ beat a thinkin’ man [03:21.38]They are never gonna’ beat the thinkin’ man [03:25.46]So it was proposed that John Henry and the computer have a race [03:29.40]The inventor punched out a card for the computer [03:31.70]John Henry stepped into the isolation booth [03:35.36]Ralph Edwards read him a question [03:38.50]And the race was on [03:40.18]John Henry started a thinkin’ [03:43.35]til’ his head glowed cherry red [03:46.66]there was smoke from his ears and his eyes poured tears [03:50.50]and he thunk til’ his brain dropped dead [03:51.98]think, thank, thunk [03:53.92]til’ his brain dropped dead. [04:01.89]They took John Henry to the bughouse [04:09.80]But still his legend grows. [04:17.83]Now please don’t get us wrong, [04:23.23]there’s a moral to this song, [04:29.42]don’t ever doubt the thinkin’ power of men [04:34.92]But, on the other hand, [04:37.71]don’t ever sell your stock in IBM