Sunrise Guy
Addicted to ArboristSite
The Ballad of Big Johnson
(with apologies to Jimmy Dean)
Every morning at the job site,
you could see him arrive.
He stood six foot ten and
weighed one ninety-five.
A lean, climbing man,
who’d do just what he said.
And if you got in his way,
you could find yourself dead.
Big Johnson.
Nobody seemed to know
where Johnson was from.
There was talk he worked Davey
There was talk he worked Lum.
The only thing sure was,
he knew his job well.
If you talked about trees,
he had stories to tell.
Big Johnson.
Then came the day,
eighty feet up an oak.
A climber was trapped,
his ftp broke.
He hung out into space,
that awful cracking sound heard,
The ground crew was quiet,
No man said a word.
Big Johnson
Through the ropes and the saws,
a tall, wiry guy walked,
He slapped on his spikes,
never stopped for a talk.
Grabbed a lanyard from the ground,
started right up that tree.
As that cracking sound grew,
everybody could see,
Big Johnson
With his climbing skills sharp,
he topped out in no time.
Reached on out into space,
snagged the trapped climber’s line.
Pulled him back to the leader,
lowered him down to the ground.
But that cracking now louder,
made a horrible sound
Big Johnson
With a false crotch and new rope,
they wanted to climb,
To get Johnson down,
Their one enemy, time.
But then it did happen,
the worst you could fear,
And the only sound then,
Was Big Johnson’s, “STAND CLEAR!”
Big Johnson
Now they never brought down that old oak,
it was said.
Big Johnson had climbed it,
and now he was dead.
But they still say at night,
if you listen you’ll hear,
Big Johnson still giving,
his final “STAND CLEAR!”
Big Johnson.
©2010 Miles J. Lefler
("Big John" kept running through my head, today, as I finished up a two-day pruning gig. I decided that the tree biz needed a similar guy in a similar song so------)
(with apologies to Jimmy Dean)
Every morning at the job site,
you could see him arrive.
He stood six foot ten and
weighed one ninety-five.
A lean, climbing man,
who’d do just what he said.
And if you got in his way,
you could find yourself dead.
Big Johnson.
Nobody seemed to know
where Johnson was from.
There was talk he worked Davey
There was talk he worked Lum.
The only thing sure was,
he knew his job well.
If you talked about trees,
he had stories to tell.
Big Johnson.
Then came the day,
eighty feet up an oak.
A climber was trapped,
his ftp broke.
He hung out into space,
that awful cracking sound heard,
The ground crew was quiet,
No man said a word.
Big Johnson
Through the ropes and the saws,
a tall, wiry guy walked,
He slapped on his spikes,
never stopped for a talk.
Grabbed a lanyard from the ground,
started right up that tree.
As that cracking sound grew,
everybody could see,
Big Johnson
With his climbing skills sharp,
he topped out in no time.
Reached on out into space,
snagged the trapped climber’s line.
Pulled him back to the leader,
lowered him down to the ground.
But that cracking now louder,
made a horrible sound
Big Johnson
With a false crotch and new rope,
they wanted to climb,
To get Johnson down,
Their one enemy, time.
But then it did happen,
the worst you could fear,
And the only sound then,
Was Big Johnson’s, “STAND CLEAR!”
Big Johnson
Now they never brought down that old oak,
it was said.
Big Johnson had climbed it,
and now he was dead.
But they still say at night,
if you listen you’ll hear,
Big Johnson still giving,
his final “STAND CLEAR!”
Big Johnson.
©2010 Miles J. Lefler
("Big John" kept running through my head, today, as I finished up a two-day pruning gig. I decided that the tree biz needed a similar guy in a similar song so------)
