The American new cycle has recently been dominated by stories of the murder of a CEO for a giant health insurance company. His killer had managed to evade authorities for a few days before being spotted in a McDonald's. Many expressed disappointment that he got snitched on but at least everyone knows his name. How long before "Song for Luigi" or "The Ballad of Luigi Mangione" is released as a result? Actually, it could be a quite a wait since hardly anyone composes songs about outlaws with heroic motives anymore. But if anyone is looking to do so, there are a couple of great examples to model it on.
"Pretty Boy Floyd" was written by Woody Guthrie back in 1939 as a tribute to the Great Depression-era bank robber Charles Arthur Floyd but I am most familiar with it due to a cover by The Byrds on their landmark country-rock album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. "John Wesley Harding" is the title track from Bob Dylan's eighth studio LP release, a stark and stripped-down affair that I really have to be in the mood for. Both tell of wanted criminals who actually had hearts of gold when it came to giving back to the poor. The actual John Wesley Hardin didn't do a whole lot for the everyday folk and Chuck Floyd just burnt several mortgage documents but it wasn't as if these people were Robin Hoods come to life. But being troubled individuals living on the wrong side of the law, their good deeds ought to be commended all the more.
"Big Bad John" probably ought to fit into that tradition except that rather than being a folk and/or country ballad coming straight out of or inspired by the Dust Bowl, it is a part of that laughably bad trend of hokey folklore anthems that record buyers in North America and beyond couldn't seem to get enough of around this time. My disdain for these hits goes without saying by this point but it might be worth looking at why so many became suckered in enchanted by them.
Jimmy Dean's narration may be a part of it. He sounds like an ancient old man providing the voice-over work for a western film. This might have proved an effective device had it been used solely for the song's (non-existent) bridge but for a full two-and-a-half minutes, it gets a little much. Compounding the problem are the backing vocalists who really seem intent on making sure we all understand the gravity of this John guy and just how big and just how bad he is. Mythology is a vital part of numbers like "Pretty Boy Floyd" and "John Wesley Harding" but not to the extent of having to lay it on so thick as Dean and his mates did. This being the age of cowboy TV series like Bonanza and Gunsmoke, over-idealizing the heroes was very much the fashionable thing to do which Dean was right to go along with.
In a way, "Big Bad John" is like a conservative response to Guthrie's Floyd. What you have is someone who is only said to have come from Louisiana where he got into a fight over a "Cajun Queen" but in reality he's just a gentle giant, quiet and unassuming but no doubt the sort of burly fella you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of. The mine he's been toiling in collapses one day and he rescues every one of his co-workers but then tragically perishes himself. Not a word on the evil corporation who neglected to follow safety procedures and nothing on good ol' John being a criminal. Just a hero who gave his life.
I suppose I'd be a slightly better person if I could appreciate this but it's too damn dreary — and I say that as someone who quite likes the song "John Wesley Harding", which isn't exactly a catchy dance-pop hit either. It's incredible to think that legendary country songwriter Roy Acuff (of Acuff-Rose fame) actually helped out with the lyrics which makes me wonder how uninspired it must've been prior his involvement. The anti-hero of John Wesley Hardin(g), Pretty Boy Floyd and even Luigi Mangione makes for a much more fascinating character to root for and understand while the more one dimensional Big Bad John just isn't compelling enough. We might admire his sacrifice but let's save the adoration for those who deserve it.
Score: 3
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