John Henry and The Message/N.Y State of Mind

“John Henry” and “The Message”or “New York State of Mind” are not about the same things, but they all three share a similar concept and have similar values. In the ballad “John Henry,” John Henry appears to be a younger man, who is living his life everyday within the difficult conditions that come with steel driving. He has to work everyday doing extremely dangerous work, and everyone expects this of him. At one point in the ballad, it says “Shaker you better pray; For if I ever miss this piece of steel, Tomorrow’ll be your burial day.” This just represents how dangerous the conditions John Henry had to face everyday were. If he made on false move, he was at risk of killing himself and anyone else that was close to his work area. John Henry spent everyday doing what he could to survive the day, and working hard because that is what he was told must be done since he was a little boy. The writers of “The Message” and New York State of Mind” could have taken many values from this song. While “John Henry” didn’t involve excessive drug use, violence, city life, or guns, it was still about the hardships John Henry had to face on a daily bases. Everyday John Henry had to go to work and lift that heavy hammer, and constantly hit that piece of steel, because if he made one mistake he would damage himself and others. That is like the men represented in the other songs as well. They had to go through their lives doing things that were a struggle for them, but they continued to do them everyday because they knew they were, for the most part, the right things to do even if it meant being a struggle. The authors could take the value of realizing that you are in a difficult situation, but still working through it and trying not to snap.