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Jimmy Dean wrote and composed this in collaboration with Roy Acuff. Dean wrote this on a flight from New York to Nashville when he realized he needed another song for his recording session. Released in September 1961, by the beginning of November it went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Dean the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. Dean wrote this about fellow actor John Mentoe ("Destry Rides Again"), who was 6' 5" tall. According to Dean's roommate (at the time), the song was intended to be a joke. The words "At the bottom of this mine lies one hell of a man – Big John." (Some versions of the song change the last line to "lies a big, big man" to replace what was at the time considered to be borderline profane language.)

Floyd Cramer, a famous country/gospel pianist ("Last Date"), was hired to play the piano on the recording but wound up hitting a chunk of steel with a hammer instead. It was Floyd's idea to make the switch.

Its 1962 sequel, "The Cajun Queen," describes the arrival of "Queenie," Big John's Cajun Queen, who rescues John from the mine and marries him. Eventually, they have "110 grandchildren." The sequel's events are more exaggerated than the first, extending the story into the realm of tall tales. In June 1962, the story continued (and evidently concludes) with the arrival of "Little Bitty Big John" learning about his father's act of heroism.