Sixteen Tons 'lyrics' by request
George Townsend
Music & Lyrics by Merle Travis
Some people say a man is made outta mud,
A poor man's made outta muscle an’ blood,
Muscle an’ blood an’ skin an’ bones,
A mind that's weak and a back that's strong!
You load sixteen ton, what’a ya git?
Another day older an’ deeper in debt,
St. Peter, don't you call me, ‘cause I can't go,
I owe my soul to the company store!
I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine,
I picked up my shovel an’ walked to the mine,
I loaded sixteen ton of number nine coal,
An’ the straw boss said, well’a bless my soul!
You load sixteen ton, what’a ya git?
Another day older an’ deeper in debt,
St. Peter, don't you call me, ‘cause I can't go,
I owe my soul to the company store!
I was born one mornin' it was drizzlin' rain,
Fightin' an’ trouble are my middle name,
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol’ mama lion,
Can't no high toned woman make me walk the line!
You load sixteen ton, what’a ya git?
Another day older an’ deeper in debt,
St. Peter, don't ya call me, ‘cause I can't go,
I owe my soul to the company store!
If you see me comin’ better step aside,
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died,
One fist of iron, the other of steel,
If the right one don't an’ get ya, the left one will!
You load sixteen ton, what’a ya git?
Another day older an’ deeper in debt,
St. Peter, don't you call me, ‘cause I can't go,
I owe my soul to the company store!
This song was popularized by Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955 on Capitol Records.
“ Born in the mountains of East Tennessee, Ford settled in California
and began a successful recording and television career. On his NBC daytime
TV show he sang a song that had been written and recorded eight years earlier
by guitarist-singer Merle Travis, the son of a western Kentucky
coal miner. Travis built the song around a phrase he’d heard
coal miners say during the Depression: “I can’t afford to die,
‘cause I owe my soul to the company store.” His version was not a hit,
but when Ford sang ‘Sixteen Tons’ he received some 1,200 fan
letters raving about it. He immediately booked a studio to record the song.
The famous finger popping was a spur-of-the-moment addition arising
from Ford’s attempt to demonstrate the tempo he wanted for the
arrangement. In thefirst 11 days after its release, the single sold
400,000 copies, and soon it reached No. 1 on both the country
and pop charts.” From the Time-Life Series “Country USA” 1955 and author
Charles K. Wolfe <town...@fox.nstn.ca>