Merle Travis Sings Sixteen Tons
Some people say a man is made outta mud.
But, a poor man’s made outta muscle and blood.
Muscle and blood and skin and bones.
With a mind that’s weak and a back that’s strong.
You load sixteen tons what do you get?
You get another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go.
I owe my soul to the company store.
Well, I was born one mornin’ when the sun didn’t shine.
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine.
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal.
And the straw boss said “Well, bless my soul,
“He loaded sixteen tons and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go.
I owe my soul to the company store.”
I was born one morning in the drizzlin’ rain
Fightin’ and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebreak by an’ ol’ mama hound
Ain’t no high-tone woman gonna push me around.
You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
You get another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go.
I owe my soul to the company store.
Well, If you see me comin’, you better step aside.
A lotta men didn’t, and a lotta men died.
One fist of iron and the other one of steel,
If the right one don’t get you, then the left one will.
You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
You get another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go.
I owe my soul to the company store.