Sixteen Tons Lyrics by Tennessee Ernie

Sixteen Tons Lyrics by Tennessee Ernie Ford

“Sixteen Tons” recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955, is a seminal country and pop classic that famously depicts the grueling life of a coal miner.

Sixteen Tons Lyrics by Tennessee Ernie Ford

 

Some people say a man is made out of mud

A poor man’s made out of muscle and blood

Muscle and blood and skin and bones

A mind that’s weak and a back that’s strong

You load sixteen tons, 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 mornin’ when the sun didn’t shine

I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine

I loaded sixteen tons of number 9 coal

And the straw boss said, “Well a-bless my soul!”

You load sixteen tons, 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 mornin’, it was drizzlin’ rain

Fightin’ and trouble are my middle name

I was raised in the canebrake by an old mama lion

Can’t no high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, 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

If you see me comin’ better step aside

A lot of men didn’t, a lot of men died

One fist of iron, the other of steel

If the right one don’t getcha, then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, 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

 

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