Sixteen Tons

A 1947 popular song.
Words and music by Merle Travis.


Sheet music provided by Nicholas Leunissen:


Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:


Lyrics

  1. Some people say a man is made outta mud
    A poor man’s made outta muscle and blood
    Muscle and blood and skin and bones
    A mind that’s a-weak and a back that’s strong

Chorus
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store

  1. I was born one mornin’ when the sun didn’t shine
    I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
    I loaded 16 tons of number nine coal
    And the straw boss said, “Well, a-bless my soul”
  2. I was born one mornin’, it was drizzlin’ rain
    Fightin’ and 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
  3. 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 get you, then the left one will

Sung here by Vancha March: