Sixteen Tons

Tennessee Ernie Ford

Verse

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

Chorus

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.

Verse 2

I was born one morning 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, a-bless my soul!”

Chorus

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.

Verse 3

I was born one morning, it was drizzling rain
Fightin’ and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol’ mama lion
Cain’t no a-high-toned woman make me walk the line

Chorus

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.

Verse 4

If you see me coming better step aside
A lot of men didn’t, a lot of men died
With one fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don’t get you then the left one will.

Chorus

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.