‘Sixteen Tons’: Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Heavy-Hitting Classic

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[nickcarraway]

Sixteen Tons | Tennessee Ernie Ford | June 27, 1957

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Sixteen Tons Lyrics

Sixteen Tons Lyrics

Tennessee Ernie Ford

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

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 nine 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 ol' mama lion
Cain't no-a 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 lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you
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

[Feckless]

Great version on You Tube with Billy Gibbons and Jeff Beck

[mjp]

great song

brings back childhood memories

[Steely Tom]

I heard this song on the radio, when my parents were moving us across the country. I loved it as a five- and six-year-old, and I still do.

Also Big Bad John, by Jimmy Dean.

[frank ballenger]

RE: Saint Peter don’t you call me...

As a kid when the song came out on the radio, I used to wonder how could Saint Peter judge us and block us at the Pearly Gates of Heaven when he was the one who denied Jesus three times after promising to support him.

Later found that a myth and popular folklore was added to the truth which is Christ judges every person, and Peter is not guarding or judging. Bible never said Peter does that.

[Steely Tom]

“Got a little hitch in your get-along!”

[pepsi_junkie]

The first time I heard this song: Youtube: Eels perform sixteen tons

[Disambiguator]

Sixteen ton weights were often seen or mentioned in Monty Python’s Flying Circus. That’s what I always think of when I hear “sixteen tons.”

https://youtu.be/KYGGZ11D9EE?si=5EkVhOz6bFDlHDt6

[CtBigPat]

Geoff Castellucci - SIXTEEN TONS

This guys voice measures on the Richter Scale!

[nickcarraway]

That was the first time? I would ask if you were a Zoomer but then you wouldn't know Eels.

But this song was very prevalent at least in the 80's, if not later.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It’s just a pop song.

It’s not a law review.

[Responsibility2nd]

I follow this guy on YouTube and etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MXovHX3YNg

Geoff Castellucci.

Now HE has the Bass.

[Fledermaus]

I was born in 1959 but remember this later. Stuck in my head as a kid.

A few others were Counting Flowers On The Wall by The Statler Brothers and Looking Out My Backdoor by CCR.

[dadfly]

a simple country song with lots of deep meaning packed inside. sometimes it’s better for a man to stop digging.

[frank ballenger]

Darn it. I thought it was.

I was looking for peer reviewed Jasmine Crockett scholarly articles and stopped off on this thread.

Sorry.

P.S. I owned that song on a 78 rpm record. Does that make me old? Don’t answer.

[sjmjax]

Amazing voice and expression.
Back when performers were actually expected to be able to sing with range and enunciation.

[TTFlyer]

Ford’s version is definitive.

[frank ballenger]

“Bless your little pea-pickin’ heart” for that phrase.

Sources say Ford coined the pea-pickin phrase himself.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Sad. The company store? That means your employer owns you. Slavery-black lung. For that you get to go to church on Sundays and confess your sin.

Look. We got over slavery. Thank the unions for giving us the weekend. What’s going on now that the left will exploit while we’re asleep at the switch?

People need more freedom. The freedom to get away from that. They also need to put out on the job. To the left capitalism is not the answer-it’s the problem. I do believe Trump and the Charlie Kirks out there can come up with the right combination. Trump said American workers deserve a raise(his first term). Scared the corporations straight. We got the right idea just not the smarts.