Posted on 09/20/2025 1:34:26 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Tennessee Ernie Ford wasn’t the first to record ‘Sixteen Tons,’ but he made it his signature song in 1955, and the title track of an album released in 1960.
Tennessee Ernie Ford wasn’t the first artist to record “Sixteen Tons,” but he made it his signature. The song, inspired by the travails of the real-life coal miners of Kentucky, was first recorded by one of his forerunners on the Capitol label, Merle Travis, in 1947.
That popular version, of a song that bore Travis’ songwriting credit from then on, didn’t show up on the Billboard charts on the day, even though Travis was emerging with other hits at the time. By 1955, it was ripe for a remake – and would later become the title of one of Ford’s Capitol albums.
Ernest Jennings Ford, from Bristol, Tennessee, had been having big country hits in the US since the late 40s. Recording as Tennessee Ernie, he racked up no fewer than 14 country chart entries in four years after debuting with the jaunty, accordion-toting “Tennessee Border” in 1949.
All but one of those singles made the Top 10, but none crossed over to the pop market, and neither did the first release to bear his surname, “River Of No Return.” It came from the movie of that name starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. Then the year of Ford’s crossover arrived.
Tennessee Ernie in Disneyland
In 1955, he made both the country and pop Top 10 with “Ballad Of Davy Crockett,” from the Disneyland TV series. Ford hit even bigger with his “Sixteen Tons” remake, which spent ten weeks atop the country chart and eight on the pop side. For the rest of the decade, he would see more action in the pop market, and scored several major gospel-themed albums, including Hymns, Spirituals and Nearer The Cross.
Curiously, Sixteen Tons the album didn’t arrive until 1960, and, even more surprisingly, was not a chart item, even though Ford was in the middle of a ten-year run on TV with his own variety show. Nevertheless, leading off with the title track, it became a vinyl salute to his triumphs of the decade that had just ended. The LP included his earlier country No.1s, with “Mule Train” and his own composition “The Shot Gun Boogie.”
More country hits
Also included was 1950’s “The Cry Of The Wild Goose,” which, like “Mule Train,” saw Ford scoring the country hit with a song taken into the pop charts by Frankie Laine. Sixteen Tons also sported the country top tenners “Smokey Mountain Boogie” and “Blackberry Boogie.”
“The Old Pea Picker,” as Ford was known, returned to the country chart in the mid-60s with the hit “Hicktown,” making further appearances in the 70s and recording into the 80s. He died at the age of 72 in 1991, but Sixteen Tons is a fine testament to a much-loved inductee of the Country Music Hall Of Fame..
Great version on You Tube with Billy Gibbons and Jeff Beck
brings back childhood memories
Also Big Bad John, by Jimmy Dean.
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.
“Got a little hitch in your get-along!”
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
This guys voice measures on the Richter Scale!
But this song was very prevalent at least in the 80's, if not later.
It’s just a pop song.
It’s not a law review.
I follow this guy on YouTube and etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MXovHX3YNg
Geoff Castellucci.
Now HE has the Bass.
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.
a simple country song with lots of deep meaning packed inside. sometimes it’s better for a man to stop digging.
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.
Amazing voice and expression.
Back when performers were actually expected to be able to sing with range and enunciation.
Ford’s version is definitive.
“Bless your little pea-pickin’ heart” for that phrase.
Sources say Ford coined the pea-pickin phrase himself.
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.
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