“Sixteen Tons” Sheet Music (pdf).
“Sixteen Tons” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: Merle Travis.
Tune: Merle Travis.
Now some people say a man’s made out of mud,
But a poor man’s made out of muscle and blood,
Muscle and blood, skin and bone,
A mind that’s weak and a back that’s strong.
You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
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 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 hollered, “Well, bless my soul!”
You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
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 morning in the drizzling rain.
Fighting and trouble is my middle name.
I was raised in the bottoms by a momma hound.
I’m mean as a dog, but I’m gentle as a lamb.
You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
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 coming, you better step aside.
A lot of men didn’t, and a lot of men died.
I got a fist of iron and a fist of steel.
If the right one don’t get you, then the left one will.
You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
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.