SIXTEEN TONS 

Letra e Música:

Merle Travis

Intérprete:

'Tennessee' Ernie Ford

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

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 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

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 morning it was drizzling rain
Fighting and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebreak by an old mama lion
Ain't no high tone 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 coming better step aside
A lot of men didn't a lot of men died
One fist of iron the other of steel
If the right one don't 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

"Sixteen Tons" é uma canção sobre a miséria na mineração de carvão, 
em que o empregado está sempre em dívida com a companhia devido
 ao sistema adotado no relacionamento entre as partes.
 
Finalmente, em 1897,  
uma greve de trabalhadores em minas de carvão conseguiu modificar 
as condições escravas em que tinham vivido até então.