Sixteen Tons

You load sixteen tons and what do you get?

You get another day older and deeper in debt

St. Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

(Spoken)

Yes, sir, there's many a Kentucky coal miner that pretty nearly owes his soul to the company store. He gets so far in debt to the coal company he's a-workin' for that he goes on sometimes for years without bein' paid one red cent in real, honest-to-goodness money. But he can always go to the company store and draw flickers or scrip. You know, that's little brass coins that you can't spend nowhere, only at the company store. So they add that against his account. And every day, he gets a little farther in debt. Sounds pretty bad, but even that's got a brighter side to it

Now some people say a man's made out of mud

But a poor man's made outta muscle and blood

Muscle and blood, skin and bones

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

St. Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

Well, I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine

I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mines

Loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal

And the straw boss a-hollered "Well, bless my soul!"

Sixteen tons and what do you get?

You get another day older and deeper in debt

St. 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 is my middle name

I was raised in the bottoms by a mama hound

I'm mean as a dog, but I'm gentle as a lamb

I load sixteen tons and what do you get?

You get another day older and deeper in debt

St. Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

Well, if you see me comin', you better step aside

A lotta men didn't and a lotta 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

St. Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store