Merle Travis 1946
Chorus:
You load sixteen tons and what do 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.
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 a-weak and a back that’s strong.
Well, I was born one morning, When the sun didn’t shine,
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine.
Loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal,
And the straw boss hollered, “Well, bless my soul.”
Well, I was born one morning, it was drizzling rain.
Fighting 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 as gentle as a lamb.
WeIl, if you see me a-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.