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Sixteen Tons

Merle Travis

Text File

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
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From 
Sun Oct 25 13:46:30 PST 1992
Article: 3067 of alt.guitar.tab
Path: nevada.edu!uunet!newsgate.watson.ibm.com!news.ans.net!europa.asd.contel.com!darwin.sura.net!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!biosci!parc!xerox!putz
From: putz@parc.xerox.com (Steve Putz)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar.tab
Subject: Re: REQ: 16 tons
Keywords: Digital Tradition
Message-ID: 
Date: 20 Oct 92 15:55:09 GMT
References: 
Sender: news@parc.xerox.com
Organization: Xerox PARC
Lines: 56


The version below is from the Digital Tradition folk song database
(July 1992 version).

The "Rise Up Singing" song book gives the following chords:

	verse: Am - F E / Am - F E / Am - Dm - / Am - - E7
	chorus as in verse ending: Am - E7 Am

It also indicates the song is in the book "Songs of Work and Protest".

For more information about the Digital Tradition, contact:
  Dick Greenhaus, 28 Powell Street, Greenwich, CT 06831, 203/531-7314

I'm thinking of making a copy of the Digital Tradition available on an
FTP server.
Let me know if that would be useful.

Steve Putz 
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
Palo Alto, California

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SIXTEEN TONS
(Merle Travis)

Some people say a man is made outa mud
A poor man's made outa muscle 'n blood...
Muscle an' blood an' skin an' bone
A mind that's weak and a back that's strong

cho: You load sixteen tons an' whaddya get?
     Another day older an' deeper in debt
     Saint Peter doncha call me 'cause I can't go
     I owe my soul to the company sto'

If ya hear me a-comin' ya better step aside
A lotta men din't an' a lotta men died
With one fist of iron an' the other of steel
If the right one don' getcha then the left one will.

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
Picked up my shovel and I went to the mine
Loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the strawboss said, "Well, Bless my soul!"

I was born one morning in the drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebreak by an' ol' mama hound
Ain't no high-tone woman gonna push me around.

@mine
Copyright American Music, Inc.
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