Sixteens Tons

===========



Some people say a man is made out of mud

A poor man's made out of mud and muscle and blood

Muscle and blood and skin and bones

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

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' 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 strawboss said,