Biography:
Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the exploitation of coal miners. Some of the songs he wrote or performed include: "Sixteen Tons", "Dark as a Dungeon", "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed", and "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette"; however, it is his masterful guitar playing that he is best known for today.
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The version below is from the Digital Tradition folk song database
(July 1992 version).
The "Rise Up Singing" songbook 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
Steve Putz
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
Palo Alto, California
-----------------------------
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 straw boss 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 canebrake by an' ol' mama hound
Ain't no high-tone woman gonna push me around.
Copyright American Music, Inc.
(July 1992 version).
The "Rise Up Singing" songbook 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
Steve Putz
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
Palo Alto, California
-----------------------------
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 straw boss 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 canebrake by an' ol' mama hound
Ain't no high-tone woman gonna push me around.
Copyright American Music, Inc.
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