16 Tons

15th track of Swings Both Ways in the deluxe version. It’s a cover of “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Robbie said: “Another song from my youth that is one of my… Read More

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16 Tons Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle an' blood
Muscle an' blood an' skin an' bones
A mind that's weak and a back that's strong

[Chorus]
You loaded 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 store

[Verse 2]
I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
Picked up the shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said, "Well, bless my soul!"

[Chorus]
You loaded 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 store

[Verse 3]
I was born one morning, it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle names
Raised in the canebrake by an' ol' mama lion
Can't no high-tone woman make me walk the line

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[Chorus]
You loaded 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 store

[Verse 4]
If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
With one fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't getcha then the left one will

[Chorus]
You loaded 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 store

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15th track of Swings Both Ways in the deluxe version. It’s a cover of “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Robbie said: “Another song from my youth that is one of my favourite songs ever. I liked the idea of being this manly man: ‘I was born one morning when the sun didn’t shine / I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine’. My granddad worked down the mine, and we were from a community of miners, so I suppose I had a link there. My favourite lyric of all time when I was eight or nine was ‘one fist of iron, the other of steel / if the right one don’t get you then the left one will’. That used to make me feel incredibly hard.”