Taken liberally from the Man in Black...
Some people say man is made outta mud
Ah poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bone
Ah mind that's weak and a back that's strong.
You load sixteen tons and whaddya get?
Another year older and deeper in debt
St. Peter don'tcha call me 'cause I cain't go
I owe my soul to the company store.
I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the line
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
and the strawboss said, "Well bless my soul!"
I was born one mornin' it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
Raised in a canebreak by an old momma lion
Ain't no high-tone woman make me walk the line.
If you see me comin' better step aside
A lotta men didn't and a lotta men died
With one fist of iron and the other of steel
If the right one don't getcha then the left one will.
You load sixteen tons and whaddya get?
Another year older and deeper in debt
St. Peter don'tcha call me 'cause I cain't go
I owe my soul... to the company store.
Ah poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bone
Ah mind that's weak and a back that's strong.
You load sixteen tons and whaddya get?
Another year older and deeper in debt
St. Peter don'tcha call me 'cause I cain't go
I owe my soul to the company store.
I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the line
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
and the strawboss said, "Well bless my soul!"
I was born one mornin' it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
Raised in a canebreak by an old momma lion
Ain't no high-tone woman make me walk the line.
If you see me comin' better step aside
A lotta men didn't and a lotta men died
With one fist of iron and the other of steel
If the right one don't getcha then the left one will.
You load sixteen tons and whaddya get?
Another year older and deeper in debt
St. Peter don'tcha call me 'cause I cain't go
I owe my soul... to the company store.