Lyrics:

Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man?s made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that?s a-weak and a back that?s strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint 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 straw boss said ?Well, a-bless my soul?

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don?t you call me ?cause I can?t go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin?, it was drizzlin? rain
Fightin? and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake* by an ol? mama lion
Cain?t no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don?t you call me ?cause I can?t go
I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin?, better step aside
A lotta men didn?t, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don?t a-get you, then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don?t you call me ?cause I can?t go
I owe my soul to the company store