Some people say a man is made outta mud

poor man’s made outta muscle and blood

Muscle and blood and skin and bones

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

Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go

I owe my soul to [bad word] 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 [bad word] 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

Ain’t no boss man alive 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 [bad word] store

 

If you see [bad word] , better step aside

lotta men didn’t, a lotta men died

One fist of iron, the other of steel

If the right one don’t 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 [bad word] store