The line "You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt" came from a letter written by Travis's brother John.[1] Another line came from their father, a coal miner, who would say: "I can't afford to die. I owe my soul to the company store."[4]
A 1955 version recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford reached number one in the Billboard charts,[5] while another version by Frankie Laine 1956 was released only in Western Europe, where it gave Ford's version competition.
if you ever watched Coal then you know all you are as a miner is how much you dig out of that pit. My hat goes off to those boys for keeping us in lights and power all these past 100+ years.
Some.... people say man is made out of mud, a poor man's made out of muscle and blood. Muscle and blood and skin and bone, a mind that's weak and a back that's strong.