Sixteen Tons
The song Sixteen Tons was written by Merle Travis in 1946, based on the life of coal miners in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. The most famous recording was made by Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955. This is the beginning of the Tennessee Ernie Ford recording. I have accompanied it with photos of coal miners from various countries, not just the U.S.
Some people say a man is made outta mudA poor man's made outta muscle and bloodMuscle and blood and skin and bonesA mind that's a-weak and a back that's strongYou load 16 tons, what do you get?Another day older and deeper in debtSt. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't goI owe my soul to the company store
Note: The line "I owe my soul to the company store" refers to the truck system and debt bondage. In the truck system, the mining company paid workers with scrip (vouchers), not cash, that could only be used at the company store. This made it impossible for workers to accumulate any cash savings. Workers lived in company dormitories or houses, the rent for which was deducted from their wages.
Workers could buy on credit from the company store, but the credit was in the form of debt bondage, in which the amount owed would be paid off in the form of unpaid labor. In effect, a coal worker in debt to the store was a slave of the coal company.
In the United States, the truck system and debt bondage persisted until strikes by the United Mine Workers union finally forced an end to the practices.
6 comments:
Well, the clip would not play. They never do. But, I come from a coal miner's family...both my grandfather's died of black lung disease. My dad was taken out of school at age 13'to work in the mines, and several uncle's and cousins worked down there. So your description of wage bondage hit home. Oh, and when my paternal grandfather died, his family was evicted from company housing. Another compassionate practice on the part of "The Company "
The clip played fine for me.... I remember the song well. In fact, I have the 45rpm on my shelf. Yeah, I'm that old. LOL
Thank you for the hot video and the history lesson. If repugs had their way, they'd bring all that slave labor back.
Tom, I'm sorry you can't play my videos. If you send me a private email at unashamedmale@gmail.com, perhaps I can help you get it to work. For a while, I did computer tech support.
Pat, I'm old enough to remember the "45", too. LOL.
If you haven’t already seen it, you should watch “Chernobyl,” a brilliant story about the infamous nuclear accident. A group of miners are brought in to excavate the site, even though everyone knows they will be exposed in possibly fatal ways. The conditions are excruciatingly hot, and the miners strip naked to do their work. It’s a scene that is both horrible and … well, kinda hot, seeing these men being unashamedly naked together.
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