SIXTEEN TONS ROCK 'N' ROLL
(Merle Travis - Jimmy Murphy)
JIMMY MURPHY (COLUMBIA 4-21534, 1956)

Sixteen ton rock 'n' roll
Sixteen ton rock 'n' roll
Go cat, dig that coal
Sixteen ton rock 'n' roll

I work way down in the mine
Where the sun don't ever shine
Get my payslip at the door
Says, I owe my money to the company store

Well, I've got a woman to will my mind
So I gotta keep diggin' that number nine
But some of these days when I'm gone
She can say, there lies ole muscle and bone

I've got a pick and a shovel in my hand
I load number nine like a man
If I live to be feeble and old
I'll still be diggin' that number nine coal