" Sixteen tons and what do you get - another day older and deeper in debt "

frogisis : 3 years ago (edited) [ I remember the first time I heard this song when it came on the radio while my mom was driving me to school, when I was maybe 8 or 9. She was the daughter of a union rail worker and belted this out at full volume, regularly slugging me in the arm (I remember her explicitly saying at 1:46 "listen, this is the best part!"), and then spent the rest of the ride explaining about the labor movement in America and what a "company store" was. Just about everything good about me I owe to her determined instruction, I miss her terribly.] [ " 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 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store " ]