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 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 the company 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 the company 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
Can’t no-a high-toned woman 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 the company store

If you see me comin’, better step aside
A lotta men didn’t, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don’t a-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 the company store

– a country song about a black coal miner written by a white country singer, derived from African slave work songs and jazz. “I was raised in the canebrake by an ol’ mama lion | Can’t no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line”

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Centennial Anniversary of Forbes Magazine, 2017

(Fascinating group interview/marketing on the spirit of the entrepreneurial who croon it doesn’t seek to harm; that counting wealth isn’t what’s important and yet it’s what kept the foothold for this media company; Steve Forbes gushing)

https://charlierose.com/videos/31071?autoplay=true

 

80th Anniversary of Forbes Magazine, 1997

https://charlierose.com/videos/13674?autoplay=true

 

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