MERLE TRAVIS - Sixteen Tons

Merle Travis

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Music

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• Merle
• Travis
• sixteen
• tons

[igor46206]

great song about the poor bastards who worked the mines

[TheCoverHeaven]

The original version was recorded in 1946 by Merle Travis.

Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded it in 1955.

Cause many believe that the original is by Tennessee Ernie Ford.

[squawcreekkid]

@f5thwheel1 That was a contract wage--meaning the more rock he broke the more he was paid. High risk=high pay--and rightly so.

[squawcreekkid]

good for you---I don't

[f5thwheel1]

@f5thwheel1 I made a better hourly wage a decade ago then I make today, the most I ever made in a year was 28k with 1 full time and 2 part time jobs. The cost of living is a hell of a lot higher now then it was in 1968, but good for your Daddy.

[f5thwheel1]

@squawcreekkid You too seem to imply occupiers don't know anything about hard work. As someone who began working underage; has held 7 part time jobs in one teenage summer to make more money then I could working two full time jobs, possesses a college degree, has held two full time restaurant jobs and knows what it's like to work 8 hours then drive to work for 4 more hours then drive home for 4and a half hours of sleep before getting up and going back to work, I support occupy.

[squawcreekkid]

@f5thwheel1 Oh yes--when I see the Occupiers on the TV new I think "Wow!! they are brilliant." But there is no way I could ever say that the occupiers could ever begin to know the meaning of HARD work; until one has truely worked hard does one understand that.

Perhaps Merle Travis wrote this as a protest song; but I doubt that. I would more readily believe he wrote it as a homage to the hard working men and women of the mountains.

FYI my dad made $36,000 in 1968

[f5thwheel1]

@squawcreekkid It almost seems like you're implying people in occupy only sit on their ass and blame others. They are simply smart enough to recognize legalized slavery and not kill themselves for someone else to make a buck while at the end of the day they're broke. Just because your Dad endured killing himself for too little pay doesn't make it okay for others to follow in his footsteps, which is probably why the song got wrote to begin with.

[squawcreekkid]

@f5thwheel1 the occupiers couldn't do this job---this type of mining made old men out of young ones. My father died at 64 an OLD man. He worked hard at what ever job he had he didn't sit on his ass and blame the government, or Wall Street.

[ESD2814GLC]

can we please STFU about politics for one minute and just embrace some facts: Merle Travis is one of the most important guitarists of all time., He is the main influence on Chet Atkins, who joins Jimi Hendrix, Les Paul, and Andres Segovia in a quartet of the undisputable greatest guitarists of all time. Merle was also an accomplished composer (like Hendrix after him), and a fine vocalist. Let us treasure this giant of music and leave politics out of it for God's sake.

[f5thwheel1]

dedicated to the occupy movement

[mundrungo78]

Roooots.

Catchy and with great lyrics.

So good that makes every cover sound great too.

Check out these Brazilians versions.

Noriel Vilela delivered a groovy samba spin on this tune:

watch?v=Beo_jHowU-I (around 1968).

Funk Como Le Gusta made another rendition, around 2000, pretty much in the same way, just more contemporary:

watch?v=DUIVb65EsXE

Hope you dig them...

Respect from Brasil.