you load sixteen tons and what do you get 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 yes sir there s many a kentucky coal miner that pretty nearly owes his soul to the company store he gets so far in debt to the coal company he s a workin for that he goes on sometimes for years without bein paid one red cent in real honest to goodness money but he can always go to the company store and draw flickers or scrip you know that s little brass coins that you can t spend nowhere only at the company store so they add that against his account and every day he gets a little farther in debt sounds pretty bad but even that s got a brighter side to it now some people say a man s made out of mud but a poor man s made outta muscle and blood muscle and blood skin and bones a mind that s weak and a back that s strong you load sixteen tons and what do you get 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 well i was born one mornin when the sun didn t shine i picked up my shovel and i walked to the mines loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal and the straw boss a hollered well bless my soul sixteen tons and what do you get 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 i was born one mornin it was drizzlin rain fightin and trouble is my middle name i was raised in the bottoms by a mama hound i m mean as a dog but i m gentle as a lamb i load sixteen tons and what do you get 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  well if you see me comin you better step aside a lotta men didn t and a lotta men died i got a fist of iron and a fist of steel if the right one don t get you then the left one will you load sixteen tons and what do you get 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