GEORGE DAVIS "SIXTEEN TONS" Lyrics

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George Davis Sixteen Tons Lyrics Information:

"SIXTEEN TONS"
Written by: George Travis-circa early 1930s 4
First released: 1930s 5

If you don't see the green, footnote reference numbers in the above version of
the lyrics, try going to the previous version. There you should find the
corrected and updated lyrics and the footnote references.

1 The company store was a general store that was owned by the mining company.
Miners resented the company store because their prices were much higher than an
independent retail stores, their grocery and supply bills were deducted from
their earnings before they received their pay, and trading was compulsory.
Moreover, the debts which a miner piled up in the store bound him as securely
to his employer as miners were bound to feudal barons in medieval Scotland.
When an mine owner was unable to expand his mining capacity or the volume of
his sales, he would increase the number of his miners. This would so cut each
man's working time and earnings that it left no surplus to spend outside the
camp. Because of this "monopoly," the company store could charge whatever it
wanted for groceries and supplies. John McBride, president of the United Mine
Workers of America (1892-1894), related how an unscrupulous, Ohio coal mine
operator of his acquaintance made a profit of only $287 in a year. During the
same period his stores netted a profit of $22,000.

2 Throughout the coal mining areas in the USA there are seams of coal which
run for miles and miles in various directions. A multitude of mines tap into a
single seam by way of shafts or through strip-mining (depending upon the depth
of the seam in a particular area). These various seams are numbered. For
instance, in Illinois the #5 and #6 seams are very productive. In western Ohio
the #4 seam is the most heavily mined.

3 Many coal companies issued their own money, which for all intents and
purposes took the place of United States currency. This phony money, called
"scrip," took various forms such as coupon books, paper bills, and metal discs.
Planned layoffs, deliberate overhiring of part-time workers, and low wages
provided the perfect climate for the scrip to do as it was intened to do --
take the miner from one payday to another creating a viscious circle of need
versus the use of company credit from which the employee could never extricate
himself.

4 The following is an excerpt from the book, Coal Dust on the Fiddle, by
George Korson, Hatboro, PA, 1965, pp. 72-73, where Korson is interviewing Davis
about Davis' claim that he wrote "Sixteen Tons":

"When I first met him (George Davis) at the Hazard radio station in 1959, he
was very hesitant about doing any recording because of his previous bad
experience with the records business. He claims to have composed "Sixteen Tons"
during the 1930s, and feels that Merle Travis and Tennessee Ernie Ford
capitalized on his song through changing the chords (and lyrics) somewhat."

With the extensive amount of research I've done on this song, I have not found
any mention of a lawsuit being filed by Davis. Also, each and ever source that
I have gone to try to get to the bottom of this, credits Merle Travis as the
composer.

See/hear Merle Travis' version here.
See/hear Tennessee Ernie Ford's version here.

5 I do not have any kind of audio copy of Davis' version of "Sixteen Tons,"
the lyrics are taken from a biogray of George Davis, by Manfred D. Mainz as
posted on his Tinpan Alley Website.

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