Eugene Church - Sixteen Tons (Merve Travis Cover)

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From '' Sixteen Tons / Time Has Brought About A Change ''
Label: King Records - 45-5715
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single
Country: US
Released: Mar 1963
Tracklist
A Sixteen Tons
Written-By - Merle Travis
B Time Has Brought About A Change
Written-By - Eugene Church
Vocals - Eugene Church
Published By - American Music
Published By - Recordo Music
Notes
A Side Published by American Music
B Side Published by Recordo Music
© 2005 Gusto Records Inc.
℗ 2005 Gusto Records Inc.
------------------------
"Sixteen Tons" is a song written by Merle Travis about a coal miner, based on life in the mines of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
Travis first recorded the song at the Radio Recorders Studio B in Hollywood, California, on August 8, 1946.
Cliffie Stone played bass on the recording.
It was first released in July 1947 by Capitol on Travis's album Folk Songs of the Hills.
The song became a gold record.
Authorship
The sole authorship of "Sixteen Tons" is attributed to Merle Travis on all recordings beginning with Travis's own 1946 record and is registered with BMI as a Merle Travis composition.
George S. Davis, a folk singer and songwriter who had been a Kentucky coal miner, claimed on a 1966 recording for Folkways Records to have written the song as "Nine-to-ten tons" in the 1930s; he also at different times claimed to have written the song as "Twenty-One Tons".
There is no supporting evidence for Davis's claim.
Davis's 1966 recording of his version of the song (with some slightly different lyrics and tune, but titled "Sixteen Tons") appears on the albums George Davis: When Kentucky Had No Union Men and Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian.
The line "another day older and deeper in debt" from the chorus came from a letter written by Travis's brother John. This and the line "I owe my soul to the company store" are a reference to the truck system and to debt bondage. Under this scrip system, workers were not paid cash; rather they were paid with non-transferable credit vouchers that could be exchanged only for goods sold at the company store. This made it impossible for workers to store up cash savings. Workers also usually lived in company-owned dormitories or houses, the rent for which was automatically deducted from their pay. In the United States the truck system and associated debt bondage persisted until the strikes of the newly formed United Mine Workers and affiliated unions forced an end to such practices.
The eponymous "sixteen tons" refers to a practice of initiating new miners.
In the mid-1920s, a miner tended to haul eight to ten tons per day, whereas for new miners, other miners would slack off so the new miner could "'make sixteen' on his very first day."
Cover versions
Frankie Laine
1955
Tennessee Ernie Ford
The Weavers
Red Sovine
B.B. King & His Orchestra
Larry Cross
Marvin & The Chirps
Elvis Presley
1956
Ewan MacColl with Brian Daly
Michael Holliday
Eddy Arnold
1957
The Platters
1958
Chang Loo
1960
Bo Diddley
1961
Lou Monte
1961
Jimmy Dean
1964
Louis Neefs
1965
Lorne Greene
1966
Stevie Wonder
1967
Tom Jones
1967
James & Bobby Purify
1968
Bobby Darin
1976
Don Harrison Band
1984
Deja Voodoo
1986
Anna Domino
1987
Johnny Cash
Frank Tovey
1989
The Gas House Gang (quartet)
1990
A rendition of the song by Eric Burdon was used for the opening to the comedy film Joe Versus the Volcano. Recorded in the early 1980s, it was not released until 1998 on the album Nightwinds Dying which is a different arrangement from the one heard in the film.
1991
The musical style of Ford's version was used for a mashup with Money for Nothing by Big Daddy on their album Cutting Their Own Groove.
1991
It was featured as a secret track on progressive thrash metal band Confessor's album Condemned.
1992
A parody about golfing called "18 Holes" was written and recorded by John Denver. It was released on a rare single and occasionally performed in concert.
1998
Hank Wilson (pseudonym of Leon Russell) included his version on Hank Wilson, Vol. 3: Legend in My Time.
2005
Punk band This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb included it on their album Dance Party with...
2007
Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich's rendition of the song on 8 January received fairly widespread TV coverage.
2010
Lance Guest, portraying Johnny Cash, on the original Broadway cast recording of Million Dollar Quartet.
2011
Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and The Nightwatchman; on the EP "Union Town", released by NewWest Records.
2012
Tim Armstrong recorded a version as a part of his Tim Timebomb and Friends project.
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