"50 odd years"? "Odd" ain't the half of it! Seriously, though, 1956 - 64 years ago now (2020); 52 years ago at the time it was posted here on YT (2008) Fred
Written by Merle Davis, sung by the incredibly talented Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1956, the song tells the story of coal miners back in the day who, instead of getting a paycheck, were given a voucher for use at the company store. The rent for their company-provided houses also came out of their pay. They were never handed a check to choose how they wanted to spend their hard-earned pay, therefore they couldn’t even afford to die...”they owed their souls to the company store”. Just hearing the song produces sad images of hardship and struggle like few of us have ever known in this country, thanks to the men who went down into the mines under extremely harsh and dangerous conditions in order for this country us to have luxuries we all enjoyed then and now.
@@TestECull this is one of the least educated comments i have ever read on youtube, which all things considering is in itself astounding. in america today the poorest people LIVE BETTER than the vast overwhelming majority of the population ever lived throughout the vast overwhelming majority of history. its not even mildly comparable. but if you want ... go on testecull... make your case...
@@endrsgm Ye let's just start with how wages have stagnated while Cost of Living has gone through the roof, touch on how my own personal healthcare plan is the 'Don't Get Sick' plan because going to a doctor for even a minor checkup would bankrupt me, how my threshhold for calling an ambulance is 'Can I still drive' for similar reasons, how the only way to get a decent job is to incur a six figure debt I'll still be paying on when I'm in my 80s *even with that better paying job*, how employers give so few fucks about the well-being of their employees that they think anything under 60hrs/week is laziness, how the political situation in this country has gone so far south I can't even be true about myself in public without risk of getting lynched in the streets...should I go on further or has that ripped the golden spoon out of your hand? And that's just the stuff that personally effects ME. Let's not even get started with how there's still a sizeable contingent of racist fucks in this country that create and perpetuate additional hardship on people of color **in addition to the same hardships I face**. Come out of your gilded tower once in a while, look at the realities of the everyman's life. It's no better now than it was when this song was written...matter of fact it's worse, because back then you could actually get a decent living-wage job with decent hours fresh out of high school. There was a lot of stuff wrong with society back then but at least you could support a family on a single job without a college degree back then, live comfortably, be able to afford things like doctor's visits.
@@TestECull "To be fair life ain't changed all that much in the intervening 70-odd years." now you are changing the goalposts to talk about whats wrong with life today. that isnt the same as your original post stated. the poor today have access to better medicine and healthcare than the in 1950s. in the 1950s they were coming out of the great depression and then ww2 and then the korean war. the 1950s had avian and asian flu pandemics which killed MILLIONS more than covid ever will not to mention the influenza pandemics that killed millions more in 51 and then again in 57. medical care was primitive at best and many people NEVER saw a dr in their entire lives and often were born at home and died at home. the poor today routinely own access to luxuries only the richest could have afforded in the 50s. the poor were skinny and starving in the 50s, today they are fat. in the 1950s only the richest could afford pre packaged meals and the poor had to make due with fresh foods and home cooking, its reversed today. in the 50s only the richest could even go to university, and sure you might have to borrow to get there now but you couldnt have even gone then. the fact you went and incurred huge debts that you cant pay back tells me maybe you should have made better life choices. neh? in the 1950s there was jim crow laws. today its micro-aggressions. there is racism today but in no way shape or form can racism today even remotely be compared to the era of jim crow and the kkk. except by woke incels who lack any concept of historical changes. people of color today live better lives in america TODAY than at any time previously in history AND not only that but also live better in america TODAY than people of color that live just about anywhere else the world TODAY. those are historical facts. women were encouraged not to work so men could have a job and women were encouraged to marry and marry young with valium to keep a wife happy. in the 1950s there was no or little workmans comp, no or little unemployment or benefits, and you were practically owned by your bosses whereas today that is all changed. is today perfect? no. can life in today world be compared to the 1950s as if nothing has improved? no. its ridiculous.
I can still remember my great grandmother playing this song on a record player in her house in the early 1970s. She was from West Virginia. Half of her family died in coal mines.
This was the year I was born. 66 years old now, listened to it as a child, still listen to it as an old lady. Sing it to the grandkids. Never get tired of this one.
I was 10 years old when this was filmed. I am almost 75 now. I have always loved this man. God bless “the pea picker” as he used to be called. He was awesome.
Northwestern Missouri had a butt load of coal mines too! My grandpa left school and went under ground in about 1926 (12 years old) and pretty much stayed there for til the late 30's
I was a little girl when Tennesse Ernie first sang this song in 1956, but I remember hearing it on the radio and watching him on television with my family. This was a great song, the lyrics he sang were all too true about the coal miners who got deeper in indebted to the company store. Thanks for this video
Good song and what a great voice Tennessee Ernie Ford possessed! I have always loved this song. This song was WAY before my time but they used to play it a lot on "oldies" stations when I was growing up. Hard-to-believe that this song is almost 60 years old.
@@ФомаАквинский-я4б yeah I am going to be 72 next week and the family tends to live into the 90s. Daddy drove a tank in WW II and Mom packed bomb sights.
Nancy Janzen I was born in 1949 and grew up listening TEF sing this and many other great songs. My dad fought in the Pacific in WWII and my mom was a Rosie the Riveter in St. Louis.
This is just a timeless piece of work! Whoever decided on the studio arrangement was brilliant for keeping the song stripped down to only the bare essentials with Ernie Ford's great voice selling the melody. It might have ended up just another soft-pop 50s song soon forgotten, but instead of loading it down with too much instrumental work, the song's hook is only 8 simple notes comprised of a flute, clarinet, and oboe, and then a snare with brushes and upright bass lightly carrying Ford's amazing baritone/mezzo-bass voice with snapping fingers for the upbeat. I read that the finger snapping was just something Ford did while warming up for the song and was added in when the president for capital records heard it and told the studio producer, "Keep his snapping fingers!" And so they did. No one ever predicted its success and made it B side. The song sold a million copies in 21 days - incredible for those years.
;) Nothing more to add, but still 1 of the best song´s ever......Every time when i go to work ;) this song is in my head :D like it or not Child´s :D :D :D
Yep. Couldn't said it better. A classic. Tnx for the information. And that lady in beginning said something it had sold 20 million copies by that time and it seems being early 80's. Never mind how many copies it sold, it is a TRUE piece of art. And it have somerthing to think about, social bearings (I'm from Sweden so I might get the line wrong?), meaning about poor people working in mines but still that/the company owns them. Like slaves. One of the maybe greatest song ever made. Thanks/Roland.
roland johansson Some coal companies paid their employees in the coal company's own form of "money". The coal company's "money" could not be used elsewhere. The company store could charge too much for things and the employees could not go elsewhere to buy them.
This had an astonishing effect upon release: there had never been anything remotely like it. All us kids in Wales wanted to be Tennessee Ernie! Thank you for posting this treasure, Curley.
Lord what can i say nothing but good old-fashioned county. Music see im black i watch and listen to county Music. I am 27 hell i still watch country music
"if the right don;t get ya then the left one will". This song is not complicated in structure but it just got such a solid groove to it. 1-2, 1-2 all the way through but damned if there ain't somethin' about it. It's one of those songs that just hits you. Powerful, and Ernie's Baritone just sits in the pocket. No need to clutter up with too much instrumentation. It has that late night, Old detective show foggy city, gangster feel to it. A masterpiece.
I was born in 1953, but I remember this song, my parents loved it! I may be old but glad I grew up when I did, have gotten to listen to so many different kinds of music!
I agree Rhonda. I was born in 1953 too...I remember songs such as this and the big band era songs that my parents listened to. Never gets old to me!!!! Happy new year....
Even when I got into Radio in 81' we played this song. Tennessee Ernie was a trend setter. He was one of the first to reach out to the Soviet Union with his music. Despite their objections to him doing Gosphel the people he reached was the main goal. We need more Tennessee Ernies.
Such a talented man! I could listen to him singing all day. I have "re-discovered" his music. My parents loved watching his TV show on the only black and white we had. I suppose it was because my Mom was born in 1919 in Coffee County Tennessee! I wish I could have met this man. Rest in Heaven Mr Ford. 🙏🙏
This was my grandfathers favorite song, can’t hear it without thinking of him. He was miner when he was you and an oil man when he got older. Blue collar from cradle to grave.
I was a year old when this was filmed. I absolutely love this song. I keep playing it on my echo dot over and over. This is the best version of this song.
Get this song in my head every time i gotta do hard labor. I didnt even know this song till a 60 yr old and 24 yr old from my last job would sing this while working!!! Perfect
I agree... but have we come that far? There are tens of millions of people in this country that live just like that... ever more workload, ever less financial security. Corporate rent seekers who optimize every dime out of the working class.
Human livestock. This is the whole reason for restrictions on birth control and abortion. The more there is of us, the cheaper we come. We are just a supply like anything else.
@@evertonpenguin2408 This song was written about American coal mine workers...not USSR. In the 1930s men were paid in the Company in vouchers, not US currency...the vouchers could only be spent in company owned stores....as the lyrics tell us.
Most have to have experienced living during the great depression to under stand the lyrics of this song but as a youth who didn't live through those tough times, still remember loving hearing this song and his other songs too. Another person greatly missed.
Ol’ Ernie sold more Ford vehicles in the early 1960s than Henry could have ever imagined. Especially Ranch Wagons. I only wish I had his singing talent. The only thing Ernie had accompanying him was drum set, a clarinet, and the man’s own snapping fingers. We will never see anything like that again.
I remember watching ol' Ernie singing this classic on his show when I was nine years old. Blew me away then and still does today. RIP you ol' pea picker, you. Thanks for posting. ~ Mark
He was my dads good friend. My dad built his house in P Valley, and he used to always come to our house for dinner. I was always happy to see him. He was a great guy ! God Rest His Soul
Such a great voice, and a song reflective of the history it came from. After a long day at work, sometimes 12, 14 and even more hours with the commute, my man comes home and if he's up for it, we walk a bit. We sing this occasionally. He's has a nice baritone/bass and we both know the history of the song. I just follow, not being much of a singer. Thank you for posting this recording. :-)
When I was little, my parents and everyone else was listening to this! Have love this song almost all my life! So good! Amazing I still remember all the words!
Rhonda Boncutter .I can relate to your thoughts .I can remember my baby girl crying when she looked at the said dog hole of a mine.Where I crawled on m6 knees working just to try and feed my 2 kids .As a single parent I had no choice but to shovel in those mines .Live and learn !
I was eight years old when the Ernie Ford version was released so naturally I thought it was his song. I still love that record but of course in the 60s I found out about the original by Merle Travis and later on the terrific rendering by Big Bill Broonzy - they're both on TH-cam, check them out along with a very good version by the Platters.
This amazing song fell upon my path quite by accident and I love it so much!!! It's been on repeat in my car for a while now and I'm not tired of it - my 8 year old daughter and I sing it in the way to school by her request!
When he was in Bristol, Tennessee, he had a radio show. My dad owned a full service gas station in Erwin, Tennessee, and sponsored Tennessee Ernie Ford. He came to the station, and I got to meet him when I was very young. I love his voice and songs, especially his gospel ones.
Chinedu Opara “I owe my soul to the company store” Miners used to get paid in scrip which was only accepted in the mining companies store. Useless for anywhere else so basically they couldn’t leave and the mine bosses had the military kill the miners and their families that tried to fight back. Look up the history of Blair mountain.
Wow! I think that was Dinah Shore introducing him! My grandfather was a coal miner in W VA, and my dad did a little of it too, so I have memories of the company store and company housing; a means to reap profits at every turn in the coal industry.
Marc Del Yes, Dinah Shore was the first thought that came to my mind too! Ironic, browsing here pretty much by chance after getting back from a program at The Mountain Institute in West Virginia last week. As many say, probably there is no such thing as change. Really enjoyed Ernie Ford again and the reminder that THIS problem is not over in WV, not at all.
HealthyTomorrow You are correct, it isn't over yet. The coal company's are still getting their coal, but at a cost to the environment as they remove mountain tops and strip mine. The good news for W. VA is that they are moving their economy toward a recreation state and tourist destination. The Boy Scouts of America just created a huge Campground/Teaching center near Oak Hill/Beckley. Plus they have the white water rafting, bungee jumping, and zip lines for the more daring.
The lyrics tells the story of early coal miners. Ernie was one great singer. Super.... I am from West Virginia I know these stories. This is TRUE.... Thank you.
Interesting how this song is coming back around. For gamers it's in Fallout 76 and South Park just used in it's S22 ep9 intro. I've always liked this song. I remember Ernie Ford singing this song and ZZ Top covering it years later.
You really think this era was so saintly, don't you? I highly doubt the Li'l Ol' Peapicker was much of a classy guy. I remember watching him with my mom back in the early 60s, not knowing he was a raging alcoholic who would eventually drink himself to death. What class.
As I remember, in 1962, I boarded a train to La. with a supposedly change, in Dallas/Ft.Worth...................which some of us found the connection had been missed........The Train got us onto a bus to make connection in Houston, I found myself with a super nice bunch of people, and my seat mate was an Air Force young man.........................of course we stuck up conversation, it was Christmas time, and the bus stopped occasionally to pick up people, ??? sure how it happeed but I began to sing song of the time, and this is the one we picked the most, it was so much fun, the whole bus was rockin with tunes of the day
The company store was a fact of life because the companies paid in script and not in greenbacks. The only place you could spent was at the company store.
Yeah, before the New Deal the exploitation was like The Jungle. Too bad the same Daddy Warbucks were left at the top to turn it all back on itself. They're gona' make a commie out of me they keep this up.
50 odd years later and it's still a hit.
it's still true
You mean 70 y later...
This was posted in 2008 though
(jk)
"50 odd years"?
"Odd" ain't the half of it!
Seriously, though, 1956 - 64 years ago now (2020); 52 years ago at the time it was posted here on YT (2008)
Fred
I'm slightly over 60, it was before me.
Written by Merle Davis, sung by the incredibly talented Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1956, the song tells the story of coal miners back in the day who, instead of getting a paycheck, were given a voucher for use at the company store. The rent for their company-provided houses also came out of their pay. They were never handed a check to choose how they wanted to spend their hard-earned pay, therefore they couldn’t even afford to die...”they owed their souls to the company store”. Just hearing the song produces sad images of hardship and struggle like few of us have ever known in this country, thanks to the men who went down into the mines under extremely harsh and dangerous conditions in order for this country us to have luxuries we all enjoyed then and now.
To be fair life ain't changed all that much in the intervening 70-odd years.
@@TestECull yes and no . . . life has markedly improved for much of the global population . . . less obviously for middle america
@@TestECull this is one of the least educated comments i have ever read on youtube, which all things considering is in itself astounding.
in america today the poorest people LIVE BETTER than the vast overwhelming majority of the population ever lived throughout the vast overwhelming majority of history. its not even mildly comparable. but if you want ... go on testecull... make your case...
@@endrsgm Ye let's just start with how wages have stagnated while Cost of Living has gone through the roof, touch on how my own personal healthcare plan is the 'Don't Get Sick' plan because going to a doctor for even a minor checkup would bankrupt me, how my threshhold for calling an ambulance is 'Can I still drive' for similar reasons, how the only way to get a decent job is to incur a six figure debt I'll still be paying on when I'm in my 80s *even with that better paying job*, how employers give so few fucks about the well-being of their employees that they think anything under 60hrs/week is laziness, how the political situation in this country has gone so far south I can't even be true about myself in public without risk of getting lynched in the streets...should I go on further or has that ripped the golden spoon out of your hand?
And that's just the stuff that personally effects ME. Let's not even get started with how there's still a sizeable contingent of racist fucks in this country that create and perpetuate additional hardship on people of color **in addition to the same hardships I face**.
Come out of your gilded tower once in a while, look at the realities of the everyman's life. It's no better now than it was when this song was written...matter of fact it's worse, because back then you could actually get a decent living-wage job with decent hours fresh out of high school. There was a lot of stuff wrong with society back then but at least you could support a family on a single job without a college degree back then, live comfortably, be able to afford things like doctor's visits.
@@TestECull
"To be fair life ain't changed all that much in the intervening 70-odd years."
now you are changing the goalposts to talk about whats wrong with life today. that isnt the same as your original post stated.
the poor today have access to better medicine and healthcare than the in 1950s.
in the 1950s they were coming out of the great depression and then ww2 and then the korean war.
the 1950s had avian and asian flu pandemics which killed MILLIONS more than covid ever will not to mention the influenza pandemics that killed millions more in 51 and then again in 57.
medical care was primitive at best and many people NEVER saw a dr in their entire lives and often were born at home and died at home.
the poor today routinely own access to luxuries only the richest could have afforded in the 50s.
the poor were skinny and starving in the 50s, today they are fat.
in the 1950s only the richest could afford pre packaged meals and the poor had to make due with fresh foods and home cooking, its reversed today.
in the 50s only the richest could even go to university, and sure you might have to borrow to get there now but you couldnt have even gone then. the fact you went and incurred huge debts that you cant pay back tells me maybe you should have made better life choices. neh?
in the 1950s there was jim crow laws. today its micro-aggressions. there is racism today but in no way shape or form can racism today even remotely be compared to the era of jim crow and the kkk. except by woke incels who lack any concept of historical changes. people of color today live better lives in america TODAY than at any time previously in history AND not only that but also live better in america TODAY than people of color that live just about anywhere else the world TODAY. those are historical facts.
women were encouraged not to work so men could have a job and women were encouraged to marry and marry young with valium to keep a wife happy.
in the 1950s there was no or little workmans comp, no or little unemployment or benefits, and you were practically owned by your bosses whereas today that is all changed.
is today perfect? no.
can life in today world be compared to the 1950s as if nothing has improved? no. its ridiculous.
I can still remember my great grandmother playing this song on a record player in her house in the early 1970s. She was from West Virginia. Half of her family died in coal mines.
I’m 70 and remember hearing it as a little kid.
This was the year I was born. 66 years old now, listened to it as a child, still listen to it as an old lady. Sing it to the grandkids. Never get tired of this one.
I was born just before Christmas, 1955, and grew up with this.. still love.
Me too Joan . That was the big hit the year we were born 🎶. Live long and prosper.
You're young at ❤
My dad sang it as he was getting ready for work- at a hospital. Lol!
Don't feel so bad. I am 50 but I feel like 66. Everyone thinks I'm 85 but what do they know?
I was 10 years old when this was filmed. I am almost 75 now. I have always loved this man. God bless “the pea picker” as he used to be called. He was awesome.
Hello Judith, How are you doing?
I don’t know any singer that can sing with only two clarinets playing 8notes and snapping their fingers. Great man wonderful voice.
Check out sun houses grinning in your face, then.
And you still don't. There is a full drum kit, a solo trumpet, and an upright bass in this.
And now there's this: th-cam.com/video/fzlT80jQ3lo/w-d-xo.html
Have fun and appreciate the low notes. Ernie sounds like a pre-teen boy after that one.
@@RustyDust101 He is a very good singer great bass. Thank you for the link.
I saw him do this live when he was older and he rocked it!
Darn, the system will only let me give it one thumbs up.
Yes. And no one can match this man' s 16 tons. This is his and our song . A classic for the ages.
"his and our song". I like the way you put that
A very catchy song. Once it gets in your head it sticks.
💥🎯💥
&
Ditto.
🤨"And *we're* *all* still paying..............⚰️
@@staggerlee2774🎯
I was only 5yrs old but through the years I have heard this
This was a HUGE hit in West Virginia, known for its coal miners.
Same in small towns of Montana!
Howard Hightower
Can you imagine that it was even known in the Netherlands....
Northwestern Missouri had a butt load of coal mines too! My grandpa left school and went under ground in about 1926 (12 years old) and pretty much stayed there for til the late 30's
Big in Ireland in 1956. Masterpiece.
Know this song from Fallout 76, which is based in wv
I was a little girl when Tennesse Ernie first sang this song in 1956, but I remember hearing it on the radio and watching him on television with my family. This was a great song, the lyrics he sang were all too true about the coal miners who got deeper in indebted to the company store. Thanks for this video
No one can hold a candle to Tennessee Ernie when it comes to gospel singing either!
Good song and what a great voice Tennessee Ernie Ford possessed! I have always loved this song. This song was WAY before my time but they used to play it a lot on "oldies" stations when I was growing up. Hard-to-believe that this song is almost 60 years old.
I was 9 in 1956.
Nancy Janzen b
@@nancyjanzen5676
9 ! - 1947
@@ФомаАквинский-я4б yeah I am going to be 72 next week and the family tends to live into the 90s. Daddy drove a tank in WW II and Mom packed bomb sights.
Nancy Janzen I was born in 1949 and grew up listening TEF sing this and many other great songs. My dad fought in the Pacific in WWII and my mom was a Rosie the Riveter in St. Louis.
The Cane break is a real place in West Virginia coal country. My father was a coal miner and i remember passing Cane break while visiting cousins.
This is just a timeless piece of work! Whoever decided on the studio arrangement was brilliant for keeping the song stripped down to only the bare essentials with Ernie Ford's great voice selling the melody. It might have ended up just another soft-pop 50s song soon forgotten, but instead of loading it down with too much instrumental work, the song's hook is only 8 simple notes comprised of a flute, clarinet, and oboe, and then a snare with brushes and upright bass lightly carrying Ford's amazing baritone/mezzo-bass voice with snapping fingers for the upbeat. I read that the finger snapping was just something Ford did while warming up for the song and was added in when the president for capital records heard it and told the studio producer, "Keep his snapping fingers!" And so they did. No one ever predicted its success and made it B side. The song sold a million copies in 21 days - incredible for those years.
;) Nothing more to add, but still 1 of the best song´s ever......Every time when i go to work ;) this song is in my head :D like it or not Child´s :D :D :D
Madd Dogg g4
Thank's Dogg, for the information.
Yep. Couldn't said it better. A classic. Tnx for the information. And that lady in beginning said something it had sold 20 million copies by that time and it seems being early 80's. Never mind how many copies it sold, it is a TRUE piece of art. And it have somerthing to think about, social bearings (I'm from Sweden so I might get the line wrong?), meaning about poor people working in mines but still that/the company owns them. Like slaves. One of the maybe greatest song ever made. Thanks/Roland.
roland johansson Some coal companies
paid their employees in the coal company's own form of "money". The coal company's
"money" could not be used elsewhere.
The company store could charge too much for things and the employees could not go elsewhere to buy them.
This had an astonishing effect upon release: there had never been anything remotely like it. All us kids in Wales wanted to be Tennessee Ernie! Thank you for posting this treasure, Curley.
I still have my 78 record of this song , that I bought, back then, in South-East London.
Lord what can i say nothing but good old-fashioned county. Music see im black i watch and listen to county Music. I am 27 hell i still watch country music
+LaDonna Williams (little Ricardo pinkney) Good music is good music regardless hat's off to you!
Great song sung by a great man. The finger snapping is what sets this apart from anyone else singing it.
I know!!! It's so damn catchy!
story i heard was that it was accidentally left in from one of the rehearsal takes. wisely they left it in and the song is richer for it.
One of my all time favorite songs. I remember watching his show every week, too. RIP Ernie.
Me too - "Bless your little ole pea-pickin' heart!"
No Auto-Tune, no tuning machines nothing needed the pure talent.
"if the right don;t get ya then the left one will". This song is not complicated in structure but it just got such a solid groove to it. 1-2, 1-2 all the way through but damned if there ain't somethin' about it. It's one of those songs that just hits you. Powerful, and Ernie's Baritone just sits in the pocket. No need to clutter up with too much instrumentation. It has that late night, Old detective show foggy city, gangster feel to it. A masterpiece.
Our family watched the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show every week during the mid/late 50s..... This was my favorite song when I was 10-11 years old....
My dad and uncles worked in the mines is Pennsylvania.This song always reminds me of them. Back bones of America.🇺🇸
Hello Kat, How are you doing?
Three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. THREE! You can see why.
My late dad's favourite song.x
I was born in 1953, but I remember this song, my parents loved it! I may be old but glad I grew up when I did, have gotten to listen to so many different kinds of music!
I agree Rhonda. I was born in 1953 too...I remember songs such as this and the big band era songs that my parents listened to. Never gets old to me!!!! Happy new year....
My father was big john and saved a lot of people, in the pits. A grizzled Polish soldier with hands like shovels
Discovered that song yesterday and cant stop hearing it :D Bet he didnt know a random guy from germany would listen this song in 2022 :D
Even when I got into Radio in 81' we played this song. Tennessee Ernie was a trend setter. He was one of the first to reach out to the Soviet Union with his music. Despite their objections to him doing Gosphel the people he reached was the main goal. We need more Tennessee Ernies.
+John Cody I second that and wish you a Merry Christmas.
Looks like you there are still in need.
Such a talented man! I could listen to him singing all day. I have "re-discovered" his music. My parents loved watching his TV show on the only black and white we had. I suppose it was because my Mom was born in 1919 in Coffee County Tennessee! I wish I could have met this man. Rest in Heaven Mr Ford. 🙏🙏
This was my grandfathers favorite song, can’t hear it without thinking of him. He was miner when he was you and an oil man when he got older. Blue collar from cradle to grave.
WOW! What a great singer and what a great song.
The older generations had such talented preformers and music.
I am jealous.
Tennessee Ernie Ford, one of the real classics at singing and as a man.
I always like Ernie Ford's voice and his music, even though I was still a child when he died.
I was a year old when this was filmed. I absolutely love this song. I keep playing it on my echo dot over and over. This is the best version of this song.
How are you? So sorry for the infringe on your privacy. Beautiful song!
Thanks for your reply. Yes it's a lovely song. I can't believe how old it is
He and the gentlemen like him are so missed. Then again,... there were very few like him.
R.I.P.
Hard to believe someone who played a country bumpkin so well had such a great voice. I loved him on I LOVE LUCY.
LAINIEPAWELSKI. Why?
This song reminds me of my fiancée's grandmother, she loved it when I'd sing it.
Get this song in my head every time i gotta do hard labor. I didnt even know this song till a 60 yr old and 24 yr old from my last job would sing this while working!!! Perfect
A cultural treasure that should not be forgotten... I wish more people would realize really how far we've come from that.
I agree... but have we come that far? There are tens of millions of people in this country that live just like that... ever more workload, ever less financial security. Corporate rent seekers who optimize every dime out of the working class.
@@lepidoptera9337 me too thank
Can't say I saw him live, but I did see this when it first was aired. Damn I am old lol.
The working class anthem.
pretty sure that's the international
Human livestock. This is the whole reason for restrictions on birth control and abortion. The more there is of us, the cheaper we come. We are just a supply like anything else.
@@beccabankston5870 Sad truth
@@evertonpenguin2408 This song was written about American coal mine workers...not USSR. In the 1930s men were paid in the Company in vouchers, not US currency...the vouchers could only be spent in company owned stores....as the lyrics tell us.
nope... the coal miner's anthem
Most have to have experienced living during the great depression to under stand the lyrics of this song but as a youth who didn't live through those tough times, still remember loving hearing this song and his other songs too. Another person greatly missed.
Ol’ Ernie sold more Ford vehicles in the early 1960s than Henry could have ever imagined. Especially Ranch Wagons. I only wish I had his singing talent. The only thing Ernie had accompanying him was drum set, a clarinet, and the man’s own snapping fingers. We will never see anything like that again.
* a drum set. On a mobile device they don’t give a person a chance to edit. The man was a legend. That baritone voice will live on through the ages.
He had the best facial expressions. Awesome singer ❤
I was born in 1953, I remember my parents and Aunt singing this song! Grew up loving this song!
AwesoMe voice!!!! Bravo😮
I was 3 when this song came out, but both my parents loved music, I remember this! Love it!
I remember watching ol' Ernie singing this classic on his show when I was nine years old. Blew me away then and still does today. RIP you ol' pea picker, you. Thanks for posting. ~ Mark
Bless His Pea Pickin Heart 😃
Best of the Best
no one can ever beat it
I remember seeing him sing this on TV back in the 50's. It's still great...
My Mother said that was the first song I ever sung in 1956. I was 5 years old. Mom said I knew all the verses. I do remember singing it.
He was my dads good friend. My dad built his house in P Valley, and he used to always come to our house for dinner. I was always happy to see him. He was a great guy ! God Rest His Soul
Such a great voice, and a song reflective of the history it came from. After a long day at work, sometimes 12, 14 and even more hours with the commute, my man comes home and if he's up for it, we walk a bit. We sing this occasionally. He's has a nice baritone/bass and we both know the history of the song. I just follow, not being much of a singer. Thank you for posting this recording. :-)
Gene Pitney
WHAT A BASS VOICE!!! REMINDS ME OF MY FATHER WHO DIED 1960.
Hello Donna, How are you doing?
When I was lower enlisted in the Army, we'd sing songs when the NCOs made us do manual labor. This was one that we'd break out.
When I was little, my parents and everyone else was listening to this! Have love this song almost all my life! So good! Amazing I still remember all the words!
I'm 56 years old an love this song. Like you I know all the words to it. Some of the best music you hear is the simplest.
Right!!
Me too sister. Mom and Dad had the album. You're better at remembering lyrics than me though, but, I do have a mind for tunes.
Rhonda Boncutter .I can relate to your thoughts .I can remember my baby girl crying when she looked at the said dog hole of a mine.Where I crawled on m6 knees working just to try and feed my 2 kids .As a single parent I had no choice but to shovel in those mines .Live and learn !
I was eight years old when the Ernie Ford version was released so naturally I thought it was his song. I still love that record but of course in the 60s I found out about the original by Merle Travis and later on the terrific rendering by Big Bill Broonzy - they're both on TH-cam, check them out along with a very good version by the Platters.
One of the best songs ever sung, and by a man who knew about company stores. The Lord bless you Ernie.
I was seven when this came out. Love you mr. Ford
Hello Cheryl, How are you doing?
This amazing song fell upon my path quite by accident and I love it so much!!! It's been on repeat in my car for a while now and I'm not tired of it - my 8 year old daughter and I sing it in the way to school by her request!
One of the smoothest baritone voices you will ever hear in your life! If velvet could sing...
When I worked at a place called DAPA. A freind of mine Called Pete Hauber... I dialed in his antenna !!!
Such a powerful, clear voice.
Loved this song in the 50’s and still do. 💕
When he was in Bristol, Tennessee, he had a radio show. My dad owned a full service gas station in Erwin, Tennessee, and sponsored Tennessee Ernie Ford. He came to the station, and I got to meet him when I was very young. I love his voice and songs, especially his gospel ones.
God i just love his voice nothing can match it.
I remember this when I was a young child. Still great.
😊 love this song and his voice my parents favorite song
A real "down to earth" song, and one of the best.
I remember some episodies of Merrie Melodies, those about the characters getting out the books, and they usually sang this song.....amazing memories
Always loved this song...Good for our time,Timeless...".Sixteen Tons" bravo Ernie Ford" !!!🇩🇰🇺🇲😊🇬🇧
It doesn’t matter who sings this, no one does it better than this.
Even Geoff Castellucci?
Geoff Castellucci???
Noriel Vilela!!!!!!
This tune will always hold up.
Sixteen Tons ..... my absolute favourite song of all time. Fantastic!!!
His voice from my youth sits deep, deep in my heart!
Can you imagine that you load sixteen tons of anything and still get no pay? It ain't black or white, poor is poor.
I have been poor all my life, but Me and my family always made it! I owe it all to God!
Well take a little credit. It takes tough people to survive.
Pastor T
it is well wlth my lord
My grandfather work in the mines and 16tons was what you had to load and not much pay for it
Chinedu Opara “I owe my soul to the company store”
Miners used to get paid in scrip which was only accepted in the mining companies store. Useless for anywhere else so basically they couldn’t leave and the mine bosses had the military kill the miners and their families that tried to fight back. Look up the history of Blair mountain.
A most awesome rendition! Thank you!
Wow! I think that was Dinah Shore introducing him! My grandfather was a coal miner in W VA, and my dad did a little of it too, so I have memories of the company store and company housing; a means to reap profits at every turn in the coal industry.
Marc Del Yes....that is Dinah Shore....I remember her show
Joyce Hanson this sold over 20 million copies and that was years ago
Great
Marc Del Yes, Dinah Shore was the first thought that came to my mind too!
Ironic, browsing here pretty much by chance after getting back from a program at The Mountain Institute in West Virginia last week. As many say, probably there is no such thing as change. Really enjoyed Ernie Ford again and the reminder that THIS problem is not over in WV, not at all.
HealthyTomorrow
You are correct, it isn't over yet. The coal company's are still getting their coal, but at a cost to the environment as they remove mountain tops and strip mine. The good news for W. VA is that they are moving their economy toward a recreation state and tourist destination. The Boy Scouts of America just created a huge Campground/Teaching center near Oak Hill/Beckley. Plus they have the white water rafting, bungee jumping, and zip lines for the more daring.
I was 3 when this song came out but learned all the words, have sung this song for 60 years!
Rhonda Boncutter I was nine when this song came out. I too have always loved it.
I wasn't even born..... But my Mom made sure I was exposed. I'm ascertaining that my children are also exposed. Miss my Mom.
I was 60 when I heard it
Brilliant voice, song, pops up from time to time in my head, have to listen to it.
And an intro by Dinah Shore, too! I love them panning the guys snapping their fingers along with Ernie. That's just not something you see today. :)
Those guys look like company owners!
Those guys 😂 the first guy was actually Ernie in his golden years being honored for that song.
Great song. Great voice.
Im 45 from hull in England and I've only just found this... Absolutely class.. Had it on repeat for hours
I'm here because this is an amazing song.
This song plays in my head constantly at work.
July 19,2022
I just shared this with my 23 year old son. He loves music so he oughta be able to appreciate this.
Great great song. Working class life!! 🥲❤️🥲❤️
Yes!
One of the greatest voices ever. Love Tennessee Ernie Ford.
The lyrics tells the story of early coal miners. Ernie was one great singer. Super.... I am from West Virginia I know these stories. This is TRUE.... Thank you.
This song was made 2 years before I was born but I know every word...thanks Dad!
How can people not like this, I've got chills. Love it!
I was just 4 years old when hearing and watching this song. I'm now 70 plus years old now. Remembering as if it was yesterday...
Interesting how this song is coming back around. For gamers it's in Fallout 76 and South Park just used in it's S22 ep9 intro. I've always liked this song. I remember Ernie Ford singing this song and ZZ Top covering it years later.
Sfcpres originally written and sang by Merle Travis
What class, what a different time...
You really think this era was so saintly, don't you? I highly doubt the Li'l Ol' Peapicker was much of a classy guy. I remember watching him with my mom back in the early 60s, not knowing he was a raging alcoholic who would eventually drink himself to death. What class.
Erik Baran How shocking that a musical artist should be an alcoholic or drug addict! Why I've never heard of such a thing before!
And they are rarely classy. That's the point, Skippy,
Erik Baran Class in its self only really matters on stage anyhow, newer stars are worse as most can't even do that
Erik Baran
In my opinion they've way more class than someone gossiping about another man like yourself
Great song and singer. I hope people listen to the lyrics.
As I remember, in 1962, I boarded a train to La. with a supposedly change,
in Dallas/Ft.Worth...................which some of us found the connection had been
missed........The Train got us onto a bus to make connection in Houston, I found
myself with a super nice bunch of people, and my seat mate was an Air Force
young man.........................of course we stuck up conversation, it was Christmas
time, and the bus stopped occasionally to pick up people, ??? sure how it happeed
but I began to sing song of the time, and this is the one we picked the most,
it was so much fun, the whole bus was rockin with tunes of the day
mamatibbors cassady Beautiful snapshot of a precious experience never to be repeated but always treasured. Thanks for sharing, Mama.
The company store was a fact of life because the companies paid in script and not in greenbacks. The only place you could spent was at the company store.
Yeah, before the New Deal the exploitation was like The Jungle. Too bad the same Daddy Warbucks were left at the top to turn it all back on itself. They're gona' make a commie out of me they keep this up.
We stil here 2018
@@oliversmith9200 amen!
Scrip*
@@OlGregge nature abhors a vacuum.
These songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s are simply awesome. Thank you curleyb3!
I'm Brazilian, and here this song went to the Portuguese version as 16 tons with the late singer Noriel Vilela. Both versions are fantastic.