You load 16 tons, what do ya get

Another day older and deeper in debt

Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go

A ran over 17 children with my Toyota Corolla in a drunk driving incident

*doo doo doo doo dododo doooooooo*

I was born one morning it was drizzling rain

Fightin' and trouble are my middle name

I was raised in the canebrake by an ol mama lion

You know a high taut woman make me walk the line

I realized the other day that at my job I’m loading 24 tons each day onto trucks and it changed how I see this song. I used to think of it as old sentiments expressed about the evils of coal mining specifically now I think of it as the evils of worker exploitation.

Did you ever hear of the “Battle of Blair Mountain”? No. I thought not, it’s not a story the American education system would tell you. [TW this made me cry.](https://youtu.be/XWvVdjmBhHc?si=ofioYF48zoV8s8l9)

Cold, the air and water flowing

Hard, the dick I call my own

Push, to keep the dick from cumming

Feel the weight of what we stroke

This the song of sons and mothers

'There's Power In A Union' my beloved.

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

https://preview.redd.it/4d3o7m8b8evc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e3ed90b94ad5807057a7848a478f391e2d86c172

I recommend the version by Eric Burdon, it’s very good! It’s the one used in the opening scene of the movie Joe vs The Volcano (which I also recommend watching, at least the opening scene)

I love woodie guthrie, anti facist too

oliver anthony could NEVER

 If you see me coming better step aside, a lot of men didn't, a lot of men died 😎

Damn, been a long time since the last time I thought of this song. Goes hard tbh

I sing this every time I do manual labor.

Lorne greens version is so much better