Tonight, not a scroll but a song. An American song from 1946, about a man who works in a coal mine.
Learn from Songs · Unit 6: The perfect aspect · B1–B2 · Work, money and debt
Sixteen Tons
A famous American song about a coal miner who works harder and harder and owes more and more: the vocabulary of work and debt, owe / borrow / lend / pay back, and the present perfect with still, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria, and a dark comparison from ancient Egypt.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
A song! Finally. Can we sing it?
DEMETRIA
Why is a song about a mine in the Library of Alexandria?
SOPHIA
Because people have always sung about hard work and about money they cannot pay back. And because, as you will see, Alexandria had mines too.
Before you listen: the world of the song
Kentucky, USA, 1940s
In the 1940s, thousands of families in the mountains of Kentucky lived in company towns. The coal company owned everything: the mine, the houses, the shops, even the school and the church.
Miners worked long, dangerous shifts underground, loading coal by hand with a shovel. They were often paid not in dollars, but in scrip: tokens or paper money printed by the company, which they could only spend at the company store. And the company decided the prices.
Many families had to borrow from the store before payday, just to buy food, tools and lamp oil. When payday came, most of their wages went to pay back what they owed. Every month, they were a little deeper in debt. Some miners worked all their lives and still owed the company money when they died.
Merle Travis, whose father was a Kentucky miner, wrote “Sixteen Tons” in 1946. In 1955, Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded it with his deep, slow voice, and it sold millions of copies. A miner loads sixteen tons of coal a day, and the more he works, the more he owes.
Can a man be free if he owes everything to the people he works for?
Listen: the story in the song
PHILO
Listen once, just for the story. Who is the singer? What does he do every day? How does he feel about it?
SOPHIA
Then listen again, and answer Section A of the practice. Don’t try to understand every word: listen for the story, and for the words about work and money.
🎵 Listen to the song: “Sixteen Tons” (Merle Travis, 1946), sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford (1955).Watch the official video →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Sixteen Tons”, Tennessee Ernie Ford.Read the lyrics →
Work and money
MARCOS
A miner works a shift in the pit, with a shovel, and loads coal. On payday he gets his wages.
SOPHIA
Good, Marcos. And remember: wages are paid by the hour or the day, usually weekly; a salary is paid monthly. Hard, heavy work is back-breaking; when you are completely tired, you are worn out.
Owe, borrow, lend, pay back
DEMETRIA
The miner borrowed money from the store, and now he owes the company. But the company lent it to him!
SOPHIA
Yes. You borrow something from someone; someone lends something to you (lend – lent – lent). Then you owe them money, and you must pay it back. If you owe a lot, you are in debt (or, in business English, in the red).
The present perfect and still
PHILO
He has worked in the mine for twenty years, and he still owes money. He hasn’t paid it back yet.
SOPHIA
Exactly, Philo. The present perfect connects the past to now: He has worked there for twenty years (and he still does). Still = the situation continues, often surprisingly: He still owes money. Yet in questions and negatives: He hasn’t paid it back yet.
Sophia’s comparison: the gold mines of Egypt
SOPHIA
Two hundred years before our time, the Greek historian Agatharchides, and later Diodorus, described the gold mines of the Ptolemies in the desert south of Egypt. Prisoners and their whole families worked there in chains, day and night, until they died. Nobody could escape.
DEMETRIA
That’s horrible. But the miner in the song isn’t in chains.
PHILO
No chains. But he can’t leave, because he owes the company money. Is debt a kind of chain?
MARCOS
At least he can sing about it. And he’s proud. He’s strong, and he knows it.
SOPHIA
Three good points. Think about them for the discussion at the end: chains of iron and chains of debt, and a man who is trapped, but not beaten.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| shift, pit, shovel, coal, miner | working in a mine | He works a long shift in the pit. |
| wages, payday, scrip, the company store | getting paid | They paid him in scrip. |
| borrow from / lend to | taking and giving money for a time | He borrowed money from the store. |
| owe; pay back; be in debt | money you must return | He owes the company everything. |
| has worked … for / since; still; yet | present perfect: past to now | He has worked there for years and still owes money. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the story
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. In the song, the singer works…
2. Every day, he loads…
3. The more he works, the…
4. Who does he owe?
5. How does he describe himself?
6. What does he ask St Peter?
B · Work and money
Write the missing word.
7. He money from the company store last month. (borrow)
8. The store him the money. (lend)
9. Now he the company two hundred dollars. (owe)
10. He has worked in the mine twenty years.
11. He hasn’t paid back the money .
12. After a twelve-hour shift, he is completely worn .
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “Can you borrow me ten dollars?”
14. “He has worked here since twenty years.”
15. “She still lives in the company town.”
16. “I owe to the bank a lot of money.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Discuss. 1. Why do you think the miners couldn’t simply leave the company town? 2. Is debt a kind of chain? Compare the miner with the prisoners in the gold mines of Egypt. 3. The singer is trapped, but he is proud. What gives him his pride? 4. Are there jobs today where people work hard and still can’t get out of debt?
Calculate. A miner’s shovel holds about 9 kilograms of coal. A ton is about 1,000 kilograms. How many shovelfuls are there in sixteen tons? (Answer: about 1,780 shovelfuls a day!)
Write (120–150 words). A week in the life of a miner. Write a diary for one week in a company town. Use the present perfect (I have worked… I still haven’t…) and the words owe, borrow, pay back, wages, shift.
Listen to the song again, now that you know the story behind it.Watch the official video →