The Platters - V, Sixteen Tons

Fico devendo - por enquanto - o vídeo...

 .

B.J. Mitchel, líder atual do grupo The Platters, juntou-se à formação original nos anos 60 e foi o único a trabalhar com o fundador, Paul Robi. Ele, com sua voz gravíssima, é quem canta Sixteen Tons, uma das marcas registradas do Platters. Gravei a música ontem para vocês, mas não estou conseguindo postar. Tão logo possa... Ela conta a história de um trabalhador de uma mina de carvão. "You load Sixteen tons, And what do you get?" - Você carrega 16 toneladas, E o que você ganha?" diz ela, em seu refrão.

.

Sixteen tons

Some people say man's made out mud,

Well, a good man's made out of muscle and blood

Muscle and blood, and skin and bones,

And mind that's weak and the back that's strong.

You load 16 tons,

And what do you get?

Another day older,

And deeper in debt.

Saint Peter, don't you call me,

Cause I can't go,

I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one morning when sun didn't shine,

I picked up my shovel and I went to the mine,

Loaded 16 tons of number nine coal,

And the straw boss said: "Well, bless my soul!"

You load 16 tons,

And what do you get?

Another day older,

And deeper in debt.

Saint Peter, don't you call me,

Cause I can't go,

I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me coming, you better step aside,

A lot of men didn't and a lot of men died.

My one fist is iron, the other one's steel,

And if the left don't getcha, then the right one will

You load 16 tons,

And what do you get?

Another day older,

And deeper in debt.

Saint Peter, don't you call me,

Cause I can't go,

I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one morning, it was drizzling rain,

Fighting and Trouble 's my middle name,

I was raised down the Canebrake by an old mountain mine,

And there ain't no hard hearted women make me walk that line!

You load 16 tons,

And what do you get?

Another day older,

And deeper in debt.

Saint Peter, don't you call me,

Cause I can't go.

.

NOTA - Existe uma disputa referente à autoria de Sixteen Tons. Normalmente, a autoria da canção é atribuída a Merle Travis, fato registrado no disco gravado em 1947. Mas George S. Davis, um cantor-compositor de folk, que foi mineiro de carvão no Kentucky, disse em 1966 que compôs a canção com o título de Nine-to-ten tons na década de 1930. A gravação de Davis aparece nos álbuns George Davis: When Kentucky Had No Union Men and Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian. Veja detalhes AQUI.

.

.