You load 16 tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go. I owe my soul to the company store.

My father and brothers were coal miners.

You load 16 tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go. I owe my soul to the company store.

Who deserves more credit than the wife of a coal miner? Mother was one.

The saddest songs are written when a person is happy.

I have known the fruits of strikes. The bitter and the sweet. Hunger and music.