## Metadata
**Caption:** folk pop, narrative ballad, mid tempo, orchestral backing, 1955 storytelling, 95 bpm, male vocal
**BPM:** 30
**Duration:** 140.0s
**Key:** E minor
**Time Signature:** 2

## Lyrics
[verse]
Born in a shack with the coal dust thick
Daddy swung a hammer 'til his arms went sick
I took the pick before I learned to read
Ground gives nothing back but what you need

[chorus]
Sixteen loads and my back's still bent
Sixteen loads and it's all been spent
I owe the company more than I can pay
Digging deeper just to see another day

[verse]
The whistle blows before the sun comes up
The tunnel swallows every hope I've got
They weigh my labor by the ton and pound
But never weigh the weight I carry underground

[chorus]
Sixteen loads and my back's still bent
Sixteen loads and it's all been spent
I owe the company more than I can pay
Digging deeper just to see another day

[bridge]
Some men are born to walk in open air
Some men are born to climb without a care
I was born to swing this heavy load
And follow where the black vein always goes

[chorus]
Sixteen loads and my back's still bent
Sixteen loads and it's all been spent
I owe the company more than I can pay
Digging deeper just to see another day