Sixteen Tons: Tennessee Ernie Ford
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Tags: Ernie Ford, Sixteen Tons
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
January 15, 2011 at 1:17 pm
yousendit link:
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1024991357/a9ade1b0cf614ca81d33f47a67ad53fe
January 15, 2011 at 7:29 pm
This was written in 1947 by the Country & Western guitarist and songwriter Merle Travis. It is based on his coal miner father, whose favorite saying, “Another day older and deeper in debt,” became part of the chorus.
According to the book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, Tennessee Ernie Ford was so busy with a 5-day-a-week daytime show that he fell behind with his recording commitments for Capitol Records. He recalled, “Capitol told me I’d be in breach of contract if I didn’t record soon, but I was always thumbing through songbooks looking for music. I liked Merle Travis’ songbook. He’d lived in the coal mining community, and my grandfather and my uncle had mined coal. I showed Sixteen Tons to my conductor as I liked it very much. Capitol kept telling me to get over there so we went with Sixteen Tons and You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry and we recorded them with a six-piece band. Lee Gillette (the producer) said from the control, “What tempo do you want it in?” and I snapped my fingers to show him. He said “Leave that in,” and that snapping on Sixteen Tons is me.”
At the time, this was the fastest-selling single in Capitol’s history.
January 16, 2011 at 10:11 am
sblake,
I think thank you is all I can offer here. That was really interesting.
January 15, 2011 at 8:12 pm
This has always been a favorite of mine. Thanks for the extra info.
January 16, 2011 at 10:10 am
Lori,
sblake always fills in my musical gaps as well. I know the songs but not why they came into existence.
January 15, 2011 at 9:03 pm
I am glad to see some comments. I was afraid all the cold and snow around the country had frozen commentators to their keyboards.
Always up for Tennessee Ernie. Do you have “One Suit”?
Rick, who’s as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!
January 16, 2011 at 10:12 am
Rick,
So am I-when there are no comments I feel a bit lonely.
No, I don’t have that song-don’t even know it.
Don’t rock!!!
January 16, 2011 at 11:23 am
Impossible for me to avoid rocking. It is in my blood. /g/ Say, I ran across this comment when I was researching that piece of his: “But there’s quite a few Tennessee Ernie Ford singles still not out on CD:
“The Rovin’ Gambler”
“First Born”
“One Suit”
“The Watermelon Song”
“Ivy League”
“Sunday Barbecue”
“Glad Rags”
And it’s frustrating, because all 17 of his hits were all recorded for one label (Capitol), all in the 1950s. There’s no one collection that has all of them.”
January 16, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Here’s another really good ‘un: Blackberry Boogie.
January 16, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Wow, thanks, Rick, that’s a great song. I have never heard it before. I know only a few Tennessee Ernie Ford songs, and this makes me want to know more!
I was just thinking of that metaphorical cat!
January 17, 2011 at 12:31 pm
Glad you got to hear more by a really nice singer of that era.
And that long-tailed cat was something you would hear about on almost every one of his television shows in exactly that expression. From your not knowing his work well, I take it that you didn’t get to see his shows “back when”. At least excerpts of them are floating around out in cyberspace.
January 17, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Rick,
I wouldn’t have guessed it was Ernie.
No, I never watched his shows-I guess because my parents didn’t.