Merle Travis brings us today a beautiful song on our website - Sixteen Tons.
Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, singing mostly country and western swing, about lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners.
One of his most famous songs is 16 Tons, but we can also mention I Am a Pilgrim or Dark as a Dungeon.
The free Sixteen Tons piano sheet music is was written by Merle Travis and was released in July 1947.
The song has a length of 2:50 minutes and was recorded at the Radio Recorders Studio B in California.
It is part of Merle Travis’ album named Folk Songs of the Hills.
Sixteen Tons was produced by Lee Gillette and written by Merle Travis and was released by Capitol record label.
The story behind the lyrics of the free Sixteen Tons piano sheets is about a coal miner, based on life mines in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
The line "another day older and deeper in debt" from the chorus came from a letter written by Travis's brother John
Once released, the song became a gold record, and over the years Sixteen Tons has been covered by many other artists and there are many interesting versions on the market.
For example, a 1995 version recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford, which reached number one in the Billboards charts.
Other versions worth mentioning are the ones by Elvis Presley in 1955, The Weavers in 1955, B.B. King & His Orchestra in 1955, Stevie Wonder in 1966, Jerry Reed in 1973, and also the one by The Redskins 1986.
Sixteen Tons was also recorded in other languages: French, Italian, Mexican, Hungarian, Swedish, and Brazilian.
The good news about Sixteen Tons is that we have it available on our website, just for you to learn how to play your piano at home.
