Seksten Tons

I toil all day in a smoke-filled port,
Called by number, not by name, I'm just a sport.
They only need folks like us,
When we have the strength to unload those...

Sixteen tons, the day's chord,
Once they're done, I drink away my pay, oh Lord,
Why make plans, what do I know,
No one counts on me, that's how it goes.

I was born one morning when the sun was dim,
At the bottom of my cradle, my work clothes within.
No childhood play, just learned to fight,
And it gave me the muscles to unload those
Sixteen tons...

When I see a child, memories flood my mind,
Dad was a drunk, mom was unkind.
That's why the hate and the burning spite,
Growing inside me, every time I unload those
Sixteen tons...

I have no hope, I have no faith,
Baptized I may be, but the devil he hath.
I became a lonely, misanthropic fool,
Tolerated, but for me, they can make me unload those
Sixteen tons...