The song, Sixteen Tons, written by Merle Travis (but notably sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford), is a track about the life of a coal miner. He sings about how he is paid in credit vouchers and that they can only be spent in the company store (which most likely didn’t have much).

Many versions of this song were created, and it has been heard in various video games and television shows.

My favorite lyrics:

Some people say a man is made out of mud/A poor man’s made out of muscle and blood/Muscle and blood, and skin and bones,/A mind that’s weak and a back that’s strong..