Y'all come back now, ya hear.
Which reminds me of the excellent classic bluegrass of Flatt & Scruggs, or The Stanley Brothers.
One of my all-time country favorites though is a lil' freaky-deaky tune called "Sixteen Tons" written by Merle Travis and made popular by Tennessee Ernie Ford's 1955 version.
Letterman sometimes plays a clip of Kucinich singing it to the bewildered astonishment of all present. Letterman's joke is that Dennis is a crazy little man singing a crazy song and doing so in an "inappropiate" setting. The truth is that the song is incredibly relevant today even though it was originally written about abuses in the coal mine industry.
Chances are, you have heard it before:
Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion
Can't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you
Then the left one will
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
link to mp3 download or stream
http://www.mp3raid.com/search/downlo...en_tons/2.html