"Сегіз тонна көміршінің әні"

American folk song

"Sixteen Tons" is a song written by Merle Travis about a coal miner, based on life in the mines of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Travis first recorded the song at the Radio Recorders Studio B in Hollywood, California, on August 8, 1946. Cliffie Stone played bass on the recording. It was first released in July 1947 by Capitol on Travis's album Folk Songs of the Hills. The song became a gold record.

The sole authorship of "Sixteen Tons" is attributed to Merle Travis on all recordings he also at different times claimed to have written the song as "Twenty One Tons". There is no supporting evidence for Davis's claim. Davis's 1966 recording of his version of the song (with some slightly different lyrics and tune, but titled "Sixteen Tons") appears on the albums George Davis: When Kentucky Had No Union Men and Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian. The line "another day older and deeper in debt" from the chorus came from a letter written by Travis's brother John.

Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded "Sixteen Tons" in 1955 as the B side of his cover of the Moon Mullican standard "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry". With Ford's snapping fingers and a unique clarinet driven pop arrangement, it quickly became a million seller. It hit Billboard's country music chart in November and held the No. 1 position for ten weeks, then crossed over and held the number 1 position on the pop music chart for eight weeks, besting the competing version by Johnny Desmond. In the United Kingdom, Ford's version competed with versions by Edmund Hockridge and Frankie Laine. Nevertheless, Ford's version was the most successful, spending four weeks at number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in January and February 1956. On March 25, 2015, Ford's version of the song was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry. It was featured in the 9th episode of Season 22 of South Park. In 2002, the song was played at the beginning of the Emmy winning TV film Door to Door. In 2023, it was included on the soundtrack of the 2023 Wes Anderson film Asteroid City.

Eric Burdon's version of "Sixteen Tons" is the opening song of the 1990 American film Joe Versus the Volcano. Songwriter Rupert Holmes cited "Sixteen Tons" as an inspiration for his song "Timothy", about a pair of miners who are implied to have cannibalized their fellow miner when the three are trapped following a mine collapse. The song remained popularly recognized through the 20th and early 21st centuries, used or referenced in a number of works. In the season 22 South Park episode "Unfulfilled", Ford's version of "Sixteen Tons" plays in the background of a montage of an Amazon fulfillment center, and in The Simpsons episode "Bart Gets an Elephant", "Sixteen Tons" is being played on the radio as Bart is forced by Marge to do housework. In Fallout 76, Ford's version of "Sixteen Tons" is one of the songs featured on the in game Appalachia Radio. It is also part of the soundtrack for Season 5, Episode 3 of the TV show Fargo (TV series).