1.

(# 2 country hit)
(# 32 pop hit)

Six Days On The Road

Earl Green - Carl Montgomery

© Southern Arts Music, BMI

Well I pulled outta Pittsburgh a rollin' down that Eastern Sea board
I got my diesel wound up and she's a runnin' like a never before
There's a speed zone ahead alright I don't see a cop in sight
Six days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home tonight

I got me ten forward gears and a George overdrive
I'm takin' little white pills and my eyes are open wide
I just passed a Jimmy in white I been passin' everything in sight
Six days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home tonight

Well it seems like a month since I kissed my baby goodbye
I could have a lotta women but I'm not like that sort of a guy
I could find one to hold me tight but I could never make believe it's alright
Six days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home tonight
[ guitar ]
ICC is a checkin' on down the line
Well I'm a little overweight and my log book's way behind
But nothin' bothers me tonight I can dodge all the scales alright
Six days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home tonight

Well my rig's a little old but that don't mean she's slow
There's a flame from my stack and that smoke's some blowin' black as coal
My hometown's a comin' in sight if you think I'm a happy you're right
Six days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home tonight
Six days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home tonight
Six days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home tonight

**********

2.

John Henry

Dave Dudley

© Southern Arts Music, BMI

When John Henry was just a little bitty boy
No bigger than the palm of your hand
His mommy looked down at John Henry and say
Well Johnny you're gonna be a steal drivin' man Lord Lord
Well Johnny you're gonna be a steal drivin' man

John Henry he said to his Captain
He said Captain why don't you learn to swing
I'm drivin' forty-nine pounds from my hip on down
I love to hear that cold steel ring Lord Lord
I love to hear that cold steel ring
[ guitar ]
John Henry had a pretty little woman
And her name was Polly Ann
John Henry he took sick and he had gone to bed
Polly drove the steel like a man Lord Lord
But Polly drove the steel like a man

John Henry went up on that mountain
Had that steam hammer by his side
Well beat that drill till the end of the line
He laid down his hammer and he cried Lord Lord
He laid down his hammer and he cried
[ guitar ]
John Henry drove the steel on that mountain
Till that hammer caught on fire
Well the very last words I'd hear ol' John Henry say
Cool glass of water I'm gonna die Lord Lord
A cool glass of water I'm gonna die

Well they bury John Henry in the graveyard
They laid him six feet under the sand
Everytime a freight train go a rollin' on by
They say yonder lies a steel drivin' man Lord Lord
Well yonder lies a steel drivin' man

**********

3.

Bless Them Machines (Please Help Working Man)

Tom T. Hall

© Newkeys Music, BMI / Unichappell Music, BMI

Please help working man bless them machines
They don't need me anymore for I need them bread and beans
Well hear me talkin' to you I need them bread and beans

They got a brand new machine at Jonesey's farm
That they call a big bad corn
If I gonna keep on a makin' machine why was I ever born
Won't you tell me now why was I ever born

Please help working man bless them machines...
[ guitar ]
They got a brand new machine at the factory
To punch out all of the holes
That machine is sittin' in a good warm place
Now I'm sittin' now here in the cold unemployed
I'm sittin' now here in the cold

Please help working man bless them machines...

So many machines at my house
It's a mighty little lovin' I get
I lost my daughter to a record machine
My wife to the TV set
Mr Casey got my wife to the TV set

Please help working man bless them machines...
Please help working man bless them machines...

**********

4.

Alligator Man

Jimmy Newman - Floyd Chance

© Southern Arts Music, BMI

Mosquitos buzzin' round my head
Spanish moss for my bed
I sail them sea dried land
Cause I'm an alligator man

I hunt the gator all night long
Sell his hidin' then I'm gone
I pick all the bells I can
They love the alligator man

This country is my home
From this place I'll never roam
I'm the leader of the clan
I'm the alligator man

When I bring my hides to town
All the people gather round
They just wanna shake the hand
Of the top gator man
[ guitar ]
Some people search this world for fame
But fightin' gators is my game
See the scars on my hand
I'm the alligator man

Top gator man until I die
If I marry by and by
A pretty belle from the clan
I'll still be top gator man

This country is my home...
When I bring my hides to town...

I'm the alligator man
I'm the alligator man
I'm the alligator man

**********

5.

Steel Worker's Blues

Kenneth Vincent - Larry Harris

© Shelby Singleton Music, BMI

Now I got a story it's true as can be
It's about a guy the guy is me
Wake up in the mornin' it's always I must
I gotta catch the six o'clock bus

I grab my hat and my steel toed shoes
I'm a hard working guy with the steel worker's blues

I go to work come rain or come shine
Eight long hours till the end of that grind
To make all my money to find this way
I'm back at that mill I left today

I grab my hat and my steel toed shoes...

Now you might think what I say ain't true
Well let me tell you brother I wouldn't lie to you
You look around I'm sure you're gonna see
A lotta hard working guys just like me

I grab my hat and my steel toed shoes...

**********

6.

Farmer's Prayer

Ed Bruce

© Careers Music, BMI

Lord put a hand to the handle of my hoe
Let me make another step help me go another row
Even though I'm tired I'd break my back
For my wife and kids livin' in the shack

Every mornin' Lord I I get up and look at the sky
And I know if I'm gonna work the sun's gotta shine
I'm gettin' old Lord before my time broke down body and mind
And some time when I don't see a rain cloud floatin' by
Lord I just feel like dyin'
My pa used to tell me when I was a boy
He said son them big white fleecy clouds ain't nothin'
But the cottonfields of the Lord
So after all these years of plantin' and choppin' and pickin'
If I do get to the heaven like I've been tryin'
And them clouds be what pa said Lord
I hope your angels know how to use a hoe

Lord put a hand to the handle of my hoe...

You remember the time when the wife said you gotta slow down
I said honey I gotta make it while I can
So I worked three days without stoppin'
For Miss Simons down the road had would need choppin'
Sam Pillow over east had hay that needed bailin'
Ol' man Turner he wanted his hopper fixed
Before spring plantin' down my back Lord
But I got it all done before the sky turned black now
Lord I ain't complainin' but sometime when you see me stumble
Reach down and lift a hand under my cotton sack
Make my days a little shorter my nights a little longer
Make the hammer a little lighter and a dollar a little stronger
If there's anything I can do for you Lord
Let me know what's to be done Lord by will be done
Goodnight Lord

Lord put a hand to the handle of my hoe...

**********

7.

(# 7 country hit)

Last Day In The Mines

Jimmy Key

© Southern Arts Music, BMI

For as long as I can remember I've worked down in this pit
But today it's all over for this is the day I quit
I'm gonna take my sweet little Ginny and make her my own
We gonna move down in the valley and built ourselves a home
This is my last day in the mines

Well I swing that pick move that shovel and time goes so slow
I can hardly wait for my boss to tell me that it's time to go
Up at the top I know my Ginny is waiting patiently
In just a few minutes I'll be there with her and from the mines be free
This is my last day in the mines

But wait a minute what's that rumble way back in the ground
Good Lord it's a cave in and the rocks are a fallin' all around
Now the timbers are breakin' and the rats are runnin' and I can hardly see
Inside my chest there's a mighty burnin' and my strenght is leavin' me
This is my last day in the mines

Beneath these rocks and timbers and with my strenght all gone
My thoughts turn to Ginny I must leave her all alone
I know they'll try to save me but they gonna be too late
For over that river through that valley I see heaven's gates
This is my last day in the mines
Oh this is my last day in the mines
This is my last day in the mines

**********

8.

(# 3 country hit)
(# 95 pop hit)

Cowboy Boots

Baker Knight

© Acuff-Rose Music, BMI

Well all of my life I been a tryin' to save
To get a pair of cowboy boots
Sixteen years of my life I gave
To get a pair of cowboy boots
I wanna go where the money's free
Hollywood is a callin' me
Oh what a great big star I'll be
In a pair of cowboy boots

I'm gonna get on a TV show
In a pair of cowboy boots
I'm gonna ride in a rodeo
In a pair of cowboy boots
I wanna go where the bad men lurk
I'm gonna get a job and go to work
Givin' lessons to that Stony Burk
In a pair of cowboy boots

Oh give me a home
Where the swimmin' pools roam
Where the money grows on trees
The gals all wanna be squeezed

Well I'm a gonna get there if I have to crawl
In a pair of cowboy boots
Get in the movies and that ain't all
In a pair of cowboy boots
I'm gonna get me a leather vest
A gun on my hip and a star on my chest
Well I'll be the terror of the Golden West
In a pair of cowboy boots
[ guitar ]
Oh give me a home...
Well I'm a gonna get there if I have to crawl...

In a pair of cowboy boots
In a pair of cowboy boots

**********

9.

Taxicab Driver

Dave Dudley - Bud Auge - Red Johnson

© Southern Arts Music, BMI

Well the flags pushed down and the meter is a tickin' away
I got another fare and I made a lotta trips today
There's another learner driver to hack
Gotta get 'em there and bring 'em back
I'm a taxi cab driver and I make my livin' this way

Well the depot next and there's not much time to spare
I'm in a real traffic jam and my passengers a pullin' his hair
If I get him to the station on time
I bet he's gonna tip a dime
Six days at the wheel with a speed zone on my mind

One eye on the road and another in the rear view mirror
Not much goes on that I don't see or hear
Well how about the sites I've seen
All that red lights are turnin' green
I'm a taxi cab driver if you get just what I mean
[ guitar ]
I know every hotel motel and cafe
Every after hours spot a little bit out of the way
Where the party's go on till dawn
Well I'll take you then I'm gone
I'm a taxi cab driver and I gotta be a rolling on

Well it's early in the morning and everything is closin' down
Still got alive one wants to do the town
After I get rid of this stray
I'm really gonna hit the hay
I'm a taxi cab driver and I make my living this way
I'm a tired cab driver and I make my living this way
I'm a taxi cab driver and I make my living this way

**********

10.

Sixteen Tons

Merle Travis

© Unichappell Music, BMI

Some people say a man's made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons what do you get
Just another day older deeper in debt
St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
[ guitar ]
I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up a shovel walked out to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of No 9 coal
And the storeboss said well bless my soul

You load sixteen tons what do you get...
[ guitar ]
I was born one mornin' it was drizzlin' rain
A figtin' and trouble that's my middle name
I was risin' the cane raiped by that ol' mom of mine
Ain't no hightoned woman makes me walk the line

You load sixteen tons what do you get...
[ guitar ]
Well if you see me comin' you better step aside
A lotta men didn't a lotta men died
One fist is iron the other one's steel
If the right one don't get you then the left one will

You load sixteen tons what do you get...

**********

11.

I'm Coming Home

Johnny Horton - Tillman Franks

© Golden West Melodies, BMI

Got your face so pretty and your hair done right
Cause we're gonna do the town tonight
I'm comin' into town right on time
I still got your lovin' on my mind

I'm a coming home
Gotta make some love
I'm a coming home
Sweet turtle dove
I'm a coming home
To make sweet love to you

Well I see down the road there's a big truck stop
They got a pretty little waitress with the curly top
She's pretty as a doll pretty as can be
But don't you worry honey she ain't nothin' to me

I'm a coming home...
[ guitar ]
Well I came to a hill and the truck looked down
Throttled the blow she's huggin' the ground
Scratchin' gears but I'm goin' again
I'm comin' home baby I'm doggin' it in

I'm a coming home...
Got your face so pretty and your hair done right...
I'm a coming home...

**********

12.

Working Hands

George Goehring - Richard Coleman

© Anne Rachel Music, ASCAP

Old Jud was a farmer in Tennessee
He had the biggest hands I ever did see
And washin' time at the end of the day
The more he'd scrub them hands the louder he'd say

I got working hands working hands
Rough tough working hands
To plant the fields and plough the lands
The Lord he gives me working hands

He rise up early every morn
To sow and grow those crops of cotton and corn
By noon time he was at his feet
By dark he'd done what takes most farmers a week

Cause he had working hands working hands
Rough tough working hands
To plant the fields and plough the lands
The good Lord gave him working hands

Jud's boy had come to the fields to play
While we were reapin' wheat one harvest day
He fell in front of a big machine
Old Jud was near and jumped right in between

And with those working hands working hands
Rough tough working hands
He grabbed the blade and saved the lad
But his hands got tore up mighty bad

We rushed down and doc swore
Jud you won't be usin' them hands no more
But doc these working hands

(Working hands working hands)
Rough tough working hand
To plant the fields and plough the lands
The Lord he gives me working hands

Old Jud's working days are past
The boy he'd saved was strong and growin' up fast
He taught that boy his working style
And loves to point him out and say with a smile

He's got working hands working hands
Rough tough working hands
To plant the fields and plough the lands
The Lord gave my son working hands
Working hands working hands working hands

**********