Ford was born in
Fordtown, Tennessee,
and spent much of his time in his early years listening to country or
western musicians, in person or on the radio. In his high school years,
taking an interest in radio and began his radio career as an announcer
at
WOPI in
Bristol, Tennessee in 1937, being paid 10 dollars a week. In 1938, the young
bass-baritone left the station and went to study classical music at the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in
Ohio.
After the war, he worked at radio stations in
San Bernardino and
Pasadena, California.
At KFXM, in San Bernardino, Ford was hired as a radio announcer. He was
assigned to host an early morning country music disc jockey program,
Bar Nothin' Ranch Time. To differentiate himself, he created the personality of "Tennessee Ernie", a wild, madcap, exaggerated hillbilly.
Cliffie Stone, a part-time
talent scout for
Capitol Records,
brought him to the attention of the label. In 1949, while still doing
his morning show, he signed a contract with Capitol where he released
almost 50 country
singles through the early 1950s, several of which made the
Billboard charts. He recorded a duet with Capitol Records pop singer
Kay Starr, became a huge country and pop crossover hit in 1950. A duet with
Ella Mae Morse,
False Hearted Girl was a top seller for the Capitol Country and Hillbilly division.
He replaced bandleader
Kay Kyser as host of the TV version of
NBC quiz show College of Musical Knowledge
when it returned briefly in 1954 after a four-year hiatus. He became a
household name in the U.S., largely as a result of his portrayal of
"Cousin Ernie" in the
I Love Lucy episodes "Tennessee Ernie Visits", "Tennessee Ernie Hangs On" (both 1954) and "Tennessee Bound" (1955). In 1955, Ford recorded
The Ballad of Davy Crockett (which reached number 4 on the country music chart)
Ford scored a major hit on the pop chart in 1955 with his rendering of Sixteen Tons,
a sparsely arranged coal-miner's lament. The song's fatalistic tone and
bleak imagery were in stark contrast to some sugary pop ballads and rock & roll also on the charts in 1955:
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...
With Ford's snapping fingers
and a clarinet-driven pop arrangement by Ford's music director,
Jack Fascinato,
Sixteen Tons spent ten weeks at number one on the
country chart and seven weeks at number one on the pop chart. The record
sold over two million copies, and was awarded a
gold disc. The song became a
gold record made Ford a crossover star, and became his
signature song.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A - Sixteen Tons, written by Merle Travis - 2:34
Side 2:
B - You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry, written by Bob Merrill, Terry Shand - 2:10
Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Capitol Records, Inc.
Pressed By – Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Los Angeles
Mastered At – Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Los Angeles
Published By – American Music, Inc.
Published By – Frank Music Corp.
Credits:
Conductor [Orchestra] – Jack Fascinato
Notes:
Trailing 1, 2, 4, and ✩ are stamped in the runouts, all other data is etched.
Rights Society: BMI
Rights Society: ASCAP
Matrix / Runout (Label A): 45-14296
Matrix / Runout (Label B): 45-14297
Matrix / Runout (Runout A variant 1): 45-14296-D1 4 ✩
Matrix / Runout (Runout B variant 1): 45-14297-D4 1 ✩
Matrix / Runout (Runout A variant 2): 45-14296-D5 2 ☆
Matrix / Runout (Runout B variant 2): 45-14297-D1 2 ☆
Matrix / Runout (Runout A variant 3): 45-14296-D1 2 ☆
Matrix / Runout (Runout B variant 3): 45-14297-D1 1 ☆
Originally
released by Capitol on Oct., 17th 1955 with "You Don't Have To Be A
Baby To Cry" as A side an "Sixteen Tons" as B side. Later pressings
switched the sides cause of the big success of "Sixteen Tons".
See
http://www.ernieford.com/SIXTEENTONS.html :"On October 17, Capitol
shipped the new record nationwide, and to deejays around the country,
confident that "Baby" would be a hit. But, inexplicably, radio stations
coast to coast began 'flipping' the single and playing the B side (...)
In eleven days following its release, 400,000 singles are sold. Demand
for the song was so great, that Capitol geared all its pressing plants
nationwide to meet the deluge of orders."
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A): F1-693-D3
Matrix / Runout (Side B): F2-693-D10
"Tennessee" Ernie Ford* – Sixteen Tons
Label: Capitol Records – F3262
Format: Vinyl, 7", Single, 45 RPM, Los Angeles Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1955
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Pop Rock, Vocal
Viewfinder links:
YouTube links:
Sixteen Tons ~
Styrous® ~ Friday, February 14, 2025
