Tons Quotes by Tennessee Ernie Ford

Shot Gun Boogie, I wanted wedding bells. I'll be back little gal, when your pappy runs out of shells.

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

Sixteen Tons was written eight years before I recorded it.

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

Do you want to be successful? Nurture your talent.

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

We decided to do some of Merle's things with modern instrumentation. We used a flute, a bass clarinet, a trumpet, a clarinet, drums, a…

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

Know yourself -- and know your audience.

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

If you see me coming, better step aside. A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died.

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

You load sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

You can't cheat the public for long.

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

I tell you, I was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rockers!

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

I snapped my fingers all through it. Sometimes I set my own tempo during rehearsal by doing that.

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

You can keep rummaging around until you find a song you like, but you can't predict whether it'll hit or not.

— Tennessee Ernie Ford

When you do a show five days a week and one night a week, the way I was doing, you use up so much…

— Tennessee Ernie Ford