YMMV / Tennessee Ernie Ford

• Covered Up:
  • "Sixteen Tons" was originally written by Merle Travis, but it was undoubtedly Ford's version that made the song popular.^note George S. Davis claims it was based on "Nine-to-Ten Tons", an earlier song of his from the 1930s, but other than his own claim there is no supporting evidence for this.
  • He also covered up "Nine Pound Hammer" and "Dark as a Dungeon", both of which were also originally by Travis, that became more famous than Travis's original versions.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • As mentioned in the main page, "Sixteen Tons" has become a staple when talking about Amazon's Fulfillment Centers (most famously an episode of South Park), whose grueling working conditions received unflattering comparisons to the life working on mines the song talks about, plus the ubiquitousness of Amazon's delivery service being considered the modern-day equivalent of the "company town" system the song derides.
  • His cover of "Union Dixie" has become a staple in Civil War memes, with "Union Gang" members using it to mock the Confederacy and modern-day Confederate sympathizers. Ironically, given the memes, Ford had recorded "Union Dixie" as part of two albums covering Civil War songs, one for songs of the Union (Civil War Songs of the North) and another for songs of the Confederacy (Civil War Songs of the South); suffice to say, his "straight" version of "Dixie" isn't as popular.
• Older Than They Think: The first regular animated appearances of Peanuts characters on network TV, years before A Charlie Brown Christmas, were the intros they did for Ford's The Ford Show, spinning off from the commercials they did for Ford Motor Company (the show's sponsor).

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