A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Season 1 Finale Song: 'Sixteen Tons' Explained

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 ends, and we're played out with a winking, anachronistic song that most fans may have trouble placing, but it fits if you listen. The final scene of AKOTSK shows what we can expect next for the series, with Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) and Duncan (Peter Claffey) on the road together.

Of course, it wouldn't be A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms if Dunk didn't get himself into trouble and if Egg didn't lie but for the right reasons. The not-knight Dunk and the not-approved-to-leave Egg ride off together as Maekar (Sam Spruell) rages, and an unusual song starts playing into the credits.

Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons" Plays During A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Episode 6's Credits

The song that ends A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms isn't the Game of Thrones theme, or the Targaryen theme, or any other sweeping song by composer Dan Romer or Ramin Djawadi. It's not even something like The Hold Steady version of "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" after Jaime's hand gets chopped in Game of Thrones.

The song that plays is Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons". "Sixteen Tons" was written and composed by Kentucky country singer Merle Travis in 1946. Travis's songs were often about the exploitation of American coal miners, those "sixteen tons" of the title referring to the weight of coal needed to be dug in order to be paid.

In 1955, Tennessee Ernie Ford did a rendition of the song, adding a steady snapping of his fingers and an ominous, slightly loopy clarinet arrangement. Decades later, it's Tennessee Ernie Ford's version that most people know.

The Deeper Meaning Behind The "Sixteen Tons" Song & What It Means For Dunk & Egg

There is a lot to unpack with "Sixteen Tons", and it isn't subtle. The song is about how exploited workers are, forced to work long hours, and the little pay they receive can only be spent at a company store, a real-life form of debt bondage that essentially forces workers to spend their money only on items the company offers.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a rich, thematic show, and one of the key themes is how the high-born step on the low-born. Dunk is the miner in this show, working hard, but always at the whims of rules reserved for the high-born. It's a song for the common man, and there's no man as common as Dunk.

Why A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms' Credits Song Is So Unusual

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a George R.R. Martin series so different than the two series that came before it: Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. There is much more lightness and cheer in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and the stakes are so much smaller.

None of this is a criticism. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is special for this fresh new direction it has taken A Song of Ice and Fire, and "Sixteen Tons" is an example of how the series is different. It's a little silly, jaunty, unexpected, but there's still a dangerous element that keeps us invested.