Grandfather's Clock

[Henry Musikar]

Unless I disremember, there's another verse that poigniantly features 
grandfather's and the clock's death. Surely one or another of our 
librarians...

On 15 May 97 at 9:24, David Casseres <casseres at apple.com> wrote:

> RUTHSINGS sez
> 
> >My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf
> >So it stood ninety years on the floor.
> >It was taller by half than the hold man himself
> >Though it weighed not a penny weight more.
> >
> >It was bought on the morn
> >Of the day that he was born
> >And was always his treasure and pride.
> >But the clock stopped never to go again when the old man died.
>      [should be]
>  But it stopped short, never [etc.]
> >
> >Ninety years without slumbering,
> >Tick tock, tick tock
> >It's life's seconds numbering,
>      [should be]
>  His life's seconds numbering [!]
> >Tick tock, tick tock
> >The clock stopped never to go again when the old man died.
> 
> There's more:
> 
> And in watching its pendulum swing to and fro
> Many years had he spent as a boy.
> Through childhood and manhood the clock seemed to know
> And to share both his grief and his joy.
> 
> And it struck twenty-four
> When he entered through the door
> With his blushing and beautiful bride
> But it stopped short, never to go again, when the old man died.
> 
> Ninety years without slumbering [etc.]
> 
>      --Henry Clay Work
> 
> 
> 
> So the clock is not only anthropomorphic, it's the old man's 
> doppelganger; the song picks up an old trope about a man's
> possessions breaking down when he dies and extends it to identify
> the clock and the man throughout their respective lives.  Like
> Work's other songs, this one is heavily sentimental but contains
> something original and striking.  The melody is also very artful,
> with dramatic caesuras after the words "stopped" and "short".
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> David
> 
> 

AsB4,
Henry Musikar

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