351. Clementine (Traditional American)

A well-known American song about the drowning of a miner's daughter. the earliest known version is "Down By the River Lived a Maiden" (1863), by H. S. Thompson, though there is no mention of the miner, and it has a different tune. The first version with the popularly known tune is "Oh My Darling Clementine," attributed to Percy Montrose in 1884. The verse about kissing her little sister, often supposed to be a relatively recent addition, did actually appear in print as early as 1897. Presumably it was left out of many collections because Clementine was popular as a children's or scout campfire song. No doubt the verse about "artificial respiration" was added for the same reason. There have been many parodies of the song, one of the best being Tom Lehrer's version.

It has been recorded by Pete Seeger, among others.

For lyrics and chords of my songs, please see my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• song
• drowning
• silly
• scout
• campfire
• ballad

[musicbox193]

You point out that there have been many parodies of this song, but this song is a parody of songs about deaths of your love. Don't know whether or not it's a parody of a specific song

[raymondcrooke]

@musicbox193 Good point!

[thegreatluigi]

I've heard pretty much every version of this song on youtube, and this one is still my favourite.

[raymondcrooke]

@thegreatluigi Pleased to hear it. Thanks for telling me.

[z3r0t0l3r4ns]

Sounds brilliant with that accent, can't wait to dig into a few others.

[raymondcrooke]

@z3r0t0l3r4ns Well, there's plenty here to check out - but what's this about an accent?

[alonelychild]

@thegreatluigi Indeed

[raymondcrooke]

@abethacker I don't have many traditional American songs on my CDs, but I expect to be doing a CD with Lew Dite soon which will be mainly American songs.

[abethacker]

Raymond, greetings from Minnesota, US. Is there a place where I can buy your traditional american songs? I have heard better voices, I have heard better guitars, but I haven't heard anyone who pours his heart as much as you in his songs!