posted on February 3, 2001 10:20:46 AM
Grandfather's Clock (written 1876) -- when I was little I fell in love with this song when it was sung on the Mitch Miller show
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 old man himself,
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.
It was bought on the morn
Of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride.
But it stopped short, never to go again,
When the old man died.
Ninety years without slumbering,
tick, tock, tick, tock,
His life seconds numbering,
tick, tock, tick, tock,
It stopped short never to go again,
When the old man died.
In watching its pendulum swing to and fro,
Many hours had he spent while a boy;
And in childhood and manhood,
The clock seemed to know,
And to share both his grief and his joy.
For it struck twenty-four
When he entered at the door,
With a blooming and beautiful bride.
But it stopped short, never to go again,
When the old man died.
Ninety years without slumbering,
tick, tock, tick, tock,
His life seconds numbering,
tick, tock, tick, tock,
It stopped short never to go again,
When the old man died.
My grandfather said that of those he could hire
Not a servant so faithful he found
For it wasted no time and had but one desire
At the close of each week to be wound
And it kept in its place, not a frown upon its face
And it’s hands never hung by its side.
But it stopped short, never to go again,
When the old man died.
Ninety years without slumbering,
tick, tock, tick, tock,
His life seconds numbering,
tick, tock, tick, tock,
It stopped short never to go again,
When the old man died.
It rang an alarm in the dead of the night
An alarm that for years had been dumb
And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight
That his hour of departure had come
Still the clock kept the time,
With a soft and muffled chime
As we silently stood by its side.
But it stopped short, never to go again,
When the old man died.
Ninety years without slumbering,
tick, tock, tick, tock,
His life seconds numbering,
tick, tock, tick, tock,
It stopped short never to go again,
When the old man died.
...) Barris
