O My Darling, Clementine

"Oh, My Darling Clementine" (Roud 9611, sometimes simply "Clementine") is a traditional American, tragic but sometimes comic, Western folk ballad in trochaic meter usually credited to Percy Montross (or Montrose) (1884), although it is sometimes credited to Barker Bradford.

Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

Synopsis

Multiple variations of the song exist, but all center on Clementine, the daughter of a "miner forty-niner" and the singer's lover. One day while performing routine chores, Clementine trips and falls into a raging current and drowns, as her lover is unable to swim and declines to attempt to rescue her. In Montross's version, the song ends with "Though in life I used to hug her, now she's dead – I'll draw the line."

History and origins

The lyrics by Percy Montrose were issued as sheet music by Oliver Ditson & Co of Boston in 1884, based on an earlier song called "Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden", printed in 1863. The origin of the melody is unknown. In his book ''South from Granada'', Gerald Brenan claims that the melody was from an old Spanish ballad, made popular by Mexican miners during the California Gold Rush. It was best known from ''Romance del Conde Olinos o Niño'', a sad love story very popular in Spanish-speaking cultures. It was also given various English translations. No particular source is cited to verify that the song he used to hear in the 1920s in a remote Spanish village was not an old text with new music, but Brenan states in his preface that all the information in his book has been checked reasonably well.

It is unclear when, where, and by whom the song was first recorded in English, but the first version to reach the ''Billboard'' charts was that by Bing Crosby recorded on June 14, 1941, which briefly reached the No. 20 spot. It was given an updated and up-tempo treatment in an arrangement by Hal Hopper and John Scott Trotter. The re-written lyrics include a reference to Gene Autry ("could he sue me, Clementine?") amongst the five swinging verses.

Notable versions

There have been numerous versions of the song recorded over the years.

Bobby Darin version

Bobby Darin recorded a version of the song in 1960, with lyrics credited to Woody Harris, in which Clementine is reimagined as a 299-pound woman. After she falls into the water, Darin suggests that Clementine could be mistaken for a whale and calls out to those on the high seas to watch for her, in a rhythm and style reminiscent of Darin's rendition of "Mack the Knife": "Hey you sailor, way out in your whaler, with your harpoon and your trusty line, if she shows now, yell... there she blows now. It just may be chunky Clementine." The song reached #12 in Canada.

Jan and Dean version

Jan and Dean had a hit with "Clementine", charting as high as 65 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was released on the Dore label (SP DORE 539 (US)) in November, 1959; "You're on My Mind" was the B Side.

Tom Lehrer version

Tom Lehrer recorded a set of variations on the song in 1959 on his live album ''An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer'', demonstrating his theory that "folk songs are so atrocious because they were written by the people." He performs the first verse in the style of Cole Porter, the second in the style of "Mozart or one of that crowd", the third in a disjointed bebop sound parodying the style of Beat Generation musicians like Slim Gaillard or Babs Gonzales, and the final verse in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Other versions

* When ethnomusicologist Colin Turnbull asked a group of Ituri forest pygmies to sing the oldest song that they knew in 1961, what came out was a strange version of "Clementine"...!
* In 1995, Elliott Smith released the song "Clementine," which was about a man who gets drunk and worries about his relationship while a bartender is singing the title song.

In popular culture

Film

* The song plays during the opening credits for John Ford's 1946 movie ''My Darling Clementine'', starring Henry Fonda and Victor Mature with Cathy Downs as the title character. It also runs as a background score all through the movie. This film is set in 1882, two years before the song is dated.
* The song appears in the 1963 film Hud, during a scene in which a group of townspeople sing it together before a screening at the local cinema. The brief sing-along reflects a communal ritual of the era and provides a moment of warmth and nostalgia in contrast to the film’s more somber tone.
* In the 2004 film ''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'', there are three references to the song. Joel (Jim Carrey) mentions the song to Clementine (Kate Winslet) when they introduce themselves, and Clementine sings the chorus to Joel on a train to Montauk. Joel's mother also sings the song in one of Joel's memories.

Television

* In 1986, the song was turned into an episode of the TV series ''Tall Tales & Legends'' entitled "My Darlin' Clementine" with Shelley Duvall as Clementine and narration by Randy Newman.
* In 1992, Peter Brooke, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, sang "Darlin' Clementine" on '' The Late Late Show'' on Irish television. Just hours earlier, eight people (seven of them civilians) had been killed in the Teebane bombing. Brooke was forced to resign shortly after.
* In the 2001 ''Columbo'' episode "Murder With Too Many Notes", Lieutenant Columbo, played by Peter Falk, sings the first verse of the song along with Billy Connolly's character Findlay Crawford. Columbo also sings the song in the 1978 episode "Make Me A Perfect Murder".
* A mangled rendition of "Darling Clementine" is animated coonhound Huckleberry Hound's signature tune, sung in most episodes of the cartoon series ''The Huckleberry Hound Show''. But it often ends up as "Oh my darling what's her name".
* In the 1961 ''Andy Griffith'' episode "Crime-Free Mayberry" (season 2, episode 7) Barney writes a song "Oh my daring, Barney Fife" about his exaggerated exploits foiling two men who are preparing to rob the bank.
* In the Season 5 ''M*A*S*H'' episode "Movie Tonight", aired February 22, 1977, character Colonel Potter, played by Harry Morgan, sings the lyrics, "In a cavern in a canyon excavating for a mine..." during the last scene of the episode while the crew is performing surgery on wounded soldiers. The rest of the crew joins in on a sing-along. The episode ends when they all sing the lyric, "Dreadful sorry, Clementine." This occurs after the 4077th M*A*S*H views the 1946 John Ford classic film "My Darling Clementine".

Use of melody

* The melody is used in "''Xīnnián Hǎo''" (), a New Year and Chinese New Year song.
* The melody is used in "Dip The Apple In The Honey", a Jewish New Year song.
*In the 1956 Hindi film ''C.I.D.'', the melody of this song was used in the song "Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan".
* The chorus to Cher Lloyd's 2011 single "Swagger Jagger" was seen as heavily borrowed from the melody of "Oh My Darling Clementine"
* The melody is used in "Picked a Strawberry", a library storytime song made by the librarian duo called Jbrary.
*The melody is used in the song "There Are Seven Days (In A Week)", from ''Barney & Friends''.
*The melody is used in an Indonesian children's song "Makan Apa".

Other

* In the 1945 novel ''Animal Farm'' by George Orwell, the pig Old Major explains his dream of an animal-controlled society, and ends by singing ''Beasts of England''. The song's tune is described in the novel as sounding like a combination of "La Cucaracha" and "Oh My Darling, Clementine".
* In the novel ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'' by Suzanne Collins, the character Maude Ivory sings the song and declares that she wants to wear sandals like Clementine. The character is part of a band (The Covey) that performs folk songs and lives in a far-future, dystopian Appalachia, where old songs such as this were passed down from generation to generation and managed to survive throughout the years, if only a small part of them.

References

External links

*

MIDI sound file
* Short radio episode

from California Legacy Project.

{{Authority control

19th-century songs
American folk songs
California Gold Rush
American children's songs
Jan and Dean songs
Traditional children's songs
Vaudeville songs
Huckleberry Hound
Western music (North America) songs
Year of song unknown