"Clementine"

No personal notes.

According to wikipedia, "Oh My Darling, Clementine" is an American western folk ballad usually credited to Percy Montrose (1884), even though it's sometimes referred to Barker Bradford. The song is believed to have been based on another song called "Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden" by H. S. Thompson (1863).

According to the Folklorist website, the words were first published in 1863 under the title "Down by the River Lived a Maiden," credited to H. S. Thompson. This printing had a melody, but it was not the "standard" melody. The text was also rather different (in minstrel dialect).

There are a variety of lyrics for this song, as well as innumerable parodies. These are the ones we use;

In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner forty niner,
And his daughter Clementine

Chorus:
  Oh my darling, oh my darling,
  Oh my darling, Clementine!
  Thou art lost and gone forever
  Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.

(Chorus)

Drove she ducklings to the water
Ev'ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.

(Chorus)

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,
But, alas, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.

(Chorus)

How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine.

(Chorus)