S.O.D. "My Grandfather's Clock" by Henry Clay Work

4/24/2016     We go way back with this one, 1876 actually, when popular songs were rich with folklore.  The song's story is told from a grandson's point of view.  The clock had to be wound at the end of each week and would always chime perfectly, becoming more to the man like a companion rather then an object.  When he brought his bride through the door for the first time, the clock chime 24 times.  Shortly before the man's death at the age of 90, it produced an eerie chime, alerting his family to be by his side.  After his death the clock never worked again.  

     Before this song was published, this type of clock was called a longcase clock.  The Oxford English Dictionary states that this song was the reason the name was changed to grandfather clock.  Quite a few versions have been made including by Johnny Cash, the Radio Revellers, and 1970's con artist and socialite, Evelyn Knight.