[Archive]

Originally Posted By Brenda

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

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling
Oh, my darling Clementine
You are 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

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling
Oh, my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Drove she ducklings to the water
Every morning just at nine
Hit her foot against a splinter
Fell into the foaming brine

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling
Oh, my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

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

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling
Oh, my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Then the miner, forty-niner
Soon began to peak and pine
Thought he oughta join his daughter
Now he's with his Clementine

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling
Oh, my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

There's a churchyard on the hillside
Where the flowers grow and twine
There grow roses, 'mongst the posies
Fertilized by Clementine

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling
Oh, my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

In my dreams she still doth haunt me
Robed in garlands soaked in brine
Though in life I used to hug her
Now she's dead, I draw the line

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling
Oh, my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Now you scouts may learn the moral
Of this little tale of mine
Artificial respiration
Would have saved my Clementine

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling
Oh, my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

How I missed her, how I missed her
How I missed my Clementine
Till I kissed her little sister
And forgot my Clementine

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling
Oh, my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

[Archive]

Originally Posted By Dave Kirk

"Herring boxes without topses", hmmm... doesn't make a lot of sense to me. My mom says they always sang "WEARING boxes without topses" ....

dkirk@va.adelphia.net

[Archive]

Originally Posted By A. Clark

I don't know what other people think of this lullaby but I find it disturbing. I would never sing this to a baby. A lullaby about a girl drowning and how the person couldn't swim to giver her artificial reciperation and the father dying to be with the girl. I am sorry but that is not comforting to me.

[Archive]

Originally Posted By Laura

Actually, many traditional lullabies have disturbing images - the second verse of "Pretty Little Horses" was originally "...there's a poor little lambie/butterflies peckin' out his eyes/poor thing cryin' for its mammy." Many of these evolved as expressions of a mother's frustrations, especially when the mother was basically the only caregiver. Others evovled as ways of expressing scary things to keep them away, and define here as the safe space - "There are bad things out there, but not here."
In this case, though, I think it's not the lyrics but the melody itself that's the "lullaby" part. Almost any song can be a lullaby if it's sung tenderly, even ones with "disturbing" verses. Try singing this softly, tenderly to yourself. The melody swings in the right way. It can be a lullaby, if you think it is.

[Seraphim]

LOL pretty twisted aint it? What lovely people must have thought of this as a lullaby