Oh My Darling, Clementine

"Oh My Darling, Clementine" is an American western folk ballad in trochaic meter usually credited to Percy Montrose (1884), although it is sometimes credited 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). It is commonly performed in the key of F Major. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[1]

"Oh My Darling, Clementine"
Song
LanguageEnglish
Lyricist(s)credited to Percy Montrose

Synopsis

Multiple variations of the song exist, but all center around 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 torrent of brine and drowns, as her lover is unable to swim and unwilling to attempt to rescue her. In Montrose's version, the song ends somewhat farcically by noting he won't go so far as necrophilia: "Though in life I used to hug her, now she's dead—I'll draw the line."

History and origins

The lyrics were written by Percy Montrose in 1884, based on an earlier song called "Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden". 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.[2]

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,[3] 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.[4]

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, credited to Woody Harris, in which Clementine is reimagined as a 299-pound beast of a woman. After she falls into the water, Darin implies that Clementine has transformed into 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, a-with your harpoon and your trusty line, if she shows now, yell... there she blows now It just may be chunky Clementine".

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 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 plays 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 jazz sound in the style of Thelonious Monk, and the final verse in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Other versions

Film
  • The song plays during the opening credits for John Ford's 1946 movie My Darling Clementine, with Henry Fonda. It also runs as a background score all through the movie.
  • The 1963 film Hud, starring Paul Newman, included a scene in a small town movie theatre where the audience sang along to the song prior to the start of the main feature.
  • In the 1981 film Death Hunt, Charles Bronson's character sings part of the song to himself alone in his log cabin as his pursuers listen from outside.
  • The melody is whistled by the character J. Frank Parnell (played by Fox Harris) in the 1984 film Repo Man.
  • In the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, there are two references to the song (specifically its use by Huckleberry Hound): one at the beginning and one at the end, both regarding Clementine (Kate Winslet)'s name. Joel (Jim Carrey) mentions the song to Clementine when they introduce themselves, and Clementine sings the chorus to Joel on a train to Montauk.[5]

Television
  • The singing of the song was a signature trait and running gag of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Huckleberry Hound in episodes released in the late 1950s and early 1960s and in later appearances, often sung as "Oh My Darling, What's-Her-Name".
  • At the end of M*A*S*H episode 22 of season 5, "Movie Tonight", the song is sung by all the staff in the operating room after an abortive attempt to view the John Ford film My Darling Clementine
  • In 1992, Peter Brooke, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, sang "Darlin' Clementine" on The Late Late Show on Republic of Ireland television. Just hours earlier, eight people (seven of them civilians) had been killed in the Teebane bombing. Brooke was forced to resign shortly after.[6][7][8]
  • The song is featured in the September, 1999, "Equinox" episode of Star Trek Voyager. The Doctor and Seven of Nine sing lines from the song while he is working on her cortical implant.
  • In the 2001 Columbo episode "Murder With Too Many Notes", Lieutenant Columbo sings the first verse of the song along with Billy Connolly's character Findlay Crawford. Columbo also sings it in the 1978 episode "Make Me A Perfect Murder.[9]
  • In 2020, two, time-travelling characters in season five of Outlander sing this song to their son. The scene takes place in the year 1770, but the passage they sing includes the lyrics, "Dwelt a miner, forty-niner," a reference to the 1849 California gold rush.
  • In the 2020 Netflix series It’s Okay To Not Be Okay, the continued use of the song by various characters, and the significance towards the plot, was one of the major mysteries of the first series.

Use of melody
  • The melody is used in "Xīnnián Hǎo" (新年好), a Chinese New Year song.[10]
  • The melody is used in "Dip The Apple In The Honey", a Jewish new years song.[11]
  • The melody for the song has become popular as the rhythm for a number of chants by sports supporters, such as the Barmy Army, popularized by the 1998 hit song "Carnaval de Paris" by English dance trio Dario G.
  • The chorus to Cher Lloyd's 2011 single Swagger Jagger was seen as heavily borrowed from the melody of "Oh My Darling Clementine"[12]

Other
  • In the 1945 novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the pig Old Major explains his dream of an animal-controlled society. The song's tune is described in the novel as sounding like a combination of "La Cucaracha" and "Oh My Darling, Clementine".[13]
  • The 1994 NASA Clementine mission to test sensors and spacecraft components and make scientific observations of the Moon was named after the song.
    • In the 2018 Telltale Games video game, The Walking Dead: The Final Season, the character Louis (voiced by Sterling Sulieman) will sing the main characters, Clementine and Alvin Junior (voiced by Melissa Hutchison and Taylor Parks), a shorter version of the song if the player responds with "I love that song." Or if she responds with silence, she will listen to him sing.

References
  1. Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014.
  2. Brenan, Gerald (1957). South from Granada. Cambridge: Penguin. p. 119. ISBN 9780141189321. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  3. "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  4. Reynolds, Fred. The Crosby Collection 1926–1977 (Part Two 1935–1941 ed.). John Joyce. pp. 209–210.
  5. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Soundtracks". Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  6. https://extra.ie/2019/01/06/entertainment/movies-tv/are-these-top-20-most-memorable-moments-from-rtes-late-late-show
  7. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/69009
  8. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/1992-in-the-north-85-people-killed-in-the-troubles-1.3340596
  9. "Columbo: An analysis of "Make Me a Perfect Murder" part 1 – Biohazard Films". Radioactive-studios.com. 2015-06-13. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  10. "Chinese new year in Nagoya". Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  11. "ROSH HASHANAH FOR KIDS: DIP THE APPLE IN THE HONEY".
  12. "Cher Lloyd's Swagger Jagger sample of Percy Montrose's Oh My Darling Clementine". whosampled.com. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  13. Hauss, Charles (2005). Comparative Politics: Domestic Responses to Global Challenges: Domestic Responses To Global Challenges. Cengage Learning. ISBN 9780534590536.
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