“Grandfather’s Clock” was written in 1876 by Henry Clay Work. Work drew the song from a tale he heard at an English hotel, of a longcase clock that ran true until its owners died and then stopped; the song’s popularity gave the English language the term “grandfather clock.”
A nineteenth-century parlor song, “Grandfather’s Clock” sold hugely in sheet music and passed into folk tradition. Played as an instrumental, its gentle, ticking melody suits bluegrass and old-time string playing.
The old song has long been a favorite of acoustic musicians.
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