Digital Tradition Mirror

Clementine

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Clementine

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

     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
Every 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
Then the miner, forty-niner
Soon began to peak and pine,
Thought he oughter jine he daughter,
Now he's with his Clementine.

     CHORUS

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

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A remarkable ballad developed in San Francisco toward the end of
the nineteeth century.  It became a favorite college song during
the Reconstruction period.

Additional verses (Boy Scouts and others)RG

In a churchyard, 'neath a gravestone
Where the myrtle doth entwine.
There are posies, and some roses
Fertilized by Clementine.

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

All you Boy Scouts, take fair warning
From this dreadful tale of mine.
Artificial respiration
Would have saved my Clementine.

Recorded by the Weavers
DC

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!