Henry Clay Work, as performed by Grandpa Jones
My grandfather's clock
Was too large for the shelf
So it stood ninety years on the floor
It was larger by half
Than the old man himself
Though it weighed not a pennyounce more
It was bought on the morn
Of the day that he was born
And was always his treasure and pride
But it stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died
In watching its pendulum
Swing to and fro
Many hours had he spent when a boy
Then in childhood and manhood
The clock seemed to know
And to share both his sorrows and joy
For it struck twenty-four
When he entered at the door
With a blooming and beautiful bride
But it stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died
Ninety years without slumbering
Tick, tock, tick, tock
His life seconds numbering
Tick, tock, tick, tock
It stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died
My grandfather said
Of all those he could hire
Not a servant so faithful he found
For it wasted no time
And had but one desire
At the close of each week to be wound
It was kept in its place
Not a frown upon its face
And its hands never hung by its side
But it stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died
Ninety years without slumbering
Tick, tock, tick, tock
His life seconds numbering
Tick, tock, tick, tock
It stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died
[The Johnny Cash version also had the following verse:]
It rang an alarm
In the dead of the night
An alarm that for years had been dumb
And we knew that his spirit
Was pluming for flight
That his hour for departure had come
Still the clock kept the time
With a soft and muffled chime
As we silently stood by his side
But it stopped short
Never to go again, when the old man died
Ninety years without slumbering
Tick, tock, tick, tock
His life seconds numbering
Tick, tock, tick, tock
It stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died