- My Darling Clementine (1946) is one of the greatest classic Westerns of all time, directed by one
of Hollywood's most honored directors, John Ford. This film foreshadowed other great, more complex
westerns that Ford would later direct - The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
(1962). It was filmed in his favorite locale - Monument Valley in northern Arizona, in only forty-five
days. The film's title was not chosen in honor of any of the central characters or the shoot-out, but after
the name of Earp's civilizing, female acquaintance in the town of Tombstone.
- Folk song:
In a
cavern, in a
canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner, forty-niner,
And his
daughter Clementine.
Chorus:
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry, Clementine.
2. Light she was, and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.
Chorus:
3. Walking lightly as a fairy,
Though her shoes were number nine,
Sometimes tripping, lightly skipping,
Lovely girl, my Clementine.
Chorus:
4. Drove she ducklings to the water
Ev'ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.
Chorus:
5. Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles soft and fine,
But alas, I was no swimmer,
Neither was my Clementine.
Chorus:
6. In a churchyard near the canyon,
Where the myrtle doth entwine,
There grow rosies and some posies,
Fertilized by Clementine.
Chorus:
7. Then, the miner, forty-niner,
Soon began to fret and pine,
Thought he oughter join his daughter,
So he's now with Clementine.
Chorus:
8. I'm so lonely, lost without her,
Wish I'd had a fishing line,
Which I might have cast about her,
Might have saved my Clementine.
Chorus:
9. In my dreams she still doth haunt me,
Robed in garments soaked with brine,
Then she rises from the waters,
And I kiss my Clementine.
Chorus:
10. Listen fellers, heed the warning
Of this tragic tale of mine,
Artificial respiration
Could have saved my Clementine.
Chorus:
11. How I missed her, how I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
Til I kissed her little sister,
And forgot my Clementine.