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Piano sheet music for kids · Folk song · Level 3: Notes below middle C
Oh My Darling, Clementine
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 3/4, 16 bars and a pickup. Press Play to hear it on a real piano, slow it down, or hear one hand at a time; click any note to start from there; print it for the music stand.
About this arrangement
A waltz-time song built almost entirely on one rhythm: a pair of crotchets and then a dotted quaver and semiquaver, “cav-ern, in a”. The right hand starts on middle C with the third finger because the tune drops below it, to G and B, on “cav-ern” and again on “daugh-ter Clem-en-”, so the thumb has to reach down or the hand slides. The top note is G. The left hand plays a waltz bass on C, F and G7, and the chorus repeats the verse with the same notes, so once the first eight bars are learnt the piece is learnt.
Practice tip: Say “CAV-ern, IN a” to get the dotted quaver right: the little note is quick and belongs to the next beat. Find the low G with your thumb before you start bar 7.
The words
In a cavern, in a canyon, excavating for a mine, dwelt a miner, fortyniner, and his daughter Clementine. Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine, you are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry, Clementine.
A short history
“Oh My Darling, Clementine” is an American song from the gold-rush years. The words usually printed are credited to Percy Montrose, whose version appeared in 1884, though a similar song, “Down by the River Liv’d a Maiden”, was published by H. S. Thompson in 1863, and the tune may be older still. It tells, with a straight face, of a miner’s daughter who drowns because the singer cannot swim.
The joke is in the mismatch between the cheerful waltz and the grim words, and generations of children have added verses of their own.
The song was a favourite of Boy Scout and college songbooks, gave its name to John Ford’s 1946 western My Darling Clementine, and was collected widely in Australia as a dance tune, where the first half was played as a mazurka.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Traditional (American, 19th century)
- Words
- Percy Montrose, 1884
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 3/4
- Length
- 16 bars and a pickup
- Tempo
- Lilting, crotchet = 132
- Difficulty
- Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 93 of 201)
- Type
- Folk song
- Hands
- Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
- Copyright
- Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use
Questions and answers
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