A Father's Lament (Clementine)

© 2002 Tracy Comer, music, and Arvid Berge, lyrics

[Key: Sounding key of B, Tracy plays in key of A with full capo at 2nd fret, standard tuning]

In a cavern, in a canyon, excavating for a mine,
Lived a miner, a forty-niner and his daughter Clementine
Light she was, just like a fairy, and her age was only nine,
She would play amidst the flowers as he toiled down in the mine

He lost her mother to a fever, a baby brother went in kind,
Now he seeks a promised fortune for his only Clementine
In the evening, by her bedside he would tell her of his find
And the promise of her future hidden deep within the mine

They would live in San Francisco in a home so rich and fine
And every boy in San Francisco would carry flowers to Clementine
In the night as she lay sleeping, he would often fret and pine
O'er the hardship they would suffer for the promise of the mine

He could hear her softly breathing, and he would find some peace of mind
As he whispered a solemn promise to his sleeping Clementine
Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine,
I'll forever hold you near me, don't you worry, Clementine

When the sun broke o'er the canyon he awoke his Clementine
And assigned her simple duties just to occu-py her time
For the world is full of mischief for a girl who's only nine
And he knew he couldn't be there to keep his promise to Clementine

She took the mule down to the river just as she had been assigned
And went in search of shiny pebbles on the banks below the mine
It was there she lost her footing and fell into the brine
And the promise of the canyon took the precious Clementine

In a cavern, in a canyon, near an old abandoned mine
Stands a miner, an old timer in a field of blooming vine
He has planted pretty flowers all around that wretched mine
To remind him every hour of his precious Clementine

On a rock he breaks a shovel and he throws it down the mine
And repeats his solemn promise to a sleeping Clementine
Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine,
I'll forever hold you near me, don't you worry, Clementine
I'll forever hold you near me, don't you worry Clementine