Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: It's Christian saga. Grandfather clock is a fitting name for
Speaker 1: an object that's often treated as a family heirloom. But
Speaker 1: even though it carries the ring of heritage and tradition,
Speaker 1: the term itself is rather young. In fact, it's more
Speaker 1: than two centuries newer than the time piece it designates.
Speaker 1: When these vertically gifted clocks were first invented more than
Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty years ago, people actually called them
Speaker 1: long case clocks, a moniker that's still used in some circles,
Speaker 1: even though it's less catchy today. We might still be
Speaker 1: using that mundane term if it hadn't been for a
Speaker 1: songwriter who's been nicknamed America's War poet. So how did
Speaker 1: the term grandfather clock come about? Well? Henry clay Work
Speaker 1: was a self taught musician and lyricist, and he first
Speaker 1: made a name for himself during America's Civil War. One
Speaker 1: of his later offerings was titled Grandfather's Clock. According to
Speaker 1: his nephew, Bertram, Henry clay Work spent four years writing
Speaker 1: this piece, which Root and Katie published in eighteen seventy six.
Speaker 1: The Diddy tells the tale of a grandfather who received
Speaker 1: a brand new long case clock on the day of
Speaker 1: his birth. A lifetime later, the man and his time
Speaker 1: piece enter the great Beyond together. Works last mega hit,
Speaker 1: Grandfather's Clock emerged as an instant classic and an enduring one.
Speaker 1: It sold more than eight hundred thousand copies in the
Speaker 1: song made its author four thousand dollars richer. In latter decades.
Speaker 1: It was covered by Johnny Cash, spoofed on a Prairie
Speaker 1: Home Companion, and even remixed for the soundtrack of the
Speaker 1: indie video game Five Nights at Freddie's Too. On top
Speaker 1: of all of that, the Oxford English Dictionary credits this
Speaker 1: song with popularizing the term grandfather Clock, and so works
Speaker 1: song inspired a new nickname for a centuries old time piece.
Speaker 1: But what was it that inspired the song itself? Two
Speaker 1: theories are out there. The George Hotel of Pierce Bridge
Speaker 1: in North Yorkshire, England claims that Grandfather's Clock was conceived
Speaker 1: right in its lobby. Work once stayed there while traveling
Speaker 1: through the U K in eight seventy four. After checking
Speaker 1: in it said that he spotted a handsome long case
Speaker 1: clock in the hotel's lobby. The hands seemed to be
Speaker 1: jammed frozen in place at the eleven oh five mark.
Speaker 1: Upon asking a staffer about this broken clock, he was
Speaker 1: told that it belonged to the late Jenkins brothers, who
Speaker 1: had once owned the hotel. Their clock work, learned, was
Speaker 1: purchased on the day the older sibling was born. Supposedly,
Speaker 1: it was the most reliable time piece a person could
Speaker 1: ask for, But when one of the brothers died, the
Speaker 1: clock slowed down. Then years later, when death took the
Speaker 1: other sibling, its final tick rang out. According to legend,
Speaker 1: it's been silent ever since. Alas this story is probably
Speaker 1: just a bit of local folklore, then again, one Massachusetts
Speaker 1: family offers a different explanation. The relatives of Work's wife,
Speaker 1: Sarah Parker, believe that they possess the clock that begat
Speaker 1: this iconic song. To hear, the Parkers tell it, the
Speaker 1: songwriter took his cues from an old long case formally
Speaker 1: owned by Sarah's grandfather. All these years later, this wooden
Speaker 1: clock still belongs to the Parkers, and no, it doesn't
Speaker 1: work either. Today's episode was written by Mark man Cini,
Speaker 1: produced by Dylan Fagan, and for more on this and
Speaker 1: other topics, please visit us at how stuff works dot com.