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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Bogelbaum, and this is another classic

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Speaker 1: episode from our erstwhile host, Christian Sagar. So it turns

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Speaker 1: out the grandfather clocks weren't always called grandfather clocks, but

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Speaker 1: a single song changed that. Here's the story, Hey brain Stuff,

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Speaker 1: it's Christian Sagar. Grandfather clock is a fitting name for

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Speaker 1: an object that's often treated as a family heirloom. But

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Speaker 1: even though it carries the ring of heritage and tradition,

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Speaker 1: the term itself is rather young. In fact, it's more

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Speaker 1: than two centuries newer than the time piece it designates.

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Speaker 1: When these vertically gifted clocks were first invented more than

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Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty years ago, people actually called them

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Speaker 1: long case clocks, a moniker that's still used in some circles,

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Speaker 1: even though it's less catchy today. We might still be

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Speaker 1: using that mundane term if it hadn't been for a

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Speaker 1: songwriter who's been nicknamed America's war poet. So how did

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Speaker 1: the term grandfather clock come about? Well, Henry clay Work

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Speaker 1: was a self taught musician and lyricist. He first made

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Speaker 1: a name for himself during America's Civil War. One of

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Speaker 1: his later offerings was titled Grandfather's Clock. According to his nephew,

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Speaker 1: Bertram Henry clay, Work spent four years writing this piece,

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Speaker 1: which Root and Katie published in eighteen seventy six. The

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Speaker 1: did he tells the tale of a grandfather who received

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Speaker 1: a brand new long case clock on the day of

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Speaker 1: his birth. A lifetime later, the man and his time

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Speaker 1: piece enter the great beyond together. Works last mega hit,

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Speaker 1: Grandfather's Clock, emerged as an instant classic and an enduring one.

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Speaker 1: It sold more than eight hundred thousand copies in the

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Speaker 1: song made its author four thousand dollars richer in latter

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Speaker 1: deck gads. It was covered by Johnny Cash, spoofed on

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Speaker 1: a Prairie Home Companion, and even remixed for the soundtrack

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Speaker 1: of the indie video game Five Nights at Freddy's Too.

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Speaker 1: On top of all of that, the Oxford English Dictionary

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Speaker 1: credits this song with popularizing the term grandfather Clock, and

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Speaker 1: so works song inspired a new nickname for a centuries

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Speaker 1: old time piece. But what was it that inspired the

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Speaker 1: song itself? Two theories are out there. The George Hotel

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Speaker 1: of pierce Bridge in North Yorkshire, England, claims that Grandfather's

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Speaker 1: clock was conceived right in its lobby. Work once stayed

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Speaker 1: there while traveling through the UK in eight seventy four.

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Speaker 1: After checking in it said that he spotted a handsome

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Speaker 1: long case clock in the hotel's lobby. The hands seemed

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Speaker 1: to be jammed frozen in place at the eleven oh

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Speaker 1: five mark. Upon asking a staffer about this broken clock,

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Speaker 1: he was told that it belonged to the late Jenkin brothers,

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Speaker 1: who had once owned the hotel. Their clock work learned

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Speaker 1: was purchased on the day the older sibling was born. Supposedly,

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Speaker 1: it was the most reliable time piece a person could

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Speaker 1: ask for, but when one of the brothers died, the

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Speaker 1: clock slowed down. Then years later, when death took the

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Speaker 1: other sibling, its final tick rang out. According to legend,

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Speaker 1: it's been silent ever since. Alas this story is probably

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Speaker 1: just a bit of local folklore, then again, one Massachusetts

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Speaker 1: family offers a different explanation. The relatives of Work's wife,

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Speaker 1: Sarah Parker, believe that they possessed the clock that begat

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Speaker 1: this iconic song to hear. The Parkers tell it, the

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Speaker 1: songwriter took his cues from an old long case formally

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Speaker 1: owned by Sarah's grandfather. All these years later, this wooden

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Speaker 1: clock still belongs to the Parkers, and no, it doesn't

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Speaker 1: work either. Today's episode was written by Mark Fancini and

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Speaker 1: produced by Dylan Fagan and Tyler Clang. For more in

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Speaker 1: this and lots of other topics, visit how stuff Works

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Speaker 1: dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. For

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