1 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,040 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to Short Stuff, the Very Brief podcast 2 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:11,639 Speaker 1: on Josh. There's Chuck, that's Jerry. Let's get going. No 3 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: time for laughing, Chuck. Welcome everybody, And just as a 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: very quick explanation, Uh, we had this idea because we 5 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: often come across cool, little interesting tidbits that certainly don't 6 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: warrant a forty five minute episode, and everyone else on 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: the planet is doing little, shorty episodes on their podcast, 8 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: and we thought, well, hey, in your tin, why don't 9 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: we give it a shot. Yeah, let's try something new 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: for once. Yeah, so I hope you all like it. Great. Well, 11 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: we've just wasted a lot of time, Chuck. We might 12 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:42,839 Speaker 1: not get to the end of this episode. Now. I 13 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 1: thought we agreed there was no ticking clock. So you've 14 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: seen a grandfather clock before, right? Uh? Yeah, we we had, 15 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: you know, not the what is the like the smaller 16 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: version called it hangs on the wall. Actually I saw 17 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: those called wagon the wall clocks. Those are the original ones. Okay, 18 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: we we had one of those growing up where it's 19 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: just like an exposed pendulum swinging back and forth. Yeah, 20 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: you know, three ish feet three feet in length. Yeah, okay, 21 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: I thought you met like off the wall, like that 22 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: sounds dangerous, rigged up a hovering mechanism. It was pretty advanced, right, 23 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: and the pendulum was super sharp, so you better watch out. 24 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 1: So um, but you're you're familiar with like the kind 25 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 1: that are tall and standing on the floor. Yeah, so 26 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: those are actually you know and you know and love 27 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: them as grandfather clocks. Sure, but the name grandfather clock 28 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: didn't come around until about two hundred years after grandfather 29 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: clocks were invented. Yeah, and it's funny when I saw 30 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: this that they they were invented about three d fifty 31 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:45,839 Speaker 1: years ago, and when I saw that they were originally 32 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: called long case clocks, I immediately would liked that name better, 33 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: long case better than grandfather. Okay, yeah, I think it's cool. 34 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: I'm ambivalent towards both because I like the I do 35 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: like cuckoo clocks for sure, but the the the name 36 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: grandfather clock, we'll we'll find out where it came from. 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,959 Speaker 1: But the grandfather clock itself, or the long case clock, 38 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: was actually one of the first clocks. And it kind 39 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:13,839 Speaker 1: of makes sense because if you think about it, when 40 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: you start out inventing something new, it's it's huge, it's enormous, 41 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: and then as you get better at it over time 42 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: and find like workarounds and and shortcuts and stuff, you 43 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: can make it smaller and smaller. So it makes sense 44 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: that some of the first actually precise clocks were giant 45 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: grandfather clocks. And again they were originally they just had 46 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: the pendulum swinging back and forth. You could mount him 47 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: on the wall. They were called wag on the wall clocks. 48 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: And the first person who really tried to invent this 49 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: thing was none other than Galileo Galilee. Yeah, he's the 50 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 1: one that discovered, Hey, a pendulum swings at a constant 51 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 1: rate regardless of its size. I think we've got something here, boys. 52 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: And unfortunately he died before he could actually make a 53 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: legit clock. Yeah, but he tried for like his whole life. 54 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: That's what killed him. It was the sharp pendulum, and 55 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: he's like, I regret everything. But a Dutch astronomer named 56 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:15,239 Speaker 1: Christian Hugans built the very first pendulum clock. Uh. And 57 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 1: then and this is when like, apparently this is the 58 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: most accurate time piece ever in the history of the world. Yeah. 59 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: Before that, it was clocks were accurate within fifteen minutes 60 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: every twenty four hours. Sure, for the for the early 61 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: seventeenth century. But then Hugans comes along and his was 62 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: accurate within a minute every twenty four hours. So finally 63 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: what he had produced was something that you could actually 64 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: use for like scientific purposes, which again, as you said, 65 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: it was an astronomer and you need precise clocks for astronomy. 66 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: So he kind of made a scientific instrument for himself 67 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: more than you know, let's let's make something that everybody 68 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: sets their watch too. Yeah, So his wasn't It wasn't 69 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: a long case clock though, but because people are um, 70 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: people like to invent and build on others work, of 71 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: course he's got bigger and bigger, and eventually in London, 72 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: uh and what like not even two many years later, 73 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,560 Speaker 1: three or four years later, the very first long case 74 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: clocks started, like six ft tall, started to be released 75 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: into uh for purchase. Yeah, and there was a dude 76 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: named Clement, I can't remember his first name, but he 77 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 1: added um. He he basically made the pendulum so precise 78 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: that all of a sudden there was a clock that 79 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: was accurate within a second over twenty four hours. And 80 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: so they added minute hands and second hands and really 81 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: started to show off. But at the time in the 82 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: late seventeenth early eighteenth centuries, you had to literally be 83 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 1: um royalty to afford a clock like this. And then 84 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: over time again they figured out shortcuts and there were 85 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:57,479 Speaker 1: improvements in manufacturing. You just had to be somewhat rich 86 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: to afford him. And they started to spread and they 87 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: started to kind of encase him in would they They 88 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: started really kind of tricking him out and everything. They 89 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: made the pendulum look really beautiful, and then what you 90 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: know and love as a grandfather clock really kind of 91 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: was developed between I think um up to about eighteen fifty. 92 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: I think right from the late seventeenth century up to 93 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty. And then that was like kind of the 94 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: golden age of the grandfather clock. And then they just 95 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: stopped progressing and they said, this is perfect. This is 96 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: the Grandfather clock, although we don't call it that yet, 97 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:31,919 Speaker 1: and um, we're going to just leave it as is 98 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:37,159 Speaker 1: and say we're happy with this model. Yeah, so put 99 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: a pin in that. And then we switch on over 100 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: to the story of a man named Henry clay Work 101 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: who was born in Connecticut in eighteen thirty two. He 102 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: was a musician, uh singer, songwriter, very emo. From what 103 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 1: I understand a little bit. I got that too, And 104 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: it was back in the days when you would write 105 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: like war songs. Um, that doesn't happen much today unless 106 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:06,119 Speaker 1: you count like Toby Keith, whatever work he's doing, whatever 107 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: good work he's doing. But he was a champion of 108 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,799 Speaker 1: the North. And he had a song called Kingdom Coming, 109 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: a pro union ballad, which gave him a music contract 110 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: with a publishing firm named Root and Katie or Caddie. 111 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: And he started pumping out hits over like the next 112 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:26,599 Speaker 1: decade or so until hard times fell. He he made 113 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: some bad financial moves. Two of his kids died in 114 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: the eighteen seventies, and so his life he kind of 115 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: fell on hard times, but he would come back with 116 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 1: a big, big hit called Grandfather's Clock. Right, And this 117 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,840 Speaker 1: is actually where the name grandfather Clock comes from, is 118 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: from this guy's song. And it's a pretty sweet song, 119 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: actually sad. He basically sings about how his grandfather, his 120 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,600 Speaker 1: grand his great grandparents bought a long case clock on 121 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: the day his grandfather was born. What a great baby gift. 122 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: Right Exactly, here you go, kid, maybe someday you'll be 123 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:05,720 Speaker 1: this tall. Here's a grandfather, a long case clock. And 124 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,159 Speaker 1: a woobie exactly, don't let it fall on you. But 125 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: they so they bought. Yeah, I guess now that you 126 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: pointed out as a weird baby gift. But um, it 127 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: was a great, sturdy, reliable clock and it worked through 128 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: the grandfather's whole life until until the day he died. 129 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: And the day that the grandfather died, the clock stopped 130 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: as well, and it still hasn't worked since. Yeah, here's 131 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: the lyric. My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf, 132 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: so it stood ninety years on the floor. It was 133 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: bought on the morn of the day he was born, 134 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: and was always his treasure and pride. But it stopped short, 135 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: never to go again when the old man died. Yeah, 136 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: and America was like, oh God, this is the greatest 137 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: song anyone will ever write. We can just stop, we 138 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: can stop improving on grandfather clocks, we can stop writing 139 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: songs now. And the two come together in the U 140 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: in this writing by work or this song by Henry 141 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: Clay work. Right. Yeah, it was a big, big hit. 142 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: He sold uh close to a million copies, made the 143 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: equivalent of about nine dollars on the song. Johnny Cash 144 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: would record it Prairie Home Companions spoofed it. I think scrillis. 145 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. It was in a video game called 146 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: Five Nights at Freddie's. Yeah, and if you look it 147 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: up in the O E. D. The Oxford English Dictionary, 148 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: if you look up grandfather clock, it attributes the etymology 149 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: of that term to um to Work, Henry clay Work. 150 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: That his name does not stick to the brain. No, 151 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: even having Henry clay in it. I know you think 152 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: that would do it for us, Yeah, but Henry clay Work, 153 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: it just does not stick. So it was a huge deal, 154 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: and there's it's pretty much undisputed. I think it's a 155 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: percent on disputed that Henry clay Work was the person 156 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: who came up with the song that later became the 157 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:56,719 Speaker 1: name for long Case Clock's grandfather Clocks. Right, So we're 158 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:58,680 Speaker 1: gonna take a very short break and we're gonna come 159 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: back and tell you about what in bird work to 160 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: write that song himself. Alright, Chuck. So that was a 161 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: pretty good cliffhanger. So because you think, like sure, Henry 162 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: clay Work came up with this song and it had 163 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: the effect of renaming the long case clock the grandfather clock. 164 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: But anyone, anythinking person's brain is going to keep going 165 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 1: and say, but wait a minute, where did Henry clay 166 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: Work get the inspiration for this song? And there's actually 167 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: two stories for that. Yeah, so uh. One of them 168 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: is there's a hotel called the George Hotel in uh of. 169 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, the full name is the George Hotel of 170 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: pierce Bridge in North Yorkshire, England. And they said, and 171 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 1: they still claim, that dude wrote this in the lobby 172 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: he stayed here in eighteen seventy four, saw our long 173 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: case clock, sat down and started writing a song about it, 174 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: because our clock is frozen in time at eleven oh five, 175 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,319 Speaker 1: with a uh, with a story that is likely what 176 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: I call bs and what others would call folklore. Well, 177 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:19,079 Speaker 1: I don't if if it's not B, yes, then I 178 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 1: would say, yes, these people are. They have the claim 179 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:24,960 Speaker 1: to inspiring the Henry clay Works song because it has 180 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:27,720 Speaker 1: basically the same story. There was a clock bought for 181 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: the hotel owners sons um and when the first son died, 182 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: the clock started to slow, and when the second son 183 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: died it stopped altogether. And if Henry clay Work stayed 184 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: at that hotel, heard that story in it's so effactive 185 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: it's done. But yes, there is a lot of a 186 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 1: lot of people are like those people are lying, lying 187 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,839 Speaker 1: through their teeth, and um there there people in their 188 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: town won't speak to them actually because they so detest 189 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: the lie. That's right. Uh. And the other version of 190 00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: the story, of course, has to do with the family. 191 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: But his family, his wife's family, Sarah Parker, they said, no, no, no, no, no, 192 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: that's we have the clock. Uh. And then he wrote 193 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: the song about our clock. And he wrote it because 194 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: you know, he married our daughter, and we have this 195 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: great long case clock that belonged to Sarah's grandfather. And 196 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: it really has nothing to do with um a haunted 197 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: clock that stops when people die, right, but it did, 198 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: it doesn't work anymore, sure, So you know, there you go. 199 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: And then when people ask the family do you have 200 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:35,320 Speaker 1: the clock, they just say yes and then leave it 201 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,559 Speaker 1: at that. All right, And there's our story. I've got 202 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 1: one more thing. There's actually, um, there's actually different. So 203 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,839 Speaker 1: a grandfather clock is seven feet, a six footer is 204 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:52,200 Speaker 1: called the grandmother clock. Five fter is called the granddaughter clock. 205 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,680 Speaker 1: That's cute. So there you go, chuck. And anything shorter 206 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,320 Speaker 1: is called you're not even a family member. Clock, that's right. 207 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: I guess that's it. Yeah, if you want to find us, 208 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: you can find us on the web, and we're both 209 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: at stuff you should know dot com. So look us 210 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: up and we'll see you next time. Right, that's right.