Grandfather's Clock　邦題：大きな古時計

作詞・作曲

この曲の作者はアメリカの作曲家ヘンリー・クレイ・ワーク（Henry Clay Work,1832-1884）です。
彼は南北戦争において、奴隷制度の苦しみや軍隊生活の苦難、そして北部の勝利を記録した歌で知られています。
日本語タイトルの『大きな古時計』は保富康午氏（ほとみ こうご,1930-1984）による訳詩です。

歌詞

My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor.
It was taller by half than the old man himself,
Though it weighed not a penny weight more.
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride.
But it stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died.

CHORUS:
Ninety years with out slumbering, tick, tock, tick, tock
His life seconds numbering, tick, tock, tick, tock
It stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died.

In watching its pendulum swing to and fro
Many hours had he spent while a boy.
And in childhood and manhood the clock seemed to know
And to share both his grief and his joy.
For it struck twenty-four when he entered at the door
With a blooming and beautiful bride.
But it stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died.

CHORUS

My grandfather said that of those he could hire,
Not a servant so faithful he found.
For it wasted no time, and had but one desire,
At the close of each week to be wound.
And it kept in its place, not a frown upon its face
And its hand never hung by its side.
But it stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died.

CHORUS

It rang an alarm in the dead of the night
An alarm that for years had been dumb.
And we knew that his spirit was pluming for flight
That his hour of departure had come.
Still the clock kept the time with a soft and muffled chime
As we silently stood by his side.
But it stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died.

CHORUS

管理人コメント

元の歌詞では90年間動き続けていたんですね。
平井堅さんのおかげで日本の若い人たちも知ってますよね。
文句なしの名曲ですが、原曲の演奏は思った以上に明るいです！

YouTube 動画

アレンジが面白いですね。