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"Old Joe Clark" is a US folk song, a mountain ballad that was popular among soldiers from eastern Kentucky during World War I and afterwards. [1] Its lyrics refer to a real person named Joseph Clark, a Kentucky mountaineer who was born in 1839 and murdered in 1885. [1] [2] The "playful and sometimes outlandish verses" have led to the conjecture that it first spread as a children's song and via play parties. [3] There are about 90 stanzas in various versions of the song. [1] The tune is based on an A major scale in the Mixolydian mode, but moreover has definite hints of a complete blues scale, namely, the flatted 3rd and 5th. [4]
Although "Old Joe Clark" may have originated in the 19th century, no printed records are known from before 1900. [3] An early version was printed in 1918, as sung in Virginia at that time. [1]
"Old Joe Clark" has been described as "one of the most widely known of all Southern fiddle tunes [as of the late 20th century. ... It] has, to a degree, become part of the [United States] national repertory. One may hear it in bluegrass jam sessions, old-time fiddle sessions, and country dances throughout the United States." [3]
Gary Cooper sang several verses of this song in the 1945 western, “Along Came Jones”.
Fare-the-well Old Joe Clark, goodbye Mitsy Brow-owww-owwwn
Fare-the-well Old Joe Clark, I'm gonna leave this town
Old Joe Clark he had a house 16 stories high
and every story in that house was filled with chicken pie
I went down to Old Joe's house – never been there before
He slept on a feather bed, and I slept on the floor.
Refrain:
Round and around old Joe Clark Round and around I say
Round and around Old Joe Clark. I hav'n't long to stay.
[ citation needed ]
The song has been recorded by many artists, including:
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