Tic! Tac! Toc! Went My Father’s Clock

A popular song from 1900.
Words and music by H. H. Godfrey.


Sheet music provided by Nicholas Leunissen:


Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:


Lyrics

  1. When I was a lad, and I shirked my tasks
    My father used to say
    “Just notice how the Kitchen clock
    Keeps ticking all the day
    It never falters, never stops
    And that’s the reason why
    Upon the time it’s dial tells
    You always can rely
    And ever since I try to think
    When faced by doubt or fear
    That I hear my father’s Kitchen clock
    Ticking loud and clear

Chorus
Tic-Tac-Toc went my father’s clock
Merrily, cheerily Tic-Tac-Toc
When a doubt you feel gently o’er you steal
Listen to the clock with its Tic-Tac-Toc

  1. When war had come why I took my gun
    And sailed across the seas
    And bade “goodbye” to Canada
    To comfort and to ease
    The burning heat the dreadful thirst
    And the with’ring hail of lead
    Made me and many others wish
    That we were home or dead
    But when the danger greatest seemed
    And all was dark and drear
    Like war-like music urging on
    A sound I seemed to hear

Chorus
Tic-Tac-Toc went my father’s clock
“Keep it up, never stop” Tic-Tac-Toc
“Britons never quail, Britons never fail”
Said my father’s clock with it’s Tic-Tac-Toc

  1. When I from the war had, safe, returned
    In age and stature grown
    I met a rogue-ish lassie whom
    I wished to call my own
    But when it came to asking her
    Why I could not say a word
    But blushed and stammer’d, really
    In a manner most absurd
    Till suddenly I seemed to hear
    A sound which urged me on
    I asked the question there and then
    And thus my bride was won

Chorus
Tic-Tac-Toc went my father’s clock
“Kiss her Jack, take it back” Tic-Tac-Toc
“Never be afraid to kiss a pretty maid”
Said my father’s clock with its Tic-Tac-Toc


Sung here by Vancha March: