My Grandfathers Clock was written in 1876 by American composer Henry Clay Work and found instant success. It has found popularity as a folk-song and children's song and has been used by most genres including bluegrass and brass band.

 

The story is told from a Grandson's point of view and tells the tale of his Grandfather's long case clock which was bought on the morning of the Grandfather's birth. The clock never stopped for the duration of the man's life, sharing his grief and his joy, sounding 24 chimes when he met his bride and sounding an alarm when the old man lay on his death bed. For ninety years the clock ticked without slumbering but it stopped... short... never to go again, when the old man died.