Tic! Tac! Toc! Went My Father’s Clock

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

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Sheet music provided by Nicholas Leunissen:

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Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:

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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

2. 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

3. 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

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Sung here by Vancha March: