When the old man died

Fairly recently, we reached a notable numbered anniversary for the death of my father-in-law. 

It snuck up on me, but when the realisation hit, I felt no stab of grief, nor did I feel like doing a jig.  He was the Resident Fan Boy's dad, and the grandfather of my daughters.  Elder daughter and the RFB genuinely miss him; younger daughter is too young to remember him.

I'm afraid I don't particularly miss him.  He was high maintenance, and not fond of me.  Nevertheless, I was chagrinned to find, running through my mind on a mildly disrespectful loop:  When the o-o-o-ld ma-a-an di-i-i-ed....

"My Grandfather's Clock" was a fairly regular part of my childhood.  It was a staple of so-called "songs for children" - even though, as a little girl, I found the lyrics quite creepy:  a clock that carefully measures out a man's lifetime and dies when he does?  I have a vague memory of my sister's Grade Two class singing it at assembly:  Ninety years without slumbering - tick-tock, tick-tock - His life's seconds numbering... 

Ick.

Like a lot of songs aimed at children in the late 20th century, it certainly wasn't written for children.  It occurred to me that my daughters, children of the dawn of the 21st century, may not be familiar with the song.  I have no recollection of their ever singing it.

I looked it up and discovered that: a)  the term "grandfather clock" originates with the song; and b) it was written in the 1870s by Henry Clay Work, same guy who wrote the Civil War song "Marching Through Georgia".  Work came from a Connecticut family with strong Abolitionist beliefs, and is distantly related to Frances Work, the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales.

There are probably several parodies of this, but the one I know of is "My Grandmother's Cat" by Garrison Keillor.  It seems to be carefully copyrighted, so I won't put it here, but it's possible to listen to it through Apple Music.

My late father-in-law didn't quite make it to ninety, although I think I remember a grandfather clock in the front hallway.  Don't know what became of it.