It was given an updated and up-tempo treatment in an arrangement by Hal Hopper and John Scott Trotter. It is unclear when, where and by whom the song was first recorded in English, but the first version to reach the Billboard charts was that by Bing Crosby recorded on June 14, 1941, which briefly reached the No. No particular source is cited to verify that the song he used to hear in the 1920s in a remote Spanish village was not an old text with new music, but Brenan states in his preface that all the information in his book has been checked reasonably well. It was also given various English translations. It was best known from Romance del Conde Olinos o Niño, a sad love story very popular in Spanish-speaking cultures. In his book South from Granada, Gerald Brenan claims that the melody was from an old Spanish ballad, made popular by Mexican miners during the California Gold Rush. The lyrics were written by Percy Montross in 1884, based on an earlier song called "Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden". In Montross's version, the song ends somewhat farcical by noting he will not go so far as necrophilia: "Though in life I used to hug her, now she's dead – I'll draw the line." One day while performing routine chores, Clementine trips and falls into a raging torrent and drowns, as her lover is unable to swim and declines to attempt to rescue her. Multiple variations of the song exist, but all center on Clementine, the daughter of a "miner forty-niner" and the singer's lover.
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