Old Joe Clark

Joe Clark lived as a shiftless mountaineer in Virginia in the 1800s. He had many enemies and is reported to have met
his end at the hand of one of them in 1885. Although the identity of the writer of this old American song is technically unknown, legend has it that a rejected beau of Joe Clark’s daughter wrote it after Clark’s death. The lyrics are silly and poke fun at Old Joe.

They also suggest that the writer did have some personal knowledge of, and perhaps some interest in, the Clark family home: “Eighteen miles of mountain road, and fifteen miles of sand. If I ever travel this road again, I’ll be a married man.”

From Book I of the O'Connor Method.
www.oconnormethod.com