Clock In The Biscuit Tin

Album: The Singing Postman (1964)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a typical Allan Smethurst composition; accompanying himself on his acoustic guitar he relates an undoubtedly true and somewhat humorous story. Written in waltz time, "Clock In The Biscuit Tin" begins "My granny once had an old biscuit tin."

    "Granny" was actually his great-grandmother; she is also featured in his uptempo song "Moind Yer Hid Boy."

    Unsurprisingly, a ticking clock placed in a small tin echoes mightily, which was probably the inspiration for the song, but as well as annoying him, it drove away the rats under the floorboards, and when the old woman died, she left him the clock.
  • Smethurst uses a little poetic license with the line "My granny died the day I was wed"; in spite of his talents and amiable nature, the Singing Postman was physically unprepossessing and died unmarried at the age of 73 after spending the last 20 years of his life in a Salvation Army hostel in "Grimsby," the fishing port immortalized by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

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