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Topic: I Don't Care About Clifton Clowers.... |
Pat Burns
From:
Branchville, N.J. USA
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 3:20 pm |
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..I've had that line running through my head all day, and a mental picture of skeletons lying all around the bottom of that mountain..
...his daughter would be about 55 or 60 now..wonder if she's still worth the trouble... |
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LARRY COLE
From:
LANCASTER, OHIO, USA
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 3:22 pm
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What's wrong with a 55-60 year old woman?
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Playing For JESUS,LC. WILLIAMS U12, SHO-BUD PRO1,CARVIN TL60
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Pat Burns
From:
Branchville, N.J. USA
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 3:24 pm
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| ...nothin'..I'm 51...but I ain't gonna take a bullet for her at my age... [This message was edited by Pat Burns on 13 June 2003 at 04:25 PM.] |
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LARRY COLE
From:
LANCASTER, OHIO, USA
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 3:43 pm
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If you were both 18 would you?
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Playing For JESUS,LC. WILLIAMS U12, SHO-BUD PRO1,CARVIN TL60
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George Kimery
From:
Limestone, TN, USA
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 4:50 pm
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| My best friend's father is Merle Kilgore, the composer of Wolverton Mountain. There really is a Wolverton Mountain and there really is a Clifton Clowers. He was Merle's uncle! |
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Pat Burns
From:
Branchville, N.J. USA
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 5:07 pm
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...yes, Larry, I would...and so would that fella in the song...he don't care about Clifton Clowers, he's gonna climb right up that mountain...
..George, can you tell us anything more about Clifton Clowers?...
..here's some info from a Claude King site that says the person and the place that Kilgore wrote about were in Arkansas...
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| His biggest of these was a song that had been written by Merle Kilgore titled Wolverton Mountain. Kilgore was a former Shreveport disk jockey who had had some success as a country singer/songwriter and who became known for writing hit songs for others, such as Johnny Horton's Johnny Reb and later, Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire. Wolverton Mountain was a song about a young man who wanted to climb Wolverton Mountain to gain the heart of a young girl who lived there, but who would face a formidable obstacle in her father, Clifton Clowers. The song is based on an actual person by that name and an actual place in Arkansas. It became a #1 country hit and reached the top ten on the pop charts in the Summer of 1962. There was an answer song, (I'm The Girl On) Wolverton Mountain, released by JoAnn Campbell later the same year. |
[This message was edited by Pat Burns on 13 June 2003 at 06:57 PM.] |
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Pat Burns
From:
Branchville, N.J. USA
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 5:31 pm
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...here's an entry from the web-site "Find A Grave", which morbidly but fascinatingly tells about celebrity or interesting people and where you can go visit them now...
quote:
Clowers, Clifton T. b. October 30, 1891 d. August 15, 1994
Clifton T. Clowers of Woolverton Mountain, became a Conway County legend as a result of a popular song written by Merle Kilgore and was performed by many artists including Bing Crosby. The song "Woolverton Mountain," warns would-be suitors to stay away from the mountain where Clifton Clowers was protecting his pretty young daughter because "he's mighty handy with a gun and a knife." He was the son of Jefferson Davis Clowers and Mary Prince Clowers. He was a World War I veteran and a member of the Mountain View Baptist Church where he was a deacon for several years. Survivors at the time of his death include three sons, Guy Clowers of Howell, Mich., Ted Clowers of Joplin, Mo., and Burl Clowers of Modesto, Calif.; two daughters, Virginia Green of Hurricane, W. Va., and Burlene Moore of Clinton, Ark.; 15 grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; 27 great-grandchildren; 14 step-great-grandchildren; five great-great-grandchildren; and six step-great-great-grandchildren.
Woolverton Mountain Cemetery, Conway County, Arkansas, USA
...and here's a look at part of the USGS topographic map, shows it as "Woolverton Mountain", with 2 "o's", on the border of Conway and Van Buren Counties in Arkansas, just outside the village of Formosa..
 [This message was edited by Pat Burns on 13 June 2003 at 06:55 PM.] |
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Dave Boothroyd
From:
Staffordshire Moorlands
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Posted 15 Jun 2003 11:33 pm
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Wonderful stuff! Tallahatchee bridge and now this!
You'll be telling me next there really is a place called Nashville! (;
The thing I've always wondered about with Mr Clowers was, How did the Bears and Birds actually tell him if a stranger should wander there?
Cheers
Dave |
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Pat Burns
From:
Branchville, N.J. USA
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Posted 16 Jun 2003 1:44 am
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| ..I picture him sitting at his still, squirrling piece across his knee, and the birds in the tree tops suddenly stop singing and chirping and take off into the air...oh, and the music in his head suddenly changes to a minor key!... |
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George Kimery
From:
Limestone, TN, USA
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Posted 16 Jun 2003 7:12 am
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| I don't know much about Clifton Clowers. Merle said he went to visit him right after he wrote the song. He said Clifton was out in the field (a farmer, I presume). Merle said he walked up to him and told him that he had written a song about him, and sang it for him right there in the field. Clifton had the opinion that the song would be a hit. Wonder what other songs Clifton predicted would be hits? LOL |
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Pat Burns
From:
Branchville, N.J. USA
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Posted 16 Jun 2003 7:17 am
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| ...wonder if Merle gave Clifton a cut of the take... |
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Lem Smith
From:
Long Beach, MS
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Posted 16 Jun 2003 8:26 am
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| Quote: |
| two daughters, Virginia Green of Hurricane, W. Va., and Burlene Moore of Clinton, Ark. |
According to that, at least a couple of fellers must have made it up the Mountain successfully. 
Lem[This message was edited by Lem Smith on 16 June 2003 at 09:28 AM.] |
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Paul Graupp
From:
Macon Ga USA
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Posted 16 Jun 2003 11:39 am
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My first take on this thread turned out to be another song along the same lines.
quote:
I started out, one Sunday morning
With a man they called Big Dave
Meanest man in the state of Georgia
They'll never find us 'cause we're lost
In Miller's Cave
A friend who played lead guitar with us in those days recently sent me a tape of a show we did at the Verdun NCO Club in France. That friend was Larry Ribinson and the singer was Johnny Johnson. We're going to try and have a reunion of sorts about the end of this month. The song as Johnny introduced it was a Hank Snow number but I think I've heard it a lot of times since then by others singers as it is quite well known.
I know I was humming it for years before it left my head. The line that ends each verse goes: In Miller's Cave was accentuated by our accodian player, Ski, who would turn the Swiss Echo Unit we used on voice to a lot of repeats for a ghostly effect.;
We did a show with Ray Price once at the Verdun NCO Club and he liked our vocal sound so much he used our PA and said he was going to have to get him one of those units but I don't know that he did or not.
Regards, Paul[This message was edited by Paul Graupp on 16 June 2003 at 12:40 PM.] |
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