Country Music

This story song was a hit as a crossover from the country genre. In 1962, the song, which was written by Claude King and Merle Kilgore, went from the top of the Billboard Country Chart to #6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Easy Listening Chart.

There actually is a Wolverton Mountain (although it’s spelled Woolverton) in Arkansas. The main character of the song, Clifton Clowers was a real person who lived there, and Merle Kilgore was his nephew. Unlike the man in the song, however, Clowers didn’t carry a gun. He fought during WWI, played several musical instruments, was a deacon in his church, and lived to be 102.

Here are the lyrics to “Wolverton Mountain” by Claude King:

Ah-oo, ah oo
They say don’t go on Wolverton Mountain,
If you’re looking for a wife.
‘Cause Clifton Clowers has a pretty
Young daughter,
He’s mighty handy with a gun and a knife.

Her tender lips are sweeter than honey
And Wolverton Mountain protects her there.
The bears and the birds tell Clifton Clowers
If a stranger should wander there.

All of my dreams are on Wolverton Mountain.
I want his daughter for my wife.
I’ll take my chances and climb that mountain
Though Clilfton Clowers, he might take my life

Her tender lips are sweeter than honey
And Wolverton Mountain protects her there.
The bears and the birds tell Clifton Clowers
If a stranger should wander there.

I’m going up on Wolverton Mountain,
It’s too lonely down here below.
It’s just not right to hide his daughter
From the one who loves her so.

Her tender lips are sweeter than honey
And Wolverton Mountain protects her there.
The bears and the birds tell Clifton Clowers
If a stranger should wander there.

But I don’t care about Clifton Clowers,
I’m gonna climb up on his mountain,
I’m gonna take the girl I love.
I don’t care about Clifton Clowers,
I’m gonna climb up on his mountain,
And I’ll get the one I love…

For More Golden Oldies Music                

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop, rock and roll, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

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