[Warning: The following contains light spoilers for Sunday’s episode of Outlander. Read at your own risk!]
Outlander has cleverly snuck “earworms” into its time-traveling adventure story over the past five seasons, but Sunday’s episode, “Famous Last Words,” contains a version of the classic folk tune, “Oh My Darling, Clementine” that will stick with you long after the episode. Brianna (Sophie Skelton) sings the tune in the episode, and the closing credits roll to a duet version sung by Skelton and Richard Rankin, the latter of whom doesn’t sing in the episode for reasons we won’t spoil here.
TV Guide has learned that Starz does not have immediate plans to release the song, but there is still hope for it to show up on the Season 5 soundtrack. Who has months to wait to listen to it again, though? The tragic folk song about a miner’s daughter who drowns before her love can save her is most often credited to Percy Montrose, who reportedly wrote the tune in 1884, though “Clementine” is believed to be based on a song by H.S. Thompson from 1863.
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The tune has gone through many iterations over the past 150 years, but the version in Outlander most closely follows the original 19th century version rather than the “updated” versions by Bing Crosby — when Clementine suddenly became Chubby — or Frank Sinatra. To help cure the itch to listen to the song, TV Guide has compiled a list of videos that closely resemble Outlander‘s somber take on the song. Enjoy!
The Sweptaways (accapella)
Magnus Carlson and Martin Hederos
Gabriella Lewis & Shay Tochner
American Folk Songs
World Folk Songs
Outlander continues Sundays at 8/7c on Starz.