"Big Rock Candy Mountain" is a song about a hobo's idea of paradise - a modern version of the medieval concept of Cockaigne. For other uses, see Song (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Paradise, Jan Bruegel Paradise is an English word from Persian roots that is generally identified with the Garden of Eden or with Heaven. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... Pieter Bruegel the Elders „Das Schlaraffenland“ (The Land of Cockaigne), painted in 1567. ...

History

The song is generally recognized as a turn of the century hobo ballad based on An Invitation to Lubberland, but authorship is also generally attributed to Harry McClintock since earlier written evidence of the song is not known. As a result, the song's copyright status is also in dispute. There are secondhand reports that McClintock attempted to enforce a copyright on the song but lost his lawsuit; in that case the song is in the public domain. Without further verification it must be assumed that the song is copyright by Harry McClintock. Illustration by Arthur Rackham of the ballad The Twa Corbies A ballad is a story, usually a narrative or poem, in a song. ... An Invitation to Lubberland was a broadside ballad first printed in 1685. ... Harry McClintock, also known as Haywire Mac, was a composer well known for his song Big Rock Candy Mountain. ... Not to be confused with copywriting. ... It has been suggested that civil trial be merged into this article or section. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

The song was first recorded in 1928 by Harry McClintock, also known as Haywire Mac. It is probably best remembered for its recording by Burl Ives in 1949, but it has been recorded by many artists throughout the world. The most popular version, recorded in 1960 by Dorsey Burnette, reached the Billboard top ten. Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Harry McClintock, also known as Haywire Mac, was a composer well known for his song Big Rock Candy Mountain. ... Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (14 June 1909 – 14 April 1995), an Academy Award winner, was an acclaimed American folk music singer, author, and actor. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dorsey Burnette was an early Rockabilly singer from Memphis, Tennessee and with his younger brother Johnny Burnette and a friend named Paul Burlison was one of the founder members of The Rock and Roll Trio. ... Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ...

According to the song, anything that a homeless man would fear is rendered harmless. The dogs have rubber teeth, the police have wooden legs, and the jail bars are made of tin.

Before recording the song, McClintock cleaned it up considerably from the version he sang as a street busker in 1897. Originally the song described a child being recruited into hobo life by tales of the "big rock candy mountain". Such recruitment actually occurred, with hobos enchanting children with tales of adventure called ghost stories by other hobos. In proof of his authorship of the song, McClintock published the original words, the last verse of which was: Busking is the practice of doing live performances in public places to entertain people, usually to solicit donations and tips. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or the belief of some character(s) in them. ...

The punk rolled up his big blue eyes

And said to the jocker, "Sandy,

I've hiked and hiked and wandered too,

But I ain't seen any candy.

I've hiked and hiked till my feet are sore

And I'll be damned if I hike any more

To be buggered sore like a hobo's whore

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the released version this verse did not appear. Sterilized versions have been popular, especially with children's musicians; in these, the "cigarette trees" become peppermint trees, and the "streams of alcohol" trickling down the rocks become streams of lemonade. The lake of gin is not mentioned, and the lake of whiskey becomes a lake of soda pop. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Two unlit filtered cigarettes. ... Binomial name Mentha × piperita L. Peppermint (Mentha × piperita) is a (usually) sterile hybrid mint, a cross between watermint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the drink made with lemons. ... Gin and tonic. ... Whisky (or whiskey) is an alcoholic beverage distilled from grain, often including malt, which has then been aged in wooden barrels. ... A soft drink is a drink that contains no alcohol. ...

A folk version of the song is included in the Gordon "Inferno" Collection in the Library of Congress, under the title "The Appleknocker's Lament". The Robert W. Gordon Inferno Collection is about 200 pages of original and typescripted copies of correspondence and letters which were separated from the main collection of the Archive of Folk Song, Library of Congress, by Robert W. Gordon, first head of the folklife department in the Library of Congress... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ...

Recordings

• In 1986 The Beat Farmers released a version of the song, featuring a vocal by Country Dick Montana, on their mini-CD Glad 'N' Greasy, recorded in England in 1985.

• In 1988, renowned photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank released a feature film entitled Candy Mountain. The film was written by novelist and screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer and starred Tom Waits.

• The song was used in the 1989 movie Ironweed and sung by Tom Waits.

• In 2000, inclusion in the popular soundtrack for the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? brought the song to a modern audience. The version in the film, sung by Harry McClintock, includes the original references to "cigarette trees," "streams of alcohol," and the lake of whiskey as well.

• Lisa Loeb sang a clean version of the song on her 2004 children's release, Catch the Moon, re-released in 2007.

• The song was used in a 2005 Burger King commercial, although the lyrics are changed to reference the food being promoted. In the commercial almost all of the promises of the song are shown in detail. Darius Rucker (of Hootie and the Blowfish) is shown as a cowboy singing the song. Brooke Burke also appears in the commercial as a cowgirl.

• The British anarcho-punk band The Restarts have recorded a version using an early, uncensored version of McClintock's lyrics.^[1]

• The punk rock band Ashtray re-recorded the song but changed the name to "Punk Rock Candy Mountain" for the Rock 'n' Roll Three Way CD with The Secretions and Final Summation.

Beat Farmers was a band formed in August 1983 that did a crossover of alternative rock and country music. ... Country Dick Montana (born Daniel McLain May 17, 1955 in Carmel, California – died November 8, 1995 in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada) was a musician best known as a member of the Beat Farmers. ... Robert Franks noted book, The Americans (1958) Robert Frank (born November 9, 1924), born in Zürich, Switzerland, is an important figure in American photography and film. ... Rudy Wurlitzer was a US novelist and screenwriter. ... Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. ... Ironweed book cover Ironweed is a 1983 novel by William Kennedy. ... Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... O Brother, Where Art Thou? is the soundtrack of music from the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? an American film starring George Clooney. ... O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a dark comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, set in Mississippi during the Great Depression (specifically, 1937). ... Harry McClintock, also known as Haywire Mac, was a composer well known for his song Big Rock Candy Mountain. ... Lisa Anne Loeb (born 11 March 1968) is an American singer-songwriter and reality television star. ... Catch the Moon is an album by Lisa Loeb and Liz Mitchell, releasd in 2003 by Artemis Records. ... Burger King (NYSE: BKC), often abbreviated to BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. ... Darius Rucker performing in 2004 Darius Rucker (born May 13, 1966 in Charleston, South Carolina) is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the band Hootie & the Blowfish. ... Hootie & the Blowfish is an American pop-rock band, originally formed at the University of South Carolina by Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Jim Soni Sonefeld and Mark Bryan. ... Brooke Lisa Burke (born September 8, 1971) is an American television personality and model, known for hosting Wild On! (1999-2002) and Rock Star. ... The anarchy symbol commonly used by anarcho-punks Anarcho-punk (sometimes known as peace-punk) is a subgenre of the punk rock movement consisting of groups and bands promoting specifically anarchist ideas. ... The Restarts are a hardcore punk band from London, England. ...

Other uses

• Shortly after the release of the song in 1928, some local residents, as a joke, placed a sign at the base of cluster of some brightly-colored hills a short distance north of Marysvale, Utah near Fishlake National Forest naming it “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” They also placed a sign next to a nearby spring proclaiming it “Lemon Springs.” The Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort currently sits at the base of the hills and is a major hub in the Paiute ATV trail. ^[2]

• The largest exposed rock in the South Platte rock climbing area of Colorado is also called "Big Rock Candy Mountain" because of its colored stripes resembling a candy cane.^[3][4]

• One of the peaks in the Capitol State Forest in Washington State is named "Big Rock Candy Mountain."

• A mine located approximately 24 kilometers north of Grand Forks, B.C., Canada, is called the "Rock Candy Mine". The mine was developed in the 1920s and is noted for its colorful fluorite and borite crystals.

• In 1943, Wallace Stegner published an autobiographical novel titled The Big Rock Candy Mountain.

• In 1945, George Orwell parodied this phrase in the book Animal Farm with an animal version of heaven named Sugarcandy Mountain.

• The song is also discussed in depth in the book The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman, and performed by Jonathan Coulton in the audiobook.

• In the book All the Pretty Horses, John Grady Cole comments on how much the Mexican Tavern keeper loves America by saying "He made that Country sound like the Big Rock Candy Mountains."

• In 1987, the British indie band The Motorcycle Boy^[5] released a single called Big Rock Candy Mountain. This song has different words and music and is not related to the McClintock version.

• In 1990, Jane Wiedlin recorded a song with the same title on her album Tangled.

Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Marysvale is a town located in Piute County, Utah. ... Fishlake National Forest is located in south central Utah, it is named for the largest lake in the forest area and was founded in 1899. ... The South Platte River is a river in the states of Colorado and Nebraska in the western United States. ... A climbing area is a small geographical region with a concentration of opportunities for climbing. ... Official language(s) English Capital Denver Largest city Denver Largest metro area Denver-Aurora Metro Area Area  Ranked 8th  - Total 104,185 sq mi (269,837 km²)  - Width 280 miles (451 km)  - Length 380 miles (612 km)  - % water 0. ... Two candy canes, a traditional one (left) and a Spree flavored one(right). ... The Capitol State Forest is a state forest in Thurston and Grays Harbor counties of Washington. ... For the capital city of the United States, see Washington, D.C.. For other uses, see Washington (disambiguation). ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wallace Earle Stegner (February 18, 1909—April 13, 1993) was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist. ... Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 [1] [2] – 21 January 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... For other uses, see Animal Farm (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Heaven (disambiguation). ... Animal Farm is a satirical novella (which can also be understood as a modern fable or allegory) by George Orwell, ostensibly about a group of animals who oust the humans from the farm on which they live. ... The Areas of My Expertise is a satirical almanac written by John Hodgman. ... John Hodgman John Kellogg Hodgman[1] (born June 1971) is an American author and humorist who is best known for his personification of a PC in Apples Get a Mac advertising campaign and his correspondent work on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. ... Jonathan Coulton is a folk rock singer-songwriter. ... All the Pretty Horses is a novel by U.S. author Cormac McCarthy released in 1992. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

References

Further Readings

• Jack Goodman, "Life-Size Model of a Hobo Paradise," New York Times, June 11, 1950, p. 273.
• Ron F. Carlson, "Encounter: Stranded at Rock Candy Mountain," New York Times, Oct. 17, 1976, pp. 29-30.

External links

• Lyrics
• Big Rock Candy Mountain information at utah.gov
• The Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort which sits at the base of the Big Rock Candy Mountain, just North of Marysvale, UT.
• Photo the BRCM in Utah