#Big Rock Candy Mountain

[sahonithereadwolf]

I went down another research hole the other night. Y'all might know about "Big Rock Candy Mountain" from O Brother, Where Art Thou...

But it, like most of the songs from that movie comes from a tradition of American folk songs. Big Rock Candy Mountains very specifically this tradition of hobo ballads. And, like setting aside the overtones of American colonialism that purvey all these sort of "there is a dreamland to the west for you to claim" songs, there is a cultural tradition of these. "Life is a struggle but there is a place where it's not if you can find it" is a very human sentiment.

There are plenty of medieval works on Cockaigne, which has a similar kinda tone to it. A land where the harsh realities of a blue collar or peasant class struggle can not exist.

But did you know about the secret gay lyrics of Big Rock Candy Mountain?

After Harry McClintoc recorded his version of this ballad, which he claimed he wrote in 1895 based off the stories he heard as a kid working on the railroad, a bunch of people took him to court because they claimed he stole and took parts of his song from a bunch of other hobo songs in the same traditions. Sweet Potato Mountain, Hobo's Heaven, An Appleknocker's Lament... As part of the court dispute, McClintock was told by the judge to perform the song. As art of the court record we have a last stanza which is not used in the cleaned up version used for records and "reputable venues". This was recorded as:

"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 * * * * * * * * In the Big Rock Candy Mountains." Now NO ONE KNOWS what that last lyric is. However we can make some very educated inferences. This is about gay sex.

And it's not like "Big Rock Candy Mountains" is immune to commentary despite the more sanitized versions you'd see later from the likes of Burl Ives.

I'm thinking very specifically: "In The Big Rock Candy Mountains All the cops have wooden legs And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth" and

"In The Big Rock Candy Mountains The jails are made of tin And you can walk right out again As soon as you are in There ain't no short-handle shovels No axes, saws or picks I'm a-goin' to stay where you sleep all day Where they hung the jerk that invented work In The Big Rock Candy Mountains" Going back to the lyrics "The punk rolled up his big blue eyes"

Punk in this context and original use, especially in it's use in hobo culture refers to a younger man or boy being kept for sex and other menial task.

Which, you know, should put a whole new context to see how it's been used against other forms of youth culture. Hippies, greasers, punks,ect. And at least for me makes it's misuse feel even more slapdash and pathetic.

If you doubt this, it is quickly followed up by the term "Jocker" "And said to the jocker, 'Sandy," a slang term of the era referring to an aggressive and usually straight passing dom top, especially in the context of prison.

To be a little flippant, this is a twink grumbling to a daddy.

As I mentioned before, no one actually knows what that missing lyric is. Or at the very least it's never been made public.

But give it's proximity to "sore" and "more" a lot of guess tend to jump to the word "Whore".

Sam Eskin actually interviewed McClintock for Folkway Records and which, when asked about the lyrics said “the ambition of every hobo was to snare some kid to do his begging for him, among other things,”

This is something you see in a lot of early gay panic lit all the way up through the 80's. Especially as the moral authoritarianism of the Hayes code kicked in. But it also found itself in the early pulp lit where queerness could still exist (if behind a little mask and a performative, if dramatic, finger shake)

Queerness and homelessness were intertwined. Still are, both from my own personal experiences and if you look at the statistics. And it's not much of a leap to understand why. ---

But we do have some offered lyrics from other authors: "To be buggered sore like a hobo’s whore,” Is a popular one, which has it's origins from a 2002 folk music site called mudcat and waaaaay too British to read naturally if you ask me.

“And be cornholed till my ass is raw.” is another one you see passed around a lot. Which feels too forum humor.

George Milburn in 1930 offers "To be a homeguard with a lemonade card.” which is naive and sweet to say the least.

The fact is we still don't know this lyric, gay punchline (or at least gay panic) as it might be. All we know is that Big Rock Candy Mountain "Was never meant to be a parlor song" in McClintock's own words.

Well that and the insight it offers into social perceptions of queerness at the time and how it's shaped and shifted in the future.

What do you think this secret gay Big Rock Candy Mountain lyric is?

[anarchic-miscellany]

When did our species decide we didn't want Lisa Loeb anymore? She's still excellent, guys. For shame! (Her cover of "Big Rock Candy Mountain" is lovely.)

[rastronomicals]

8:00 AM EDT May 20, 2024:

Harry McClintock - "Big Rock Candy Mountain" From the Soundtrack album   O Brother, Where Art Thou? (December 5, 2000)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

[myimaginaryradio]

Big Rock Candy Mountain - Burl Ives - 1949

[ponds-of-ink]

So was anybody going to tell me that the original Big Rock Candy Mountain song was entering Public Domain today, or was I supposed to learn that by myself?

[cheesetheory]

I saw two songs with similar names and had a devious idea

[nsidndnsb]

I wonder if Louis ended up on this mountain? The first time it was not taken because of grounding. Did his mother take him there in the future? What is known about this?

[sapporodoggie]

[goosedepartment]

in my mind this is where i am

[catgirlforeskin]

bro pull up rn. i'm sending you my location. this place is popping tf offff

📍big rock candy mountain

[travsd]

Haywire Mac and The Big Rock Candy Mountains

Haywire Mac (Harry McClintock, 1884-1957) cleaned himself up for that photo above. Normally you see him in cowboy or hobo gear, and it wasn’t really a costume. He was a folk singer not unlike Woody Guthrie or Burl Ives though rougher and plainer and more prototypical than those entertainers. He really was of the “folk”, i.e. the singing and songwriting was just what he did for fun and…

[rastronomicals]

6:04 PM EDT May 6, 2024:

Harry McClintock - "Big Rock Candy Mountain" From the Soundtrack album   O Brother, Where Art Thou? (December 5, 2000)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

[coupleofdays]

There's a lake of stew and of whiskey, too

You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe

In The Big Rock Candy Mountains

[unseenphil]

A new game jam about "Forbidden Zones" for Fist has given me terrible ideas so now I'm watching Oh Brother Where Art Thou again and plotting FIST archetypes for a game about trying to get to the place where there's lemonade springs and the bluebird sings.

[steampunkhobo]

They don’t want you to know this but you can have pesto pasta for dinner and make yourself a hot chocolate and drink it in the bath while you watch O Brother Where Art Thou. You can do this.

[myinspirationjournalquotes]

Absolutely spiraling about this song (“Fentanyl” by Jesse Welles) clearly referencing/mimicking the song “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” by Harry McClintock to such affect.