The Big Rock Candy Mountain (thing)

A folk song, as used in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

The version used in the film is performed by Harry McClintock and is somewhat different to the Burl Ives one I'm more familiar with. It's more folksy and more explicitly about the lot of the homeless- as far as I can remember the Ives version was adapted to describe the sort of paradise anyone could enjoy, rather than the tragic fantasy of an old-time tramp.

One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fires were burning
Down the track came a hobo hiking.
He said "Boys I'm not turning;
I'm heading for a land that's far away
Beside that crystal fountain.
I'll see you all this coming fall
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
It's a land that's fair and bright
The handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out ev'ry night;
The box-cars are all empty
And the sun shines ev'ry day
I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
Where the sleet don't fall
And the wind don't blow,
In the Big Rock Candy Mountain

Oh the buzzing of the bees in the cigarette trees,
By the soda water fountains,
By the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings,
In the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
You never change your socks,
Little streams of alky-hol
Comes trickling down the rocks.
Oh the shacks all have to tip their hats,
And the railroad bulls are blind,
There's a lake of stew and whiskey too,
And you can paddle all around it
In a big Canoe.
In the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

Oh the buzzing of the bees in the cigarette tress,
By the soda water fountains,
By the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings,
In the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
The cops have wooden legs,
The bull-dogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs.
The Box-cars all are empty
And the sun shines ev'ry day
I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
Where the sleet don't fall
And the wind don't blow,
In the Big Rock Candy Mountain

Oh the buzzing of the bees in the cigarettes tress,
By the soda water fountains,
By the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings,
In the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
The jails are made of tin,
You can slip right out again
As soon as they put you in.
There ain't no short handled shovels,
No axes, saws nor picks.
I'm bound to stay where you sleep all day.
Where they hung the jerk
That invented work,
In the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

I remember hearing a DJ announce this as The Big Cock Roundthe Mountain once. teehee!

This w/u is CST Approved.

Even though McClintock never receive royalties from his original recording it was Burl Ives who popularized the song in the '40s and '50s. Either MCA Records, or the McClintock or Burl Ives Estates may own the copyright, but to date no one has been able to establish who truly originated the song.(lo)
Source:
www.suite101.com/article.cfm/caring_soul/90293
accessed March 6, 2004.