"Big Rock Candy Mountain", first recorded by Harry McClintock in 1928, is a song about a hobo's idea of paradise, a modern version of the medieval concept of Cockaigne. It is a place where "hens lay soft boiled eggs" and there are "cigarette trees." McClintock claims to have written the song in 1895 based on tales from his misspent youth hoboing through the United States, but some believe the song, or at least aspects of it, have existed for far longer.
Read more about Big Rock Candy Mountain: History, Actual Location, Recordings, Other Uses
Famous quotes containing the words candy mountain, big, rock, candy and/or mountain:
“I’m headed for a land that’s far away
Beside the crystal fountains.
So come with me, we’ll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains.”
—Unknown. The Big Rock Candy Mountains (l. 5–8)
“And about her courts were seen
Liveried angels robed in green,
Wearing, by St Patrick’s bounty,
Emeralds big as half the county.”
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
“What a long strange trip it’s been.”
—Robert Hunter, U.S. rock lyricist. “Truckin’,” on the Grateful Dead album American Beauty (1971)
“I’m headed for a land that’s far away
Beside the crystal fountains.
So come with me, we’ll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains.”
—Unknown. The Big Rock Candy Mountains (l. 5–8)
“The moon was waiting for her chill effect.
I looked at nine: the swarm was turned to rock
In every lifelike posture of the swarm,
Transfixed on mountain slopes almost erect.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)