"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)
“There are big men, men of intellect, intellectual men, men of talent and men of action; but the great man is difficult to find, and it needs—apart from discernment—a certain greatness to find him.”
—Margot Asquith (1864–1945)
“Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“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)
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)