Hankies

Cops and Whiskey Lake Screenprint on cotton. Mythos Merch 2016 Rhonda Ratray

Big Rock Candy Mountain by Harry McClintock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKk_kPmAk4

One evening as the sun went down

And the jungle fires were burning,

Down the track came a hobo hiking,

And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning;

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.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,

There's a land that's fair and bright,

Where the handouts grow on bushes

And you sleep out every night.

Where the boxcars all are empty

And the sun shines every day

On the birds and the bees

And the cigarette trees

The lemonade springs

Where the bluebird sings

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

All the cops have wooden legs

And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth

And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs

The farmers' trees are full of fruit

And the barns are full of hay

Oh I'm bound to go

Where there ain't no snow

Where the rain don't fall

The winds don't blow

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

You never change your socks

And the little streams of alcohol

Come trickling down the rocks

The brakemen have to tip their hats

And the railway bulls are blind

There's a lake of stew

And of whiskey too

You can paddle all around them

In a big canoe

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

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-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 Mountains ...

I'll see you all this coming fall

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

Big Rock Candy Mountain, was first recorded by Harry McClintock in 1928, and appears to be a modern version of the medieval concept of Cockaigne. Cockaigne or Cockayne /kɒˈkeɪn/ is a land of plenty, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always at hand and where the harshness of peasant life does not exist. In Specimens of Early English Poets (1790) George Ellis printed a 13th-century French poem called "The Land of Cockaigne" where "The houses were made of barley sugar and cakes, the streets were paved with pastry, and the shops supplied goods for nothing.”  Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s painting "Luilekkerland" (The Land of Cockaigne), 1567. Literally translated as, ”relaxed luscious, delicious land” pictures sleepy revelers lounging in abundance. The Brothers Grimm translated a similar fairy tale, Schlaraffenland  “The Land of milk and honey.” This story also describes a land of extreme abundance, as well as a land of opposites, where the weakest and meekest are the strongest.

What could be better for a person, than to have all their needs met? Is it the lap of luxury to live in a place where no one has to "work" for money with plenty of clean water, food, and ample alcohol?  Another kind of luxury, where the police are not a threat, where traveling is easy and sleeping under the stars every night is always warm and comfortable… That sounds like utopia. The land of milk and honey… Big Rock Candy Mountain is a Neverland.

 What is the message beyond reveling in the fantasy of a decadent Willy Wonka world, a place so opposite of the one we inhabit? Is it to imagine a world of pure wish fulfillment? A true escapist fantasy: escaping the human condition?  Is it in recognizing the actual abundance in nature?  Is it found the cliché’ “If something sounds too good to be true…it probably is.”  Does the song make a mark of you? In the tradition of Fairy tales, does it serve to be a warning for children, for teenagers and dreamers?  

The lesser known last verse reveals the cautionary nature of the song. Originally the song described a child being recruited into hobo life by tales of the "Big Rock Candy Mountain." McClintock sanitized the song considerably from the version he sang as a street busker in the 1890s.  When he appeared in court as part of a copyright dispute, he cited the original words of the song, the last stanza of which was:

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."

                                                                                                              

I created these pieces as part of the series, Mythos Merch These hankies incorporate some hobo symbols and commemorate some of my favorite attractions from Big Rock Candy Mountain. I love a good story and the tale of Big Rock Candy Mountain is just that, with its straight up tourist trap hucksterism and charm. I actually didn’t know about the final stanza until I began researching the song and I had been strictly thinking of BRCM as a vision of paradise. Anyway, this song always had a special place in my heart and I always like walking along railroad tracks. Please enjoy these hobo hankies from bum paradise.

 You can see more on my website: http://ratray.com/recent-work.html 

These will be on view at the Distillery in south Boston as part of the show "wish you were there."