SONG OF THE DAY
“The Big Rock Candy Mountain” by Burl Ives (Sing Out, Sweet Land: A Salute to American Folk and Popular Music, 1945 Original Cast Recording). Book by Walter Kerr; Music arranged by Elie Siegmaster. Original writer unknown. The recording can be found today on the album Front Row Center , a four-disc live Broadway cast recordings compilation released by Decca Records in 1996.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la Internet Broadway Database, ibdb.com)
– Sing Out, Sweet Land: A Salute to American Folk and Popular Music
was an original musical revue that never previewed, opened December 27th, 1944 and closed March 24th, 1945 with a total of 102 performances.
– It was produced by Produced by The Theatre Guild, which was established in 1919 and produced 37 broadway shows from 1931 to 1954. Most notably, they were responsible for the original production of Oklahoma! in 1943, and for its revival in 1951. They also produced several Shakespeare plays (Twelfth Night, 1940; Othello, 1943; and As You Like It, 1950). They are also notably responsible for the original productions of both Carousal in 1945 and The Iceman Cometh in 1946.
– The costume designer, Lucinda Ballard, later went on to do the costumes for the original broadway productions of The Sound Of Music in 1959, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in 1955, A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947, and Annie Get Your Gun in 1946.
– The ensemble included: Bibi Osterwald, who briefly replaced Carol Channing in the original broadway production of Hello, Dolly! during a bout of illness, and remained on standby for the role during its entire 6 year run (what a trooper!); Juanita Hall, who played Madam Liang in the original cast of Flower Drum Song, which ran 600 performances from 1958 to 1960, and played the role of Bloody Mary in the original cast of South Pacific, which was performed 1,925 times from 1949 to 1954; Philip Coolidge, who performed in Kismet (1953 original cast), The Crucible (1953 original cast), and Our Town (1938 original cast); and most notably Alfred Drake, who played leading roles in the original 1973 production of Gigi, the 1964 revival of Hamlet, the original 1953 production of Kismet, the original 1948 production of Kiss Me, Kate (as the first Fred Graham/ Petruchio!), the 1947 revival of The Cradle Will Rock, the original five year run of Oklahoma! from 1943 to 1948 (as the first ever Curly!), and was Yul Brynner’s understudy during the three year run of the original production of The King & I from 1951 to 1954.
– As far as Burl Ives and broadway go, he had a pretty good track record himself. He played the roles of Big Daddy in the original 1955 production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (which ran 694 performances), Cap’n Andy in the1954 revival of Show Boat, and in the original cast’s of 1951’s Paint Your Wagon, 1942’s This Is The Army, and 1938’s The Boys From Syracuse.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “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.
– McClintock is also known by his “hobo” name of Haywire Mac.
– 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. It was likely partially based on other ballads, including “An Invitation to Lubberland” and “The Apple-Knocker’s Lament”. Other popular itinerant songs of the day such as “Hobo’s Paradise”, “Hobo Heaven”, “Sweet Potato Mountains” and “Little Streams of Whiskey” likely served as inspiration, as they mention concepts similar to those in “Big Rock Candy Mountain”.
– Before recording the song, McClintock cleaned it up considerably from the version he sang as a street busker in the 1890’s. Originally the song described a child being recruited into hobo life by tales of the “big rock candy mountain”. In later years, when McClintock 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.”
– The song wasn’t popularized until 1939, when it peaked at #1 on Billboard Magazine’s country music charts.
– But it achieved more widespread popularity in 1949 when a sanitized version intended for children was re-recorded by Burl Ives.
– It has been recorded by many artists throughout the world, but a version recorded in 1960 by Dorsey Burnette to date was the biggest success for the song in the post-1954 “rock era”, having reached #102 on Billboard’s charts.
– Sanitized versions have been popular, especially with children’s musicians; in these, the “cigarette trees” become peppermint trees, and the “streams of alcohol” trickling down the rocks become streams of lemonade. The lake of gin is not mentioned, and the lake of whiskey becomes a lake of soda pop.
– A folk version of the song is included in the Gordon “Inferno” Collection in the Library of Congress, under the title “The Appleknocker’s Lament”.
– Just north of Marysvale, Utah, near the Fishlake National Forest, stands a cluster of brightly-colored hills named the “Big Rock Candy Mountain”. However, the song was written before the mountain got its name; in 1928, after the song had been released, some Utah residents jokingly placed a sign at the base of the hills labeling it the “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, along with a sign next to a nearby spring proclaiming it “Lemon Springs”. The Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort currently sits at the base of the hills and is a major hub in the Paiute ATV trail.
– Other rock formations in the United States have also borrowed the name of the song; the largest exposed rock in the South Platte rock climbing area of Colorado is also called “Big Rock Candy Mountain” because of its colored stripes resembling a candy cane.
– Additionally, one of the peaks in the Capitol State Forest in Washington State is named “Big Rock Candy Mountain”.
– The song was used in the 1987 movie Ironweed and sung by Tom Waits.
– In 2000, inclusion in the popular soundtrack for the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? brought the song to a modern audience. The version in the film, sung by Harry McClintock, includes the original references to “cigarette trees,” “streams of alcohol,” and the lake of whiskey as well.
– Lisa Loeb sang a clean version of the song on her 2004 children’s release, Catch the Moon, re-released in 2007.
– The song was used in a 2005 Burger King commercial, although the lyrics are changed to reference the food being promoted. In the commercial almost all of the promises of the song are shown in detail. Darius Rucker (of Hootie and the Blowfish) is shown as a cowboy singing the song. Brooke Burke also appears in the commercial as a cowgirl.
– A recording of the song was used as background music in a 2010 L.L. Bean commercial for the outdoor apparel maker.
– In 1943, Wallace Stegner published an autobiographical novel titled The Big Rock Candy Mountain. He published a further autobiographical work in 1992 entitled Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs, a reference to a line in the song.
– In 1945, George Orwell parodied this phrase in the book Animal Farm with an animal version of heaven named Sugarcandy Mountain.
– In the Cormac McCarthy novel All the Pretty Horses, John Grady Cole comments on how much the Mexican Tavern keeper loves America by saying “He made that Country sound like the Big Rock Candy Mountains.”
– In Glen Cook’s 1982 novel Shadowline, first in the Starfishers trilogy, a planet named the Big Rock Candy Mountain is the location for several scenes of the story.
– Grammy-winning artist Bruce Hornsby used the song as an intro to his song “Candy Mountain Run” at the Biltmore show in Asheville, NC on July 25, 2009 – and possibly in other venues on other dates.
– Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American actor, writer and folk music singer.
– As an actor, Ives’s work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Referring to Ives’s singing, music critic John Rockwell said, “Ives’s voice … had the sheen and finesse of opera without its latter-day Puccinian vulgarities and without the pretensions of operatic ritual. It was genteel in expressive impact without being genteel in social conformity. And it moved people.”
– His father was at first a farmer and then a contractor for the county and others. One day Ives was singing in the garden with his mother, and his uncle overheard them. He invited his nephew to sing at the old soldiers’ reunion in Hunt City. The boy performed a rendition of the folk ballad “Barbara Allen” and impressed both his uncle and the audience.
– Ives had a long-standing relationship with the Boy Scouts of America. He was a Lone Scout before that group merged with the Boy Scouts of America in 1924. The collection of his papers at the New York Library for the Performing Arts includes a photograph of Ives being “inducted” into the Boy Scouts in 1966.
– Ives received the organization’s Silver Buffalo Award, its highest honor. The certificate for the award is hanging on the wall of the Scouting Museum in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
– Ives often performed at the quadrennial Boy Scouts of America jamboree, including the 1981 jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, where he shared the stage with the Oak Ridge Boys.
– There is a 1977 sound recording of Ives being interviewed by Boy Scouts at the National Jamboree at Moraine State Park, Pennsylvania; on this tape he also sings and talks about Scouting, teaching, etc. Ives is also the narrator of a 28-minute film about the 1977 National Jamboree. In the film, which was produced by the Boy Scouts of America, Ives “shows the many ways in which Scouting provides opportunities for young people to develop character and expand their horizons.”
– From 1927-29, Ives attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (now Eastern Illinois University) in Charleston, Illinois, where he played football. During his junior year, he was sitting in English class, listening to a lecture on Beowulf, when he suddenly realized he was wasting his time. As he walked out the door, the professor made a snide remark, and Ives slammed the door behind him. Sixty years later, the school named a building after its most famous dropout.
– Ives was also involved in Freemasonry from 1927 onward.
– Ives traveled about the U.S. as an itinerant singer during the early 1930s, earning his way by doing odd jobs and playing his banjo. He was jailed in Mona, Utah, for vagrancy and for singing “Foggy, Foggy Dew,†which the authorities decided was a bawdy song.
– Around 1931 he began performing on WBOW radio in Terre Haute, Indiana. He also went back to school, attending classes at Indiana State Teachers College (now Indiana State University).
– In 1940 Ives began his own radio show, titled The Wayfaring Stranger after one of his ballads. Over the next decade, he popularized several traditional folk songs, such as “Foggy, Foggy Dew†(an English/Irish folk song), “Blue Tail Fly†(an old Civil War tune), and “Big Rock Candy Mountain†(an old hobo ditty).
– He was also associated with the ‘Almanac Singers’ (Almanacs), a folk singing group which at different times included Woody Guthrie, Will Geer and Pete Seeger. The Almanacs were active in the American Peace Mobilization (APC), an anti-war group opposed to American entry into World War Two and Franklin Roosevelt’s pro-Allied policies. They recorded such songs as “Get Out and Stay Out of War” and “Franklin, Oh Franklin”.
– In June 1941, the APC re-organized itself into the pro-war American People’s Mobilization. Ives and the Almanacs re-recorded several of their songs to reflect the group’s new stance in favor of US entry into the war. Among them were “Dear Mr. President” and “Reuben James” (the name of a US destroyer sunk by the Germans before US entry into the war).
– In early 1942, Ives was drafted into the U.S. Army. He spent time first at Camp Dix, then at Camp Upton, where he joined the cast of Irving Berlin’s This Is the Army. He attained the rank of corporal.
– Between September and December 1943, Ives lived in California with actor Harry Morgan (who would later go on to play Officer Bill Gannon in the 1960s version of Jack Webb’s TV show Dragnet, and Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H).
– His version of the 17th century English song “Lavender Blue” became his first hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for its use in the 1949 film, So Dear to My Heart.
– Ives was identified in the 1950 pamphlet Red Channels and blacklisted as an entertainer with supposed Communist ties. In 1952 he cooperated with the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) and agreed to testify. He stated that he was not a member of the Communist Party but that he had attended various union meetings with fellow folk singer Pete Seeger simply to stay in touch with working folk. He stated: “You know who my friends are; you will have to ask them if they are Communists.”
– Ives’s statement to the HUAC ended his blacklisting, allowing him to continue acting in movies. But it also led to a bitter rift between Ives and many folk singers, including Seeger, who accused Ives of betraying them and the cause of cultural and political freedom in order to save his own career. Ives countered by saying he had simply stated what he had always believed.
– Forty-one years later, Ives reunited with Seeger during a benefit concert in New York City. They sang “Blue Tail Fly” together.
– His movie credits include East of Eden, “Big Daddy” in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (the role was written for him by Tennessee Williams, and he originated it on Broadway), The Spiral Road (with Rock Hudson), The Big Country, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; and Our Man in Havana, based on the Graham Greene novel. In 1964, he played the genie in the movie The Brass Bottle with Tony Randall and Barbara Eden.
– Also in 1964, Ives played the narrator, Sam the Snowman, in the Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated television special, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The yearly rebroadcast of the popular seasonal television special has forever linked Ives to the Christmas season.
– Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Silver and Gold” are now considered holiday standards some 45 years after they were first featured in the 1964 CBS-TV presentation.
– Johnny Marks had composed the title song (originally an enormous hit for singing cowboy Gene Autry) in 1949, and producers Rankin & Bass retained him to compose the TV special’s soundtrack.
– Ives voiced Sam the Snowman, the banjo-playing “host” and narrator of the story, explaining how Rudolph used his “nonconformity,” as Sam refers to it, to save Christmas from being cancelled due to an impassable blizzard.
– The following year, Ives re-recorded all three of these Johnny Marks hits, which Ives had sung in the TV special, but with a more “pop” feel than in the TV special. He released them all as singles for the 1965 holiday season, capitalizing on their previous successes.
– His most notable Broadway performance (later reprised in a 1958 movie) was as “Big Daddy” Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955–56), written specifically for Ives by Tennessee Williams.
– Ives’s autobiography, The Wayfaring Stranger, was published in 1948. He also wrote or compiled several other books, including Burl Ives’ Songbook (1953), Tales of America (1954), Sea Songs of Sailing, Whaling, and Fishing (1956), and The Wayfaring Stranger’s Notebook (1962).