The Big Rock Candy Mountains
Harry McClintock
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Browse piano sheets by Harry McClintock on Zen Virtual Piano. McClintock's family came from Uhrichsville, Ohio, where Walter McClintock was a skilled carpenter working on railroad cars. The Knoxville History Project reports that on repeated legal documents in the last twenty years of his life, McClintock himself claimed he was born in Knoxville in 1882, and earlier documents conflict with that. The same project also reports that he was playing in the streets by 16, which would have been in the Knoxville years whichever birthdate is chosen. Records that disagree about his birthday leave the early years open, though the street playing seems to fit either date. In 1903 he finally settled in California, where he most often worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a brakeman or switchman. In those years he sang all sorts of cowboy and comic novelty songs, though he was probably best remembered for his hobo songs. In 1925 he added radio to his work with regular programs at KFRC, and in 1928 he sang on Victor discs. A railroad worker who sang about hobos and then took to the radio suggests that his songs came out of work he knew. McClintock's first recording, made in Hollywood, California, on September 6, 1928, was of The Big Rock Candy Mountains, which had The Bum Song No. 2 as its A-side. McClintock, who also went by the hobo name Haywire Mac, said he wrote the song, although it probably drew in part on other ballads such as An Invitation to Lubberland and The Appleknocker's Lament. A claim of authorship set beside older ballads may show how a song can be both his own and part of a larger tradition. He moved to Los Angeles in 1938, where he re-recorded his four most remembered songs for Decca; he apparently tried films as well, with little success. McClintock was unexpectedly esteemed anew in old age, as a sort of godfather of the 1950s folk-music revival in the Bay Area of California. Respect arriving late, after a film attempt that did not work out, gives the later years a different tone from the early ones.
Browse piano sheets by Harry McClintock on Zen Virtual Piano.
McClintock's family came from Uhrichsville, Ohio, where Walter McClintock was a skilled carpenter working on railroad cars. The Knoxville History Project reports that on repeated legal documents in the last twenty years of his life, McClintock himself claimed he was born in Knoxville in 1882, and earlier documents conflict with that. The same project also reports that he was playing in the streets by 16, which would have been in the Knoxville years whichever birthdate is chosen. Records that disagree about his birthday leave the early years open, though the street playing seems to fit either date.
In 1903 he finally settled in California, where he most often worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a brakeman or switchman. In those years he sang all sorts of cowboy and comic novelty songs, though he was probably best remembered for his hobo songs. In 1925 he added radio to his work with regular programs at KFRC, and in 1928 he sang on Victor discs. A railroad worker who sang about hobos and then took to the radio suggests that his songs came out of work he knew.
McClintock's first recording, made in Hollywood, California, on September 6, 1928, was of The Big Rock Candy Mountains, which had The Bum Song No. 2 as its A-side. McClintock, who also went by the hobo name Haywire Mac, said he wrote the song, although it probably drew in part on other ballads such as An Invitation to Lubberland and The Appleknocker's Lament. A claim of authorship set beside older ballads may show how a song can be both his own and part of a larger tradition.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1938, where he re-recorded his four most remembered songs for Decca; he apparently tried films as well, with little success. McClintock was unexpectedly esteemed anew in old age, as a sort of godfather of the 1950s folk-music revival in the Bay Area of California. Respect arriving late, after a film attempt that did not work out, gives the later years a different tone from the early ones.
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Harry McClintock, known by the hobo name Haywire Mac, was a singer who worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad, sang on radio and recorded The Big Rock Candy Mountains.
It was first recorded on September 6, 1928, in Hollywood, California, with The Bum Song No. 2 as its A-side.
He said he wrote it, although it probably drew in part on other ballads such as An Invitation to Lubberland and The Appleknocker's Lament.
On repeated legal documents late in life he claimed Knoxville in 1882, but earlier documents conflict.