I was surprised yesterday when one of my friends said she’d never heard this song, nor heard of it. Written back in 1928, Big Rock Candy Mountain was a hit song when I was a little boy. The great Burl Ives made it a hit. It was on one of those childrens’ record albums that my mother had for us, and I’ve seen it published in any number of folk songbooks.
True, some of it sounds a lot like Democrat campaign promises. Try to ignore that. And enjoy how beautifully Burl Ives hits the high note.
I haven’t heard this in ages! And I love the way Burl Ives sings it.
It would be politically incorrect, though, to sing it today. “Bum”? Surely he means “homeless person.” And cigarette trees? Cigarettes? Tsk tsk. 🙂
On our family’s record, that was “sugar-plum trees.”
Come to think of it, I seem to remember “peppermint trees.”
You might be right about that.
My parents had records with Burl Ives version of this great song. How many songs being popular today will still be enjoyed decades from now? Not many – so sad. I don’t even enjoy most of them now 🙂
Our contemporary popular music is garbage.
You’re using the word “music” in a figurative sense, right? 🙂