Back to photostream

The Big Rock Candy Mountain

Photographed in Piute County, Utah.

 

View On Black

 

In the Big Rock Candy Mountain,

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

The handouts grow on bushes

And you sleep out every night.

The boxcars all are empty

And the sun shines every day

I'm bound to go

Where there ain't no snow

Where the sleet don't fall

And the winds don't blow

In the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

 

You may recognize this chorus from the folk song, “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” attributed to Harry “Haywire Mac” McClintock and made famous in a 1950s recording by Burl Ives and later in the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou" starring George Clooney. Shortly after the release of the song in 1928, some local residents, as a joke, placed a sign at the base of a colorful mountain in Utah naming it “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” They also placed a sign next to a nearby spring proclaiming it 'Lemonade Springs.' These names stuck, and the mythical Big Rock Candy Mountain of the song became perhaps one of the most recognized geologic sites in west-central Utah. Located a few miles north of Marysvale in Piute County, Big Rock Candy Mountain consists of altered volcanic rock in various shades of yellow, orange, red, and white.

 

 

4,170 views
11 faves
29 comments
Uploaded on April 3, 2009
Taken on March 30, 2009