I once read that Woody Guthrie hated the friend of HUAC, Burl Ives, and for good reason. Woody also couldn’t stand a song that Ives sang and was famous for, “The Big Rock Candy Mountain”. Woody somehow thought it was a song used by old perps to entice young boys away from home. [Wikipedia says it’s so, but I’m not convinced.]
Well, I’ll forgive Woody for his indiscretions and bigotry, par for the course for the times. I’m sure Woody would be more enlightened today. However, I do revel in the fact that Tom Delay is leaving Sugar Land. Yes, Delay is doing the perp walk, leaving the town of Sugar Land, which surely must be where the “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” lies.
DeLay, who will turn 59 on Saturday, did not say precisely when he would step down, but under Texas law he must either die, be convicted of a felony, or move out of his district to be removed from the November ballot. DeLay told Time magazine that he is likely to change his official residence from Sugar Land, Tex., to Alexandria by the end of May. He said he informed President Bush of his decision yesterday afternoon.
i first heard "big rock candy mountain" sung by tom waits in the film "ironweed". then, of course, like many others, in the soundtrack to "oh brother where art thou?" i've always read it as the Anarchist National Anthem - a song about willful irresponsibility and avoidance of work. it's a hobo song, where railroad bulls and pinkertons and bosses and cops are the villains. it's a song for drunkards, addicts, slackers, losers, stoners, hosers, layabouts, and ne'er-do-wells.
i used to know this guy who was a far-right-wing conservative businessman whose son lived in his basement and worked at a burger joint. in between rants about freeloaders, welfare queens, etc. he would sing "king of the road" to himself, and he had a cheesy porcelain hobo statue on his desk. secretly, all "hard-working" neo-Calvinist Capitalists really glamorize the non-working lifestyle. it's why they hate and fear the organized working classes so much.
Posted by: r@d@r on April 4, 2006 2:53 PM