Another Kind of Rock Candy Mountain.

When I was a very little girl, about four or five, I had a record of someone, I think it was John Pertwee, singing a version of Big Rock Candy Mountain. Now this song, for anyone who doesn't know, is an old song written about a hobo who is dreaming of the ideal place for hobos who want to lead the ideal life, free food, lots of booze and cigarettes, no work, lots of sleep and easy travel to wherever they want for no money. So how did that song get on a record for five-year-olds you may ask? I'll tell you. It got sanitized. I do wish I still had it. I do know that it was so sanitized that all I remember is a lovely song about a land all made of food, candy, soda pop and fruit that was all ready to eat. Total heaven to a greedy little girl like me!

About four years later we learned it in singing in my junior school. It was still a bit sanitized, but not very, and I hated, hated, hated it! I still do as a matter of fact. Welll, this evening I was just sitting here with my brain on neutral, and I was remembering that old record and wondering if I could find the sanitized version. The more I googled, the worse the lyrics got! So I opened notepad and started scribbling. The first three verses are just what I, as a little girl of five, would have liked the big rock candy mountain to be like. And I thought it was done, so I had a few sniffles, thinking over times past, showed it to B, sent it to a friend for a nostalgic giggle and closed it. Then I opened it again and thought, gosh, that looks a bit like heaven to a little one, it could almost be like a kind of heaven if there was a deeper, higher side to it as well as all the lovely things of the place, and why not after all, none of us know what heaven is.

So that's how the fourth verse got added, and I sniffled a bit more and went to close it, but it's nagging in my brain, and when things do that they kind of want to be shared. Now if you don't believe, please don't read it and say something mean. If you don't like anything sentimental, ditto, you've had fair warning. Smile. Also, I'm no poet, and trying to make this rhyme and fit to a tune I already know was hard. A few of the original words survived, not many. Thank goodness this isn't a huge, popular blog and the lyric's out of copyright as far as I can gather! OK, enough, it's wanting to be shared, so here it is.

One evening as the sun went down and the jungle fires were burning.
Down the road came a pretty maid and she said I'm never turning.
I'm going to a land that's far away beside the crystal fountain,
where there's peace and joy for each girl and boy, it's the big rock candy mountain.

Oh the buzzing of the bees and the lollipop trees, the soda water fountain!
Where the lemonade springs and the bluebird sings, it's the big rock candy mountain.

In the big rock candy mountain is a land so fair and bright.
You can laugh and play, you can sleep all day and then stay awake all night.
the chickens are all ready cooked and the fruit is ready peeled.
I want to go where there'll be no snow, where the rain won't fall and the wind won't blow.
And each trouble will be healed.

Oh the blooming of the flowers and the honeydew showers, the cherry cola fountain.
Where the stars can glow pink and the moon can wink, it's the big rock candy mountain.

In the big rock candy mountain there's an owl that makes your frocks.
And little vents of lovely scents come trickling down the rocks.
There's jewels grown on every bush and ribbons on each tree.
I'll find my space in that lovely place.
Where the grass is silk and the leaves are lace,
And a welcome waits for me.

Oh the glitter of the gems and the spangles on stems,, the honeysuckle fountain.
Where I sparkle and shine and the world is mine, it's the big rock candy mountain.

In the big rock candy mountain you need never go to school.
You can learn sweet things from an angel's wings as they fan you nice and cool.
They say that love can conquer all, that faith will help me through.
So in hope I'll stay on that narrow way.
And I'll work and pray, and await the day when my mountain dream comes true.

oh the streets of shining gold and the glories untold, the joyous, happy fountain!
Where my Lord waits for me and my soul soars free, it's the big rock candy mountain.