Harry McClintock

Harry Kirby McClintock (October 8, 1882 – April 24, 1957), also known as "Haywire Mac", was an American singer, songwriter, and poet, best known for his song "Big Rock Candy Mountain".

Harry Kirby McClintock
Born
Harry Kirby McClintock

(1884-10-08)October 8, 1884
Uhrichsville, Ohio
DiedApril 24, 1957(1957-04-24) (aged 74)
San Francisco, California
Other namesHaywire Mac, Radio Mac, Strawlegs Martin
Occupationboomer, author, poet, busker, cowboy, union organizer
Known for"Big Rock Candy Mountain", "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum"

Life

McClintock was born October 8th 1884 in Uhrichsville, Ohio, "the son of a railroad cabinet maker and nephew of four boomer trainmen". He was the son of Walter McClintock 1852-1901 and Joanna Kirby 1852-aft 1920, and only had a single sibling Milton McClintock 1876-1880. His family was native to Tippecanoe, Ohio, and soon after his birth his parents removed their small family to Knoxville, Tennessee, where they raised him. His drifting began when he ran away from home as a boy to join a circus. He railroaded in Africa, worked as a seaman, saw action in the Philippines as a civilian mule-train packer, supplying American troops with food and ammunition, and in 1899 found himself in China as an aide to newsmen covering the Boxer Rebellion. Back in the States, he hired out to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway in the Pittsburgh area, and from there he took the boomer trail as railroader and a minstrel. Mac lived an adventurous life and never lost his sense of humor".[1] Harry McClintock married September 8, 1917 in Farmington City, Utah to Bessie Johnson, and they only ever had daughter Joan (McClintock) Norman.

Music

His song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" (1928), much later featured in the 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, reached No. 1 on Billboard's "Hillbilly Hits" chart in 1939. Having worked as a cowboy himself, McClintock was one of the few "country" singers who had an authentic background from which to draw.

His song "The Old Chisholm Trail" was featured in the end credits of The Grandest Enterprise Under God episode (Episode 5) of the TV documentary miniseries The West.

He was included in Robert Crumb's series of "Heroes of Blues, Jazz and Country" trading cards.

Politics

He is credited as being the first person to sing "The Preacher and the Slave", a song by Joe Hill, in public. He was a lifelong member of the Industrial Workers of the World. In the early 1920s he worked and organized union men in the oil fields of west Texas, where he met and recruited writer Jim Thompson, who later incorporated him into several short stories using the name "Strawlegs Martin."[2]

Selected discography

78s
  • Ain't we crazy? (Barefoot boy with boots on) (1928; Victor V-40101) [3]
  • The Big Rock Candy Mountains (1928, Victor Talking Machine Co. Camden, NJ No. 21704-B) [4]
  • Hallelujah! I'm a Bum (1928, "His Master's Voice", Victor label No. 21343-B (42137)). Reverse side is "The Bum Song".

LPs
  • Haywire Mac (1950, Cook Records 01124)
  • Haywire Mac (1972, Folkways Records 05272)

Compilations
  • Songs to Grow On, Vol. 3: American Work Songs (1951, Folkways Records 07027). Track 4: "Jerry, Go and Oil That Car"
  • Cowboy Songs on Folkways (1991, Smithsonian Folkways 40043). Track 7: "Utah Carl"
  • Folk Song America, Vol. 1 (1991, Smithsonian Collection 461). Track 5: "Big Rock Candy Mountain"
  • When I Was a Cowboy, Vol. 1 (1996, Yazoo Records 2022). Track 9: "Sam Bass"
  • Train 45: Railroad Songs of the Early 1900s (1998, Rounder Select 1143). Track 20: "Jerry, Go Oil That Car"
  • O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000, Lost Highway Records 170069). Track 2: "Big Rock Candy Mountain"
  • Back in the Saddle Again: American Cowboy Songs (2004, New World Records). Track 1: "Old Chisholm Trail"

Bibliography

Stories
  • "Railroaders are Tough" (Railroad Magazine, April, 1943)
  • "Boomer and Their Women" (Railroad Magazine, December, 1957)

Articles
  • "New Publications - Railroad Songs of Yesteryear" (Railroad Magazine, August 1943) Short biography is part of review.

References
  1. "He's Gone to the Big Rock Candy Mountain", Railroad Magazine, Vol. 68 No. 6, Oct. 1957 p. 57
  2. Burnett, Jay. "Things Are Not As They Seem". The Penniless Press On-Line. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  3. Victor Discography: Matrix BVE-46452. Ain't we crazy? / Radio Mac [i.e., Harry K. McClintock
  4. Victor Discography: Matrix BVE-46454. The big rock candy mountains / Mac [i.e., Harry K. McClintock

Articles

Sheet music

Lyrics

Albums

Streaming audio

Videos
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