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sahonithereadwolf · 8 months

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I went down another research hole the other night. Y'all might know about "Big Rock Candy Mountain" from O Brother, Where Art Thou...

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But it, like most of the songs from that movie comes from a tradition of American folk songs. Big Rock Candy Mountains very specifically this tradition of hobo ballads. And, like setting aside the overtones of American colonialism that purvey all these sort of "there is a dreamland to the west for you to claim" songs, there is a cultural tradition of these. "Life is a struggle but there is a place where it's not if you can find it" is a very human sentiment.

There are plenty of medieval works on Cockaigne, which has a similar kinda tone to it. A land where the harsh realities of a blue collar or peasant class struggle can not exist.

But did you know about the secret gay lyrics of Big Rock Candy Mountain?

After Harry McClintoc recorded his version of this ballad, which he claimed he wrote in 1895 based off the stories he heard as a kid working on the railroad, a bunch of people took him to court because they claimed he stole and took parts of his song from a bunch of other hobo songs in the same traditions. Sweet Potato Mountain, Hobo's Heaven, An Appleknocker's Lament... As part of the court dispute, McClintock was told by the judge to perform the song. As art of the court record we have a last stanza which is not used in the cleaned up version used for records and "reputable venues". This was recorded as:

"The punk rolled up his big blue eyes And said to the jocker, "Sandy, I've hiked and hiked and wandered too, But I ain't seen any candy. I've hiked and hiked till my feet are sore And I'll be damned if I hike any more To be * * * * * * * * In the Big Rock Candy Mountains." Now NO ONE KNOWS what that last lyric is. However we can make some very educated inferences. This is about gay sex.

And it's not like "Big Rock Candy Mountains" is immune to commentary despite the more sanitized versions you'd see later from the likes of Burl Ives.

I'm thinking very specifically: "In The Big Rock Candy Mountains All the cops have wooden legs And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth" and

"In The Big Rock Candy Mountains The jails are made of tin And you can walk right out again As soon as you are in There ain't no short-handle shovels No axes, saws or picks I'm a-goin' to stay where you sleep all day Where they hung the jerk that invented work In The Big Rock Candy Mountains" Going back to the lyrics "The punk rolled up his big blue eyes"

Punk in this context and original use, especially in it's use in hobo culture refers to a younger man or boy being kept for sex and other menial task.

Which, you know, should put a whole new context to see how it's been used against other forms of youth culture. Hippies, greasers, punks,ect. And at least for me makes it's misuse feel even more slapdash and pathetic.

If you doubt this, it is quickly followed up by the term "Jocker" "And said to the jocker, 'Sandy," a slang term of the era referring to an aggressive and usually straight passing dom top, especially in the context of prison.

To be a little flippant, this is a twink grumbling to a daddy.

As I mentioned before, no one actually knows what that missing lyric is. Or at the very least it's never been made public.

But give it's proximity to "sore" and "more" a lot of guess tend to jump to the word "Whore".

Sam Eskin actually interviewed McClintock for Folkway Records and which, when asked about the lyrics said “the ambition of every hobo was to snare some kid to do his begging for him, among other things,”

This is something you see in a lot of early gay panic lit all the way up through the 80's. Especially as the moral authoritarianism of the Hayes code kicked in. But it also found itself in the early pulp lit where queerness could still exist (if behind a little mask and a performative, if dramatic, finger shake)

Queerness and homelessness were intertwined. Still are, both from my own personal experiences and if you look at the statistics. And it's not much of a leap to understand why. ---

But we do have some offered lyrics from other authors: "To be buggered sore like a hobo’s whore,” Is a popular one, which has it's origins from a 2002 folk music site called mudcat and waaaaay too British to read naturally if you ask me.

“And be cornholed till my ass is raw.” is another one you see passed around a lot. Which feels too forum humor.

George Milburn in 1930 offers "To be a homeguard with a lemonade card.” which is naive and sweet to say the least.

The fact is we still don't know this lyric, gay punchline (or at least gay panic) as it might be. All we know is that Big Rock Candy Mountain "Was never meant to be a parlor song" in McClintock's own words.

Well that and the insight it offers into social perceptions of queerness at the time and how it's shaped and shifted in the future.

What do you think this secret gay Big Rock Candy Mountain lyric is?

#big rock candy mountain #folklore posting #homelessness #queer history

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thegirlivealwaysbeen · 4 months

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STOOD ON THE CLIFFSIDE SCREAMING GIVE ME A REASON YOUR FAITHLESS LOVE’S THE ONLY HOAX I BELIEVE IN DON’T WANT NO OTHER SHADE OF BLUE BUT YOU NO OTHER SADNESS IN THE WORLD WOULD DO MY BEST LAID PLAN YOUR SLEIGHT OF HAND MY BARREN LAND I AM ASH FROM YOUR FIRE

#kaela music tag #folklore posting

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prokopetz · 10 months

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DNI if you:

are man or woman

are human or beast

dwell indoors or outdoors

browse clothed or unclothed

post by day or by night

reblog on land or at sea

#tumblr #blogging #social media #dni #folklore #mythology #nonbinary catgirl posting from a treehouse at twilight:

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reputayswift · 2 months

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FOLKLORE & EVERMORE as a TV SERIES

The lives of several interconnected townspeople play out alongside their folkloric counterparts, answering the question: can we write our own endings...or are we destined to repeat the past?

insp. 1 2 3 4 5

#tswiftedit #candy swift #taylor swift #folklore #evermore #folkloreedit #the eras tour #evermoreedit #photopeablr #my edit #tuserella #usergif #flashing tw #long post #flashing gif #netflix template

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scaredofghosts · 1 year

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Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour | starts today!

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foetp · 1 year

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taylor swift albums + text posts

#text post meme #taylor swift #tswiftedit #tswiftmeme #taylor swift debut #fearless #speak now #red #1989 #reputation #lover #folklore #evermore #midnights

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happyheidi · 8 months

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𝖻𝗒 𝖨𝖽𝖺 𝖱𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗈𝗎𝗅 𝖮𝗎𝗍𝗁𝗐𝖺𝗂𝗍𝖾 & 𝖬𝖺𝗋𝗀𝖺𝗋𝖾𝗍 𝖳𝖺𝗋𝗋𝖺𝗇𝗍

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whiskeyswifty · 7 months

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Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour Poster - Luggage Tag Redesign

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dearreader · 4 months

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folklore is like the if speak now album grew up as a person and evermore is like if red grew up… no i won’t elaborate further

#this is a remake of an old post because i can’t find the post #kelly babels #evermore #folklore #speak now #red

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itsagrummel · 9 months

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just a normal day on german twitter with this tweet by El Hotzo

Harry Potter:

arrogant celeb

goes to a posh school in a castle in England

did not learn something proper

needed 7 books to kill the villain

Krabat:

normal dude

works at a mill in Lusatia

based apprenticeship as a miller

1 book, quick work with the villain

#el hotzo mention and a post does numbers #even tumblr is not immune to the el hotzo rizz #krabat #krabat and the legend of the satanic mill #ottfried preußler #german literature #sorbian #folklore #sorbian literature #jurij brezan #harry potter

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florencewellch · 8 days

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Alright, I'm trying to see if there's any correlation. So, Swifties reblog this with your favorite pop album, your favorite country album, and your favorite folk/alternative album (you can count the Anthology tracks as a separate album if you want to put them in this category)

#this is inspired by seeing posts that are like '1989 stans are folklore stans' and 'rep stans are red stans' so trying to test how accurate #they are #anyways mine are 1989/speak now/evermore #taylor swift

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valdevia · 5 months

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Happy Krampusnacht! Don't go to the forest alone tonight.

#Fun fact! I made this edit in one layer!#Also PSA: I have some limited christmas merch! Check my previous post for details 👀#krampus #folklore #photoshop

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thenighttrain · 7 months

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i remember back in 2016/17 we didn't know if taylor would ever release music again, we didn't see her for months and we were SO over the moon when she announced reputation. and now fans expect taylor to release an album/rerecording every other month, it's taken for granted that she's always gonna do more more more. i wish we could all just pause and be grateful for what she does instead of constantly demanding more. this endless consumerist culture really sucks :/

#and that's how i know most of these fans are new post-folklore fans

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themoon-andtosaturn · 9 months

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august // sofi n6

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vyvilha · 7 months

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fun facts about ukrainian vampires (opyr)

• opyri can be of two origins: born and made. made opyri are made by witches, who can smear a baby with blood of a man who went to sleep without praying, thus making the child an opyr.

• opyri have two souls. when opyr dies, only one soul goes to the otherworld. this is why they continue living after death. they aren't immortal though, and only live post-death for seven years. you can presume the person who died was an opyr and will return later if right after their death was a great storm.

• they are very merry fellas and are known to sing, dance and play musical instruments. you can see them partying if you go to the village border at midnight. they also can be spotted smoking a pipe while laying in their coffin.

• opyr can turn into variety of different things: a child, a white or a black dog, a cat, a wolf, a horseman.

• if someone sneezes and you don't respond with "bless you" such person can become an easy target for opyr.

• to get rid of the opyr, you must take them into your arms and carry them across the town or village three times. classical stake to the heart works too.

#ukrainian folklore #vampire #upyr #upiór #vampire lore #slavic folklore #ukraine #lore post

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booksmartstreetdummy · 1 month

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Sometimes I get enraged with my past self. I hate that I let so much happen! "you should've known" "you should've said something" "you should've done things differently" but then I realize that post betrayal me is talking. Post hurt me is thinking. My past self was simply doing what she could and what she knew, she wasn't trained for when people took advantage of her good heart and good intentions, she didn't have a class on betrayal to which she could study for and attain gold stars from. She just drank her coffee, read her books, lived her life and gave every little ounce of love and every fibre of her being to those she loved bc when she loves, she loves hard.

And suddenly I'm grateful that she carried me all the way here and suddenly I'm thankful for her and how strong she was. And suddenly I want to hug her

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