The Granddaddy of the Political Cartoon | Peter Bruegel | The Land of Cockaigne | Masterpiece by Jamie James - WSJ.com: The most poignant modern survival of the Land of Cockaigne, and the truest to its simple spirit of rebellious yearning, is the hobo ballad "Big Rock Candy Mountain." First recorded by Harry McClintock in 1928, this vision of heaven on earth reflects the daydreams of the tramps who rode the rails. It is a "land that's fair and bright," where "they hung the Turk who invented work," hens lay soft-boiled eggs and cigarettes grow on trees. "There's a lake of stew, and of whiskey too, and you can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe, in the Big Rock Candy Mountain."