As a preschooler, I owned a vinyl record of the song “Big
Rock Candy Mountain.” It was a kid-friendly version, without whiskey lakes and
cigarette trees. It sounded like a wonderful place, but when I finally saw the
actual mountain, I was deeply disappointed. I wasn’t much older when Peter,
Paul and Mary’s “Puff the Magic Dragon” was released, but somehow, I knew
Honalee wasn’t real. Then the Monkees appeared on the scene, and all my friends
were smitten. We loved “Last Train to Clarksville,” and fantasized about going
there someday. We never did and never will. There’s a Clarksville in Tennessee,
but the lyricist claimed it had no connection with the song. There is a place
called Kokomo in Hawaii, but it’s not “off the Florida keys, where the Beach
Boys said we could find it. And when Jimmy Buffet sings about “Margaritaville,”
it really doesn’t sound like he’s describing a restaurant.
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