Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock- Biography
On Thursday, March 1, 1928 Mac McClintock and Virgi Ward went into Victor’s Oakland California studio to wax their first sides. McClintock, who would be known for his Western ballads and “bum” songs cut four cowboy songs: “Get Along Little Doggies,” “Cowboy’s Lament,” “Texas Rangers,” and “Sam Bass.”
Early Life
Harry Kirby (nicknamed “Mac,” “Radio Mac” o
r “Haywire Mac”) McClintock was born on October 8, 1882 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the only son of an Ohio cabinetmaker (Walter and Joana McClintock). According to the reference book, Definitive Country, "The two most distinguishing characteristics of Mac's childhood were his love for singing, as a boy "soprano" in choir of St. John's Episcopan church, and an infatuation with railroading," which rubbed off from uncles who were railroad men. He began singing in church as a child and learned to play the guitar. At 16, he began playing music on the streets for the promise of "spare change."
“It was in New Orleans that I found singing in saloons could be profitable,” said McClintock. “A bunch of Limey sailors were having a bit of a sing-song and I ventured in and shared in one of the choruses. I was immediately asked to grab a glass and sit it. West Coast Circa 1902
Back in America, he wound up on the booming West Coast, working as a brakeman [Harry listed it as “switchman” on his 1917 draft registration] for Southern Pacific as an organizer for the radical socialist union, the IWW, and writing union fight songs. Along the way the sometime comedian picked up the moniker "Haywire Mac."
“I’m glad that in my hot-blooded youth I was a boomer [a brakeman that follows the work in busy “boom” times],” said McClintock. “I’ve seen a small part of this world and I wished I’d seen more.”
Joe Hill, Jack Walsh and the IWW (or Wobblies)- Little Red Songbook
The IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) was founded in Chicago in June 1905 at a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the United States (mainly the Western Federation of Miners) who were opposed to the policies of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). McClintock, a railroad brakeman along the Pacific coast, became involved with the group. One feature of IWW followers from their inception is song. From that start in exigency, Wobbly song writing became legendary. The IWW collected its official songs in the Little Red Songbook (first edition- 1909) and continues to update this book to the present time. Joe Hill, an itinerant songwriter who was more rogue than radical, came to symbolize the spirit of the Wobblies in the public mind, mostly because of the phenomenal success he achieved in orchestrating his own martyrdom. While Hill languished in the Sugarhouse Prison, protests and telegrams flooded in, including one from the deaf and blind humanitarian Helen Keller. President Woodrow Wilson requested a stay of ex*****on granted by the governor; but when the stay ran out, Hill died in a fury of bullets on November 19, 1915. Hill became a symbol of persecution for the IWW- and a rallying cry. His funeral was attended by over 30,000 members. A new music book, “The Big Red Songbook” by Archie Green, who has compiled and reprinted these protest songs
Settles down in San Francisco
He married a railroad engineer's daughter, Bessie (Jan. 25, 1899- Dec. 16, 1980); they had a daughter and settled in San Francisco. McClintock worked full time for the railroads, mainly as a brakeman. According to the 1920 census, his daughter was four years old, making the date the McClintocks established a permanent residence in San Francisco around 1915-16. KFRC Radio Star 1925
At age 43, he began singing on San Francisco's station KFRC. He hosted one daily children’s program called “Mac and His Gang.” His comic Western band, “Mac and His Haywire Orchestry” frequently played on the variety shows. Among the group of musicians was painter Ralph Chesse who played fiddle with the group in 1925. During this time he began being called, “Radio Mac.”
McClintock also played on KFRC on the Blue Monday Jamboree program that was extremely popular in the late 1920s. He played on KFRC occasionally until 1955.
“In April, 1925, I got my big break,” said McClintock [Sam Eskin interview]. “I was handed a whole hour on radio KFRC, San Francisco, Monday through Saturday. The program was aimed at children and it's immediate success surprised the hell out of me and everyone else. Signs with Victor 1927- Makes First Records
On Thursday, March 1, 1928 Mac McClintock waxed his first sides for Victor. He was the only artist to record in the Bay Area and then be issued on a Victor hillbilly series--both the V-23000 and V-40000. Mac specialized in hobo songs and cowboy songs. Mac recorded nine different times in 1928 at Victor’s Oakland and Hollywood studios. The performances were solo, in duo with fiddler Virgil Ward or vocalist Dorothy Ellen Cole, or with the full orchestral backup of the Haywire Orchestra. Fiddler Asa “Ace” White and drummer Buck Buck holtz played at some of the 1928 sessions. In 1929 Mac’s Haywire Orchestry consisted of Ace Wright (fiddle); Waite “Chief” Woodall (fiddle); Jerry Richard (banjo); Cecil “Rowdy Wright (guitar) and Cleo “Doc” Shahan (guitar). They recorded “He Sure can Play Hamoniky,” “Homespun Gal,” and the Charlie Poole hit, “Can I Sleep In Your Barn,” in December, 1929. Mac cut 41 songs for Victor from 1928 to 1931 before the Depression slowed his record sales and he, like so many recording artists, were no longer able to record. Following the end of his Victor contract, McClintock cut sides for Decca (1938) and a small local label, called Flex-o-Disc. Through his recordings, he became an influence on Woody Guthrie and other folksingers and helped glamorize the hobo lifestyle. Hallelujah I’m a Bum
“Hallelujah I’m a Bum” was recorded by McClintock for Victor on March 31, 1928 backed by his Haywire Ochestra. McClintock claimed to write it and the song appeared in the IWW Song book in 1909. This tune is a parody of an old Salvation Army tune called "Revive Us Again." he wote in 1897 hobo'in the railyards. The song was often attributed to Wobbly organizer Joe Hill, who also was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World. According to Sandburg: This old song heard at the water tanks of railroads in Kansas in 1897 and from harvest hands who worked in the wheat fields of Pawnee County, was picked up later by the I. W.'s, who made verses of their own for it, and gave it a wide fame. [Carl Sandburg, The American Songbag, New York, NY, 1990 (originally published in 1927), p. 184.]
Big Rock Candy Mountain
Harry McClintock accompanied Dorothy Ellen Cole by recorded “The Big Rock Candy Mountains” for Victor on Sept. 6, 1928. According to Meade the song, word and music, is attributed to Marshall P. Locke, 1906. The song is probably best remembered for its inclusion in the “O Brother Where Art Thou” movie and soundtrack but was a hit for Burl Ives in 1949, but it has been recorded by many artists throughout the world. Another popular version, recorded in 1960 by Dorsey Burnette, reached the Billboard top ten. This is what Wallace Stegner has to say, "I think "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" was written by T-Bone Slim, or some other nameless balladeer, a long time before McClintock came along. He may have added two or three verses.”
The British anarcho-punk band The Restarts have recorded a version using an early, uncensored version of McClintock's lyrics. Actor
He wound up appearing in several Gene Autry films, a Durango Kid oater, and a variety of serials done at the Universal and Republic studios. He tended to be a villain, when he was lucky. Unlucky, he just got to stand there and say "He went thataway." Decca 1938
After he moved to Hollywood, Harry arranged a recording session at Decca’s Holywood studio on Dec. 14, 1938 where he recorded four of hiss bigger hits singing accompanied by his own guitar: “Bum Song,” “Bum Song No. 2,” “Hallelujah I’m A Bum” and “Big Rock Candy Mountains.”
Later Life
McClintock was the hardest-working bum on the West Coast. The Hollywood actor and recording star worked as a brakeman until he got his pension, then got a job with the Los Angeles Harbor Dept. In 1943 McClintock published his short 47 page book, “Railroad Songs of Yesterday” published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. Mac also wrote a regular column for a national railroad magazine. He retired to San Francisco, where he made appearances on local radio and even TV. When he died in 1957, Knoxville reporters asked around among the old vaudevillians but found only one who was old enough to remember, and only vaguely, the kid performer who was singing around town back in the '90s. On November 17, 1952 Mac recorded some Wobbly songs, occupational songs and spoken folk tales (Paddy Burke) for Sam Eskin in San Pedro, California. Most of the quotes in this bio come from the interview which resulted in the 1972 Folkways recording. LP Recordings:
Haywire Mac (1950, Cook Records 01124)
Haywire Mac (1972, Folkways Recordings 05272)
Hallelujah! I'm a Bum (197?, Rounder Records 1009)
Complete Haywire Mac McClintock Recordings 1928-1938: Ain’t We Crazy; Bald Top Mountain; Big Rock Candy Mountain; Billy Venero; Bum Song, The; Bum Song No. 2; Can I Sleep In Your Barn?; Circus Days; Cowboy’s Lament; Fifty Years From Now; Fireman Save My Child; Get Along Little Doggies; Goodbye Old Paint; Hallelujah I’m A Bum; He sure Can Play A Harmoniky; His Parents Haven’t Seen Him Since; Hobo’s Spring Song; Homespun Gal; If I Had my Druthers; Jerry Go Idle That Car; Jesse James; Man On The Flying Trapeze; My Dad’s Dinner Pail; My Last Old Dollar; Old Chisholm Trail; Red River Valley; Roamin’; Sam Bass; Sweet Betsy From Pike; Texas Rangers; Trail To Mexico; Trusty Lariat; When It’s Time To Sheer The Sheep I’m Coming Back;
