Monday, July 02, 2007
Buffy
Today's special guest blogger is Buffy Sainte-Marie, who sang an old song on the radio on Saturday that once again broke my heart, especially when she sang about what happened to Annie Mae. The host of the show didn't even mention the national day of action held on Friday by Canada's First Nations peoples, but I don't think his choice to play this song the day after was a coincidence.
As I wrote recently on the Suokojamin blog, "I've always been sympathetic to First Nations land claims, but never done anything about it really other than argue with my non-aboriginal friends about it. Being in Mongolia, where people live off the land, where land is so important to their survival and to their souls, where there is so much vast openness, really hit the point home to me. The Europeans who settled Canada stole a way of life, and we perpetuate that sin to this day. It's unresolved. I don't know what the resolution should be, but it's a national shame." Grammatical weaknesses aside, I still feel that way.
Now, the powerful words of the great Buffy Sainte Marie:
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
by Buffy Sainte Marie
INTRO:Indian legislation on the desk of a do-right Congressman
Now, he don't know much about the issue
so he picks up the phone and he asks advice from the Senator
out in Indian country
A darling of the energy companies
who are ripping off what’s left of the reservations.
Huh.
I learned a safety rule
I don’t know who to thank
Don't stand between the reservation
and the corporate bank
They send in federal tanks
It isn’t nice but it’s reality
(chorus:)
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Deep in the Earth
Cover me with pretty lies
bury my heart at Wounded Knee.
Huh.
They got these energy companies
that want the land
and they’ve got churches by the dozen
who want to guide our hands
and sign Mother Earth
over to pollution, war and greed
[Get rich... get rich quick.]
chorus...
We got the federal marshals
We got the covert spies
We got the liars by the fire
We got the FBIs
They lie in court and get nailed
and still Peltier goes off to jail
chorus...
My girlfriend Annie Mae
talked about uranium
Her head was filled with bullets
and her body dumped
The FBI cut off her hands
and told us she’d died of exposure
[Loo loo loo loo loo]
chorus...
We had the Goldrush Wars
Aw, didn’t we learn to crawl
and still our history gets written
in a liar’s scrawl
They tell ‘ya "Honey, you can still be an Indian
d-d-down at the ‘Y’ on Saturday nights"
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Deep in the Earth
Cover me with pretty lies
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.
Huh!
[for more info about these words, visit here.]
As I wrote recently on the Suokojamin blog, "I've always been sympathetic to First Nations land claims, but never done anything about it really other than argue with my non-aboriginal friends about it. Being in Mongolia, where people live off the land, where land is so important to their survival and to their souls, where there is so much vast openness, really hit the point home to me. The Europeans who settled Canada stole a way of life, and we perpetuate that sin to this day. It's unresolved. I don't know what the resolution should be, but it's a national shame." Grammatical weaknesses aside, I still feel that way.
Now, the powerful words of the great Buffy Sainte Marie:
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
by Buffy Sainte Marie
INTRO:Indian legislation on the desk of a do-right Congressman
Now, he don't know much about the issue
so he picks up the phone and he asks advice from the Senator
out in Indian country
A darling of the energy companies
who are ripping off what’s left of the reservations.
Huh.
I learned a safety rule
I don’t know who to thank
Don't stand between the reservation
and the corporate bank
They send in federal tanks
It isn’t nice but it’s reality
(chorus:)
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Deep in the Earth
Cover me with pretty lies
bury my heart at Wounded Knee.
Huh.
They got these energy companies
that want the land
and they’ve got churches by the dozen
who want to guide our hands
and sign Mother Earth
over to pollution, war and greed
[Get rich... get rich quick.]
chorus...
We got the federal marshals
We got the covert spies
We got the liars by the fire
We got the FBIs
They lie in court and get nailed
and still Peltier goes off to jail
chorus...
My girlfriend Annie Mae
talked about uranium
Her head was filled with bullets
and her body dumped
The FBI cut off her hands
and told us she’d died of exposure
[Loo loo loo loo loo]
chorus...
We had the Goldrush Wars
Aw, didn’t we learn to crawl
and still our history gets written
in a liar’s scrawl
They tell ‘ya "Honey, you can still be an Indian
d-d-down at the ‘Y’ on Saturday nights"
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Deep in the Earth
Cover me with pretty lies
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.
Huh!
[for more info about these words, visit here.]
Labels: guest blogger, politics
