The Ten Thousand Year Americans
A Playlist Of American Idigenous Connections
Introduction
The main image, "The Original Founding Fathers" is from Laura's Law & History you can click on the link to find out more.
I was listening to a Manfred Mann’s Earthband box set and one of their versions of “Geronimo’s Cadillac” came on the player and then I thought “How many songs reference the indigenous American nations and figures?”. I follow a guy on Instagram called Lakota Man, (click on that to find him, who rightly pushes the rights of the indigenous nations.
I hope this does not offend anyone, it is just a playlist, and when we are born in a country we become part of that nation, a fact that a lot of people in the UK seem to be unaware of when they see anyone who is non-white. While this is essentially a playlist hopefully it will also make people a little more aware of the situation of so many indigenous people throughout the world.
Some of these songs' relativity may be a little tenuous but I hope you enjoy them and feel free to suggest any that I have missed.
"Apache" by The Shadows
This is one of the first instrumentals that I learned to play and barring the drum sequence has little to do with the American Indigenous sound, but it stands as a more than decent instrumental.
It was written by Jerry Lordan and first recorded by Bert Weedon. Lordan played the song on ukulele to the Shadows while on tour, and liking the song, the group released their own version which topped the UK Singles Chart for five weeks in mid-1960.
"Geronimo's Cadillac" by Clair Hamill
This is my favourite version of this song that inspired this post. It has been recorded my many artists but was co-written and recorded by American country folk artist Michael Martin Murphey, he was inspired to write "Geronimo's Cadillac" by a photograph showing Geronimo at the wheel of a luxury touring car with a backseat. This photograph was reproduced as a drawing on the back album cover of Geronimo's Cadillac and also on the picture sleeve of the single.
"Indian Reservation" by Don Fardon
An idictment of the treatment of indigenous nations of North America, the immigrants have done their best to erase indigenous culture but hopefully they will not be successful.
"Soldier Blue" by Buffy Sainte-Marie
This is a beautiful pleading anti-violent song, completely at odds with the extreme violence that occurs in the film. The thing is the film was probably totally accurate about the attempted genocisde on the indigenous American nations. The film was inspired by events of the 1864 Sand Creek massacre in the Colorado Territory.
"Yeha-Noha (Wishes of Happiness and Prosperity)" by Sacred Spirit
Yeha Noha is a remixed version of the Navajo Shoe Game song.
"Yeha-Noha (Wishes of Happiness and Prosperity)" is a song recorded in 1994 by the German musical project known under the name of Sacred Spirit for the album Chants and Dances of the Native Americans. It was sung by Navajo elder Kee Chee Jake from Chinle, Arizona.
"Pocahontas" by Neil Young
From the acoustic side of "Rust Never Sleeps" this is an absolute beautiful closer to this playlist. The lyrics of "Pocahontas" primarily describe the massacre of an indigenous tribe by European colonizers.
However, by the end of the song the lyrics have jumped to modern times, with a fictional meeting in the Astrodome between the narrator, Pocahontas (actual name, Matoaka) and indigenous rights activist actor Marlon Brando.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed this and below are some links that, because you have come this far, you may find interesting.
Comments (2)
Wow! Thank you for opening my eyes to the reality of all this. Yes, I knew about Indians and what they went through and what they stand for, but I didn't realize that the struggle of many cultures is never over. It continues into this day. Great article and great play list!
wow, very very interesting