The band in 1967. Front L–R: Paul Revere, Mike Smith. Center L–R: Jim Valley, Mark Lindsay. Back: Phil Volk
In memory of John D. Loudermilk, Jr., who passed away on September 21st, this week’s Featured Lyrics are to “Indian Reservation”, written by John D. Loudermilk, Jr., and made most famous by Paul Revere and the Raiders. We’re posting lyrics of hit songs so that our songwriters can study them to see how winning songs are constructed. Of course a lot depends on the melody, the rhythm and the artist as to whether or not the song will sell… and whether or not it is in the right place at the right time!
“Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)” is a song written by John D. Loudermilk. The song was first recorded by Marvin Rainwater in 1959 and released on MGM as “The Pale Faced Indian”, but that release stayed unnoticed. The first hit version was a 1968 cover by Don Fardon, a former member of The Sorrows, that reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the UK Singles Chart.
In 1971 Paul Revere & the Raiders recorded the song on the Columbia Records label, and it topped the Hot 100 on July 24. The RIAA gold certification followed on 30 June 1971 for selling over a million copies. It was later certified platinum for selling an additional million copies. The song was the group’s only #1 US Billboard hit, and their final Top Twenty song.
The song refers to the forcible removal and relocation of the Five Civilized Tribes, including the Cherokee people, from the southeastern states of Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama to the southern Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. The removal of these tribes throughout the 1830s is often referred to as the “Trail of Tears”. The removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole came on the heels of President Andrew Jackson’s key legislation, the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Cherokee were the last of the Five Civilized Tribes to be removed after signing the Treaty of New Echota. The removal caused great turmoil within the tribe as members of the Treaty Party were marked for death by Principal Chief John Ross. During the American Civil War the Cherokee were divided between the Ross Faction and the Ridge Faction. The Ross Faction, who had not supported removal and was made up mostly of full blood members of the tribe, remained loyal to the Union. The Ridge Faction, led by Stand Watie, was made up mostly of half blood members of the tribe and due to their southern ways (including owning slaves) sided with the Confederacy. Stand Watie became the last Confederate General to surrender. Following the Civil War, the United States Indian Policy turned to war and forced reservation life for the nations of the Great Plains. The Dawes Act of 1887 was adopted to allow the President to survey Indian lands and divide it up into individual allotments. Under the Dawes Act many Natives were “registered” with the Federal government. However, the law did not apply to the Five Civilized Tribes; instead the Dawes Commission was established in 1893 to convince members of the Five Civilized Tribes to adopt the individual allotments under the Dawes Act. Many Cherokee refused to be registered and as a result another split in the Cherokee Nation occurred. Today the Cherokee maintain their Federal reservation in Oklahoma with pockets living in their ancestral lands of North Carolina and Georgia.
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The lyrics vary somewhat among the recorded versions. Rainwater’s version omits the “Cherokee people!” chorus but includes instead a series of “Hiya hiya ho!” chants. Fardon’s version is similar to the Raiders’ through the first verse and chorus, but differs in the second verse, which includes the lines “Altho’ they changed our ways of old/They’ll never change our heart and soul”, also found in Rainwater’s version. Rainwater includes some of the elements found in the other versions in a different order, and his first verse has words not found in the others, such as “They put our papoose in a crib/and took the buck skin from our rib”.
At the end, where the Raiders sing “…Cherokee nation will return”, Fardon says “Cherokee Indian…”, while Rainwater omits the line and ends with “beads…nowadays made in Japan.” In addition, Fardon sings the line: “Brick built houses by the score/ No more tepees anymore”, not used in the Raiders’ version.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Reservation_(The_Lament_of_the_Cherokee_Reservation_Indian)
Lyrics to “Indian Reservation”
They took the whole Cherokee Nation
And put us on this reservation
Took away our ways of life
The tomahawk and the bowie knife
Took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the beads we made by hand
Are nowadays made in Japan
Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die
They took the whole Indian Nation
And locked us on this reservation
Though I wear a shirt and tie
I’m still a red man deep inside
Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die
But maybe someday when they’ve learned
Cherokee Nation will return
Will return, will return
Will return, will return
http://www.songlyrics.com/paul-revere-and-the-raiders/indian-reservation-lyrics/
Songwriters John D. Loudermilk
Published by © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Read the lyrics and listen to the song by Paul Revere and the Raiders here:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/indian-reservation-lyrics-paul-revere-and-the-raiders.html
2017 “Where The Action Is” Cruise!
STARRING – Paul Revere’s Raiders, Jay & The Americans, The Cowsills, The Buckinghams, Peter Rivera – Lead singer of Rare Earth 69-75, The Buckinghams, Terry Sylvester of The Hollies and Tom Garret of The Classics IV!!
http://paulreveresraiders.com/
Paul Revere & the Raiders was an American rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. Among their hits were the songs “Kicks” (1966; ranked No. 400 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time), “Hungry” (1966), “Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?” (1967) and the Platinum-certified classic No. 1 single “Indian Reservation” (1971).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere_&_the_Raiders