Thursday, March 1, 2007

The Legend of Crazy Horse


Has anyone ever heard a song by J.D. Blackfoot called The Legend of CrazyHorse? It was once a very popular song in the St. Louis area and it is still played on KSHE classics, I'm not sure if it is as popular or well-known in other areas. It was written in 1973 by J.D. Blackfoot after he read the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

There is only a certain age-group of people who have heard it or know what it is. I fear it is becoming lost, which is very sad as it is a great song. Great as in 'one of the greats'. They apperently play it in classrooms as a supplement to that segment of history.

The song has beautiful lyrics, they are poetry. It is wonderful musically as well. It is mostly accoustic guitar with percussion and some flute. The percussion and the flute add the native american element into the song. The combination of the music and the lyrics make it very powerful.

I found his website the other day. Just type in JD Blackfoot and you will find it. You can buy all of his music. He has written tons that I have never heard. I'm going to buy the album. Anyone that wants to hear a great song should get ahold of this and listen to it. Or if you have already heard it and wish that you could hear it again. I've written down some of the lyrics. Not all of them though, as I said the song is 23 minutes long. Even without the music, the lyrics are great and the lyrics alone should not be lost.

The Legend of Crazy Horse
by J.D. Blackfoot


You took his land and you ate his corn, and on his grave your land was born.
You took his pride and you fed him dirt, you wished him winter without a shirt
and you called this red man SAVAGE!

And after you crushed him you helped him up, to let him drink from an empty cup.
You gave him that Navy without the fleet, and made him lick your hands and kiss your feet, and you named this mad dog SAVAGE!

Well I found a book the other day, so I looked up red and white to see what'd say.
One was a savage, the other unlearned, like a look in the mirror the tables were turned....for history has named you--SAVAGE!

In the year of 65 when I was very young, we watched the dust clouds to the south and we knew that you had come.
We saw you build your chain of forts along the Bozeman road
But Red-Cloud had his allies a-counted long before it snowed.
And someday Great White Father you will know my name!

In the year of 66 you met me face to face. I decoyed your Captain Fetterman and we never left a trace.
Into our sacred homelands your Blue Coat Soldiers came,
But we just taught you a heap-big lesson in the battle of a hundred slain.
And someday Great White Father you will know my name!

In the June of 76 our Nation joined its hands. We made our camp at the Little Bighorn not knowing of your plans.
You sent your long-haired Custer of the Seventh Cavalry, to hunt and kill my children for wanting to be free.
And I think it's time Great White Father that you knew my name!!!

It's Crazy Horse! It's Crazy Horse!
And I wish that you were here to see,
cause I got Yellow Hair cornered at the Bighorn and I'm about to set him free!

Ride to the village to get my Oglala's, the Sans Arc's and the Miniconjou,
Get Sitting Bull with his band of Hunkpapa's the Brule's and the Blackfoot's too!
Riding home from battle came the Cheyenne ponies with white blood drippin' from their feet!
Their riders were a lookin' and a shoutin' up to heaven, here's to Chivington at Sand Creek!

Hey there mister wagon master what do ya' have inside, hidden underneath that buffalo hide?
Could it be ya brought to me some food from the man back east, so my starvin' children could have a feast?
Hey mother come look and see what the bastard done brought to me---alcohol, tobacco and guns....alcohol tobacco and guns.

Now I have seen the Eagle soaring beautiful and free, I don't want no man to make less of me.
Do you take me for a fool or as a little child? And do you really wonder what's made me wild?
Hey paleface ya better run...because my men are having lots of fun with alcohol, tobacco and guns-yeah!

Now I have waited patiently for you to pay your rent, but as of yet I haven't seen that first red cent.
I don't think that there's much chance of me evicting you, but watch out for that day that you get Sioux'd.
A hundred years have seen the setting sun, but his sad country still is run on alcohol-tobacco- and guns.
A hundred years have seen the setting sun, but his sad country still is run on alcohol-tobacco-and guns.

Now you try to trick me and lock me up in jail,
but where would a stupid savage find the bondsman or the bail?
I turn to run for I am scared and want so to be free, I feel the ice-cold bayonet as it sinks deep inside of me.
But some day Great White Father you'll remember me!

Sioux warriors teach your children the white man's evil tongue.
Make them know the name of Crazy Horse and the battles he has won.
So they will know the truth when its knowledge that they crave.
Let them sing of the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And of the Great White father that dug my grave.

Brown rivers once were blue, now the fish float upside down.
Ancestral burial grounds that's where you built your towns.
The smokestacks from your factories they pollute my skies.
You slaughtered all my buffalo and you left me here to die.
And all of this you have done in the name of God!

Crazy Horse he was laid to rest on a creek called Wounded Knee.
but there is more buried in his grave than the wisest man could see.

I have dreamed the vision of the horse that dances wild, and I have seen the land of the great beyond.
I am one with this earth as a little child. Let my eternal light shine on.

Ride away and don't recall the things that are best forgotten.
Try to find a way-of picking from the barrel the one that's rotten.
The key to peace is sitting on your shoulders. So knock upon the door and you walk on in.
You're just a child who has but to remember, that in yourself you just found your best friend.

so ride away lord--

It is said that Crazy Horse had the power to dream himself into the real world-
and to leave the illusion behind.......

7 comments:

Desotojoe said...

I've met him, been to his concerts. A nice guy. He lives in Ironton Mo.

Anonymous said...

Right you said: the song should not be lost and the legend of Crazy Horse should not be forgotten. But there is a hope. There are still some people, even far far away from Crazy Horse's homeland who will remember what a great men He was!

Anonymous said...

the lyrics are definatley strong, and i do say crazy horse should never be forgotten. though some people may doubt crazy horse and may believe that he wasn't great,but we know the truth.

Anonymous said...

Amazing song, and strangely enough Jd never wrote anything else that could touch this work of art. Makes me wonder if Crazyhorse just used Mr. Backfoot.

Anonymous said...

I have it on Vinyl still but haven't played it in years

Anonymous said...

i love that song i have been trying to find it on line but i only get like half of it if u know what site i can dl from let me know

James said...

Greetings, if you are still looking I have one of two options for you.

Option #1 Send me an e-mail, we'll hook-up via messenger (Yahoo or WindowsLive) and I will send it to you. Or you can choose option #2 and get it the same way I did.

Option #2 Has 3 Steps:

Step #1 - You Download Orbit Downloader, which allows you to download Youtube movies as FLV files, Here:
http://www.orbitdownloader.com/

Step #2 - You find the Youtube Video with the full version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xh5GUkK0u4

Step #3 - You either download an FLV player Here:
http://download.cnet.com/FLV-Player/3000-13632_4-10467081.html

OR

Download a FLV to MP3 Converter Here:
http://freez-flv-to-mp3-converter.en.softonic.com/download