Indian Man

(album: Midnight Wind - 1977)

Indian Man
They took your home
They took your land
Left you on the run for all of these years

Indian man
You didn't fit the white man's plan
So he herded you off down the Trail of Tears

But there was a time when the land was free
When the Seminole and the Cherokee
Stood proud
From the Rio Grande to the Midnight Sun
The Navajo rode and the Blackfeet drums beat loud

From the East they came
With the Cavalry soldiers and the wagon train
With a treaty of peace and rifle in their hands
And then the West was won
With the broken promise and the Gatling gun
And nobody never even tried to understand

But the Bible got read and the church bells rung
And they talk about peace with a forked tongue
In vain
While Blackfeet starved and the Cheyennes froze
And the Sioux blood stained the coldest snows
In shame

And the tracks went down
On the hunting land and the sacred ground
Picking up all the drifters along the way
And then the trains rolled in
With the buffalo skinners and the greedy men
And the world got a little bit smaller every day

But there was a time when the land was free
When the Seminole and the Cherokee
Stood tall
Your head was up but your hopes were down
Though your heart was on the ground
You stood it all
And you're a better man than I am
Indian Man