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Buffy Ste Marie - My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying

Buffy Ste Marie - My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying
Buffy Ste Marie - My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying Buffy Ste Marie - My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying
Buffy Ste Marie - My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying

LYRICS:Now that your big eyes have finally openedNow that you're wondering how must they feelMeaning them that you've chased across America's movie screensNow that you're wondering how can it be realThat the ones you've called colorful, noble and proudIn your school propagandaThey starve in their splendorYou've asked for my comment I simply will renderMy country 'tis of thy people you're dyingNow that the longhouses breed superstitionYou force us to send our toddlers awayTo your schools where they're taught to despise their traditionsYou forbid them their languages, then further sayThat American history really beganWhen Columbus set sail out of Europe, then stressThat the nation of leeches that conquered this landAre the biggest and bravest and boldest and bestAnd yet where in your history books is the taleOf the genocide basic to this country's birthOf the preachers who lied, how the Bill of Rights failedHow a nation of patriots returned to their earthAnd where will it tell of the Liberty BellAs it rang with a thud Over Kinzua mudAnd of brave Uncle Sam in Alaska this yearMy country 'tis of thy people you're dyingHear how the bargain was made for the WestWith her shivering children in zero degreesBlankets for your land, so the treaties attestOh well, blankets for land is a bargain indeedAnd the blankets were those Uncle Sam had collectedFrom smallpox-diseased dying soldiers that dayAnd the tribes were wiped out and the history books censoredA hundred years of your statesmen have felt it's better this wayAnd yet a few of the conquered have somehow survivedTheir blood runs the redder though genes have paledFrom the Gran Canyon's caverns to craven sad hillsThe wounded, the losers, the robbed sing their taleFrom Los Angeles County to upstate New YorkThe white nation fattens while others grow leanOh the tricked and evicted they know what I meanMy country 'tis of thy people you're dyingThe past it just crumbled, the future just threatensOur life blood shut up in your chemical tanksAnd now here you come, bill of sale in your handsAnd surprise in your eyes that we're lacking in thanksFor the blessings of civilization you've brought usThe lessons you've taught us, the ruin you've wrought usOh see what our trust in America's brought usMy country 'tis of thy people you're dyingNow that the pride of the sires receives charityNow that we're harmless and safe behind lawsNow that my life's to be known as your "heritage"Now that even the graves have been robbedNow that our own chosen way is a noveltyHands on our hearts we salute you your victoryChoke on your blue white and scarlet hypocrisyPitying the blindness that you've never seenThat the eagles of war whose wings lent you gloryThey were never no more than carrion crowsPushed the wrens from their nest, stole their eggs, changed their storyThe mockingbird sings it, it's all that he knows"Ah what can I do?" say a powerless fewWith a lump in your throat and a tear in your eyeCan't you see that their poverty's profiting youMy country 'tis of thy people you're dyingBuffy Sainte-Marie on Rainbow Quest with Pete Seeger (Episode 38)

Channel: Music
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: peglegsam

Length: 06:43
Rating: 4.78
Views: 102424

Tags: buffy  folk  marie  sainte  

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bombeasta (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Any idea of chords?
popsburley (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
I did get the wonderful reply and I have answered but I too may have had some problems with the reply button!
LanakilaIesu (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Actually the blood quantum issue you're referring to is uglier than that. By stipulating that people who are less than a certain fraction Native by blood are not "really Native," the government makes it appear as though there are less Native people than there really are, which means that in general it's harder to argue in favor of services and funding for them. Of course there is an even more basic violation here - after all, who has a right to say who is and isn't Native? Shouldn't Natives?
popsburley (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
Apparently they are still frghtened of them. If they marry out of their tribe then they lose their Native American status! Obviously they still have some land worth taking. This is a powerful song from a powerful people but then who am I to comment?
LanakilaIesu (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
I read about Buffy Sainte-Marie's career recently and was amazed that her music output was pretty much derailed in the '70s because a certain administration was working to suppress the Native American movement...I was surprised when I first read that, but now I see why - it's too powerful. Anyone who is afraid of Native people being seen as real human beings would be terrified of her after hearing this song. You'd have to have a heart of stone and a soul almost dead not to respond to this.
pennilesscripple (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
well woody guthrie and pete seeger would be examples of people who came immediately before her, sappho would be an example of someone who came a couple of millenia before her, and then there are countless people in between--william blake, walt whitman, ad infinitumas long as artists, writers, and singers, known and unknown, have drawn breath,they have used the arts to confront the leviathan of civilization
taddyd1 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
who then would you suggest?
pennilesscripple (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
yes it isthanks for sharing this ozand the tribes were wiped out and the history books censored....
pennilesscripple (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
hardly the first
ozjthomas (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)
This is incredibly sad and powerful.