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I have something very special to share this evening to mark Indigenous Peoples Day (an alternative celebration to Columbus Day). It’s legendary Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie’s appearance on today’s broadcast of Democracy Now!
I’ve long admired Buffy Sainte-Marie and enjoyed her music. I find her to be a very inspiring figure. I particularly appreciate and am inspired by her passion and purposefulness – and by the way she blends her art and social activism. I’ve seen her twice in concert, and even had the privilege of meeting and talking with her once. She’s creative, articulate, warm, and funny – a very human human being, in other words.
In introducing Buffy, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, notes:
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So, without further ado, here’s Buffy Sainte-Marie on Democracy Now! Enjoy!
Following is the transcript of that part of the interview in which Buffy discusses her 1965 song “My Country ’Tis of Thy People You’re Dying.”
Amy Goodman: Talk about “My Country ’Tis of Thy People You’re Dying.”
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Oh, aren’t you something? It’s a song I very seldom sing. It’s so sad.
Amy Goodman: Do you want to sing it now?
Buffy Sainte-Marie: No, I don’t. No.
Amy Goodman: Well, we’ll play it.
Buffy Sainte Marie: You can see it on YouTube [laughs]. “My Country ’Tis of Thy People You’re Dying” was my—I wanted to give people Indian 101 in six minutes. It’s a long song. But Indian 101 has never been presented to the North American public, let alone anywhere else.
Now that the longhouses breed superstition
You force us to send our toddlers away
To your schools where they’re taught
to despise their traditions.
Forbid them their languages, then further say
That American history really began
When Columbus set sail out of Europe, and stress
That the nation of leeches that conquered this land
Are the biggest and bravest and boldest and best.
And yet where in your history books is the tale
Of the genocide basic to this country’s birth…
My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying.
. . . Now that the pride of the sires receives charity,
Now that we’re harmless and safe behind laws,
Now that my life’s to be known as your “heritage,”
Now that even the graves have been robbed,
Now that our own chosen way is a novelty –
Hands on our hearts we salute you your victory,
Choke on your blue white and scarlet hypocrisy
Pitying the blindness that you’ve never seen
That the eagles of war whose wings lent you glory
They were never no more than carrion crows,
Pushed the wrens from their nest, stole their eggs,
changed their story;
The mockingbird sings it, it’s all that he knows.
“Ah, what can I do?” say a powerless few
With a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye --
Can’t you see that their poverty’s profiting you.
My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying.
You force us to send our toddlers away
To your schools where they’re taught
to despise their traditions.
Forbid them their languages, then further say
That American history really began
When Columbus set sail out of Europe, and stress
That the nation of leeches that conquered this land
Are the biggest and bravest and boldest and best.
And yet where in your history books is the tale
Of the genocide basic to this country’s birth…
My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying.
. . . Now that the pride of the sires receives charity,
Now that we’re harmless and safe behind laws,
Now that my life’s to be known as your “heritage,”
Now that even the graves have been robbed,
Now that our own chosen way is a novelty –
Hands on our hearts we salute you your victory,
Choke on your blue white and scarlet hypocrisy
Pitying the blindness that you’ve never seen
That the eagles of war whose wings lent you glory
They were never no more than carrion crows,
Pushed the wrens from their nest, stole their eggs,
changed their story;
The mockingbird sings it, it’s all that he knows.
“Ah, what can I do?” say a powerless few
With a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye --
Can’t you see that their poverty’s profiting you.
My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying.
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Native American people, we know about it, you know, the US, Canada, etc. But the public doesn’t know what really happened. They’re not aware of the genocide that happened in the Americas. They’re not aware of how these things can happen without their knowledge. And see, I think—I don’t know. I think that there’s a core of people in the Americas who are real good people who want to do the right thing, only they just don’t get the information that would help them to become knowledgeable enough to truly be of support and value to people who are trying to spotlight individual issues from here to here.
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Amy Goodman: Buffy, you’re going to have to go soon, and I wanted to talk about one of the songs on Running for the Drum, and it’s “America the Beautiful.”
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Well, “America the Beautiful” has been recorded by so many different people, and it’s also had verses added by many, many people. You go on the internet, and you’ll see there’s all kinds of verses from all kinds of perspectives. I mean, some of them are really kind of racist, and others are just kind of natural and beautiful.
But my friend John Herrington, Commander John Herrington, was the first Native American astronaut. And when he was going to get his ride, NASA invited me to sing and invited a whole lot people to come from his reservation, Chickasaw reservation in Oklahoma. And I had been thinking about “America the Beautiful,” so I wrote new verses for it, and I also wrote an introduction for it. It says, [singing] “There were Choctaws in Alabama, Chippewas in Saint Paul. Mississippi mud runs like a river in me. America, ooh, she’s like a mother to me.” So it’s—and the verses continue from there, with small changes, and then there’s a middle section, too.
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See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
The Big Ones Get Away
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Singing It and Praying It; Living It and Saying It
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Still Singing with Spirit, Joy, and Passion
Recommended Off-site Links:
A Columbus Day Meditation - Thom Hartmann (CommonDreams.com, October 12, 2009).
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Mouthbows to Cyberskins
Buffy Sainte-Marie UK
Buffy Sainte-Marie Tribute Site
Buffy Sainte-Marie on a Roller Coaster Career that Even the FBI Kept an Eye On - Colin Irwin (The Guardian, July 31, 2009).
Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Official Website
Buffy on Sesame Street
Beyond Images of Women and Indians: Straight-talk from a Cree Icon - Brenda Norrell (Censored News, 1999/2008).
A Review of Running for the Drum
1 comment:
Wonderful! I've always felt she was a very special person with a unique gift and vocation. Great to see her still going at it!
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