Seminole Wind Lyrics
Men would search for wealth untold
They'd dig for silver and for gold
And leave the empty holes
And way down south in the Everglades
Where the black water rolls and the saw grass waves
The eagles fly and the otters play
In the land of the Seminole
Blow like you're never gonna blow again
I'm callin' to you like a long-lost friend
But I don't know who you are
And blow, blow from the Okeechobee
All the way up to Micanopy
Blow across the home of the Seminole
The alligators and the gar
And in the name of flood control
They made their plans and they drained the land
Now the Glades are goin' dry
And the last time I walked in the swamp
I stood up on a cyprus stump
I listened close and I heard the ghost
Of Oseola cry
Blow like you're never gonna blow again
I'm callin' to you like a long-lost friend
But I don't know who you are
And blow, blow from the Okeechobee
All the way up to Micanopy
Blow across the home of the Seminole
The alligators and the gar
This song defines the age of modern man and the destruction of all the lands. How back when times were simple the only thing that perished were the NEEDED resources to survive and not just the stuff thats WANTED in todays time.
My favorite John Anderson song. I love the way it was put together the instruments and the eerie feel it has to it. Makes his words so much more meaningful. I don't even want to picture the problems with our land and the views and ownerships in the hundred more years to come.
As each day goes by, more and more land is taken away and ruined by humans' disgusting ways. Nature is what we rely on whether we realize it or not. All our resources and everything comes from nature. Everyone seems to want to just take from nature out of greed... nobody seems to care about preserving it or at least replenish it some, just take. It makes me sick. People are disgusting parasites. That's what I get from this song when I hear it. Beautiful music in this song.
The song does have a lot of meaning toward the effects of progress, but the Seminoles were mighty warriors and never surrendered. The SEMINOLE Winds are hurricanes. Oseola's spirit. Still fighting the white man. "I know who you are"
I listened closely, and he definitely says "alligators and the gar" both times.
At any rate, this is a great song, John Anderson has an amazing voice.
I love how he says that "progress came and took its toll". This song does a great job of relating how people seem to only see how the world can better them rather than co-existing with nature. It's such a sad song but is so true with nearly all modern civilization. Amazing to think that the Natives were viewed as such savages but had so much of a better understanding of their place in the world. It's been hundreds of years and people still have such a view of ownership and entitlement with land.
re: alligators and the gar
A gar is a type fish, of which Florida has its own species - the Florida gar.
I can remember when I was little sitting at the kitchen table listening to my dad's John Anderson CD telling him to play number four-this song. It's still one of my all time favorite songs. <3
I don't think that John Anderson heard the ghost of Oseola cry. He is more likely referring to Osceola a Seminole Indian leader. Not to be confused with Oseola McCarty the Ole Miss benefactor....
I lived in metro Tampa for about 30 years, did a bluegrass show on WMNF about 13 years. Also big into Florida Folk music. Got to perform on stage with a friend at the Smallwood Store festival on Chokoluskee Island in 1993. Seminole Chief James Billie was the headliner as he's also a singer/songwriter/guitar player. A lot of Florida Folk Singers wrote songs about the mess that developers were making of the "flowered" land. The late Bobby Hicks wrote one called "Big Wind Blowin' off Africa" (gonna blow those condos down). He recorded it and others on a cassette. I wrote one called "Flori-Dirge" which was tracked and performed a few times. Snowbirds would buy condos on land that had been dredged and filled, then gripe when the odor of the filled-in pastures started seeping through - or people in beachfront condos didn't like it when a hurricane hit and they suddenly had 6" of sand in their living room - yet the developers had taken down the mangrove swamps which is what kept the beaches from eroding! The real Florida is beautiful. Also read Carl Hiassen's book "Team Rodent", about the Disney takeover of central Florida. It fits right in with these Florida songs.