I am Lakota
Lakota
Looking at money man
Diggin' the deadly quotas
Out of balance
Out of hand
We want the land
Lay down the reeking ore
Don't you hear the shrieking in the trees?
Everywhere you touch the earth, she's sore
Every time you skin her, all things weep
Your money mocks us
Restitution, what good can it do?
Kenneled in metered boxes
Red dogs in debt to you
I am Lakota
Lakota
Fighting among ourselves
All we can say with one whole heart
Is we won't sell
No, we'll never sell
We want the land
The lonely coyote calls
In the woodlands, footprints of the deer
In the barrooms, poor drunk bastard falls
In the courtrooms, deaf ears, sixty years
You think we're sleeping but
Quietly, like rattlesnakes and stars
We have seen the trampled rainbows
In the smoke of cars
I am Lakota
Brave
Sun, pity me
I am Lakota
Broken
Moon, pity me
I am Lakota
Graves
Shadows stretching
Lakota
Oh, pity me
I am Lakota
Weak
Grass, pity me
I am Lakota
Faithful
Rocks, pity me
I am Lakota
Meek
Standing water
Lakota
Oh, pity me
I am Lakota
Lakota
Standing on sacred land
We never sold these Black Hills
To the missile-heads
To the power plants
We want the land
The bullet and the fence, broke Lakota
The black coats and the booze, broke Lakota
Courts that circumvent, choke Lakota
Nothing left to lose
Tell me grandfather
You spoke the fur and feather tongues
Do you hear the whimpering waters
When the tractors come?
I am Lakota
Brave
Sun, pity me
I am Lakota
Broken
Moon, pity me
I am Lakota
Slaves
Shadows stretching
Lakota
Oh, pity me
I am Lakota
Weak
Grass, pity me
I am Lakota
Faithful
Rocks, pity me
I am Lakota
Meek
Standing water
Lakota
Oh, pity me
Sun, pity me
Mother earth
Mother
Moon, pity me
Father sky
Father
Shadows
Stretching on the forest floor
Mother earth
Oh, pity me
Father sky
Father
Grass, pity me
Mother earth
Mother
Rocks, pity me
Father sky
Father
Water
Standing in a waken manner
Mother earth
Oh, pity me
Father sky
Father
Sun, pity me
Mother earth
Mother
Moon, pity me
Father sky
Father
Shadows
Stretching on the forest floor
Mother earth
Oh, pity me
Lakota
Looking at money man
Diggin' the deadly quotas
Out of balance
Out of hand
We want the land
Lay down the reeking ore
Don't you hear the shrieking in the trees?
Everywhere you touch the earth, she's sore
Every time you skin her, all things weep
Your money mocks us
Restitution, what good can it do?
Kenneled in metered boxes
Red dogs in debt to you
I am Lakota
Lakota
Fighting among ourselves
All we can say with one whole heart
Is we won't sell
No, we'll never sell
We want the land
The lonely coyote calls
In the woodlands, footprints of the deer
In the barrooms, poor drunk bastard falls
In the courtrooms, deaf ears, sixty years
You think we're sleeping but
Quietly, like rattlesnakes and stars
We have seen the trampled rainbows
In the smoke of cars
I am Lakota
Brave
Sun, pity me
I am Lakota
Broken
Moon, pity me
I am Lakota
Graves
Shadows stretching
Lakota
Oh, pity me
I am Lakota
Weak
Grass, pity me
I am Lakota
Faithful
Rocks, pity me
I am Lakota
Meek
Standing water
Lakota
Oh, pity me
I am Lakota
Lakota
Standing on sacred land
We never sold these Black Hills
To the missile-heads
To the power plants
We want the land
The bullet and the fence, broke Lakota
The black coats and the booze, broke Lakota
Courts that circumvent, choke Lakota
Nothing left to lose
Tell me grandfather
You spoke the fur and feather tongues
Do you hear the whimpering waters
When the tractors come?
I am Lakota
Brave
Sun, pity me
I am Lakota
Broken
Moon, pity me
I am Lakota
Slaves
Shadows stretching
Lakota
Oh, pity me
I am Lakota
Weak
Grass, pity me
I am Lakota
Faithful
Rocks, pity me
I am Lakota
Meek
Standing water
Lakota
Oh, pity me
Sun, pity me
Mother earth
Mother
Moon, pity me
Father sky
Father
Shadows
Stretching on the forest floor
Mother earth
Oh, pity me
Father sky
Father
Grass, pity me
Mother earth
Mother
Rocks, pity me
Father sky
Father
Water
Standing in a waken manner
Mother earth
Oh, pity me
Father sky
Father
Sun, pity me
Mother earth
Mother
Moon, pity me
Father sky
Father
Shadows
Stretching on the forest floor
Mother earth
Oh, pity me
Lyrics submitted by threearmedman
Lakota Lyrics as written by Joni Mitchell Larry Klein
Lyrics © Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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A song that has been relevant since long before it was written down and remains so now.; She was writing about exploitation of former native American territory for one or more minerals but it was before they started destroying wide landscapes for dirty oil in tar sands. As in the past, once those are taken and the people move on, they will leave behind a destroyed natural environment (only this time it won't be a small area but many square miles, not counting the damage done to transport the oil and then wherever the oil is used) for which, if any recovery lies ahead, it will take dozens of generations to occur. A sad and angry song indeed, for a short-sighted capitalist profit-making misadventure. .