In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
The mixture of the blood that flowed through his veins
Had killed his conscience and filled him with shame
He was part white part black part red
That's how he'd got the name George Lorey Chickashea
He had no respect or feeling for anyone including himself
He resented every man in his soul there was no salvation
And he hated the sight of cotton fields and his thoughts of plantations
The bitterness set his soul afire when he'd think of Indians and reservations
He had the coldest grey eyes I've ever saw on a man
He could look clear through you and back again
And they'd look like pieces of stone when he'd stare
There was a mixture in the texture of his hair
That hung low around his cheekbones that were high above his chin
I saw him kill a man with his own bare hands showin' no mercy to him
He carried a pistol a switchblade and a tommyhawk with him night and day
The meanest man that ever lived George Lorey Chickashea
He had the quickness of lightning and could run like an antilope
He feared no man no gun or rope
I saw him watch a rattlesnake bite him on the leg he never batted an eye
Then he said get a taste of that blood crawl out there and die
They locked him in the security cell in Baton Rouge he stayed in one day
Iron bars couldn't hold George Lorey Chickashea
At last he gave himself up and said he was tired of runnin' away
So they spread the news that they'd hang George Lorey Chickashea
He walked up the thirteen steps to the trapdoor
And stood on it with no expression in his eyes
And when the minister asked him if he wanted to pray
He looked toward the skies and said
God inside my veins flows blood of red all mixed with black and white
I have no race or creed I pray to die George Lorey Chickashea
Had killed his conscience and filled him with shame
He was part white part black part red
That's how he'd got the name George Lorey Chickashea
He had no respect or feeling for anyone including himself
He resented every man in his soul there was no salvation
And he hated the sight of cotton fields and his thoughts of plantations
The bitterness set his soul afire when he'd think of Indians and reservations
He had the coldest grey eyes I've ever saw on a man
He could look clear through you and back again
And they'd look like pieces of stone when he'd stare
There was a mixture in the texture of his hair
That hung low around his cheekbones that were high above his chin
I saw him kill a man with his own bare hands showin' no mercy to him
He carried a pistol a switchblade and a tommyhawk with him night and day
The meanest man that ever lived George Lorey Chickashea
He had the quickness of lightning and could run like an antilope
He feared no man no gun or rope
I saw him watch a rattlesnake bite him on the leg he never batted an eye
Then he said get a taste of that blood crawl out there and die
They locked him in the security cell in Baton Rouge he stayed in one day
Iron bars couldn't hold George Lorey Chickashea
At last he gave himself up and said he was tired of runnin' away
So they spread the news that they'd hang George Lorey Chickashea
He walked up the thirteen steps to the trapdoor
And stood on it with no expression in his eyes
And when the minister asked him if he wanted to pray
He looked toward the skies and said
God inside my veins flows blood of red all mixed with black and white
I have no race or creed I pray to die George Lorey Chickashea
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by Pictish
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George Lorey Chickashea. Need any more be said?