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Among The Americans Lyrics
dance to the sun
a kiss to the earth
embrace a stone
come the small black book
come the brandy cask
one strange disease
the well worded paper
signed by the drunken
hands of thieves
and suddenly
they were told to leave
as the snake uncoiled on a road
the length was eighty miles
wagons' weary horses
led the feverish exiles
barefoot in the early snow
on a ridge
where they beheld their home
coarse and barren
not the haven
promised by the Father
Jaksa Chula Harjo * X3
the Red Sticks first and
the Dancing Ghosts were
pierced with arms of fire
and the weeping widows
left could not avenge
and so
the Western Star manifest its will
drove them clear into the Pacific O
gone the way of flesh
turned pale and died
by a god's decree
for he hated me
a kiss to the earth
embrace a stone
come the brandy cask
one strange disease
the well worded paper
signed by the drunken
hands of thieves
they were told to leave
the length was eighty miles
wagons' weary horses
led the feverish exiles
barefoot in the early snow
on a ridge
where they beheld their home
coarse and barren
not the haven
promised by the Father
the Dancing Ghosts were
pierced with arms of fire
and the weeping widows
left could not avenge
and so
the Western Star manifest its will
drove them clear into the Pacific O
turned pale and died
by a god's decree
One of my favorite songs. It's most obviously about the plight of Native Americans on American soil at the hands of the original settlers, but it could easily be about any displaced peoples.
Absolutely magnificent, heartbreaking, poetic and truthful, a history in a song that is just true. Sad and beautiful x
American high school students should all be taught this bit of the song:
"come the small black book come the brandy cask one strange disease the well worded paper signed by the drunken hands of thieves
and suddenly they were told to leave"
That's it, in a nutshell. All learning should stem from that x