@brighteyes304
Yes. Pretty Bird Women's Shelter is in McLaughlin, SD on the Standing Rock Reservation. It was named after Pretty Bird Woman, the sister of the shelter's founder who was raped and murdered.
@brighteyes304
Yes. Pretty Bird Women's Shelter is in McLaughlin, SD on the Standing Rock Reservation. It was named after Pretty Bird Woman, the sister of the shelter's founder who was raped and murdered.
Notice the four directions/colors that make up the song's chorus, the mimic the four directions and colors of the Lakota Medicine Wheel. The only one that is accurate to the real thing, however, is "West/black setting sun." The direction west on the Medicine wheel is black, and represents the setting sun. Interestingly, she says "north/walk the good red road." North on the Medicine Wheel is white, not...
Notice the four directions/colors that make up the song's chorus, the mimic the four directions and colors of the Lakota Medicine Wheel. The only one that is accurate to the real thing, however, is "West/black setting sun." The direction west on the Medicine wheel is black, and represents the setting sun. Interestingly, she says "north/walk the good red road." North on the Medicine Wheel is white, not red (red is east.) Funny enough, to "Walk the Red Road" is a turn of phrase on the reservation that means, in essence: to stay sober, stay clean, and worship in a traditional way.
I spent the better part of a year on the Pine Ridge Reservation with the Oglala Lakota, so I got familiar with these themes way after having heard the song. I hadn't listened to it in a long time, and one day I heard it so perfectly. Without knowing the story of Pretty Bird, I knew it was a Lakota woman's name. So I did the research. It's interesting stuff.
I kind of wish Jenny would make a significant donation to the shelter itself. I'm not saying she hasn't --but there's no record if she did, and I just really hope she did. They have struggled to stay open for a while.
Jenny Lewis said, on the show Spectacle, this song is about a story she heard on public radio about a woman getting raped on an Indian reservation.
@brighteyes304 Yes. Pretty Bird Women's Shelter is in McLaughlin, SD on the Standing Rock Reservation. It was named after Pretty Bird Woman, the sister of the shelter's founder who was raped and murdered.
@brighteyes304 Yes. Pretty Bird Women's Shelter is in McLaughlin, SD on the Standing Rock Reservation. It was named after Pretty Bird Woman, the sister of the shelter's founder who was raped and murdered.
Notice the four directions/colors that make up the song's chorus, the mimic the four directions and colors of the Lakota Medicine Wheel. The only one that is accurate to the real thing, however, is "West/black setting sun." The direction west on the Medicine wheel is black, and represents the setting sun. Interestingly, she says "north/walk the good red road." North on the Medicine Wheel is white, not...
Notice the four directions/colors that make up the song's chorus, the mimic the four directions and colors of the Lakota Medicine Wheel. The only one that is accurate to the real thing, however, is "West/black setting sun." The direction west on the Medicine wheel is black, and represents the setting sun. Interestingly, she says "north/walk the good red road." North on the Medicine Wheel is white, not red (red is east.) Funny enough, to "Walk the Red Road" is a turn of phrase on the reservation that means, in essence: to stay sober, stay clean, and worship in a traditional way.
I spent the better part of a year on the Pine Ridge Reservation with the Oglala Lakota, so I got familiar with these themes way after having heard the song. I hadn't listened to it in a long time, and one day I heard it so perfectly. Without knowing the story of Pretty Bird, I knew it was a Lakota woman's name. So I did the research. It's interesting stuff.
I kind of wish Jenny would make a significant donation to the shelter itself. I'm not saying she hasn't --but there's no record if she did, and I just really hope she did. They have struggled to stay open for a while.