Cherokee Bend (Album Verision)-Gordon Lightfoot

[00:08.98]His father was a man who could never understand [00:11.61]The shame on a red man's face [00:14.42]So they lived in the hills and they never came down [00:17.11]But to trade in the white man's place [00:19.86]It was early in the spring when the snow had disappeared [00:25.36]They came down with a bag of skins [00:28.05]In the fall of the year of 1910 [00:31.32] [00:32.38]Daddy died by the rope down in Cherokee Bend [00:34.51]Daddy didn't like what the white man said [00:37.63]Bout the dirty little kid at his side [00:39.63]Daddy didn't like what the white man did [00:43.01]Nor the deal or the way that he lied [00:45.45]There was blood on the floor of the government store [00:48.51]When the men took his daddy away [00:50.95]But the boy stayed back till he come to his end [00:54.89] [01:06.51]And he run like the wind from Cherokee Bend [01:08.89]Now the mother was alone and the winter was at hand [01:12.01]And she prayed to her spirit kin [01:13.57]It was warm in the lodge in the Kentucky hills [01:17.45]On the day when the boy came in [01:19.95]Then a blizzard came down and it covered up the door [01:22.95]Till they thought that it never would end [01:25.51]And he told her the tale of the terrible affair [01:29.14] [01:30.07]In the government store down in Cherokee Bend [01:32.51]Daddy didn't like what the white man said [01:35.32]Bout the dirty little kid at his side [01:37.76]Daddy didn't like what the white man did [01:40.57]Nor the deal or the way that he lied [01:43.51]For three long days and three long nights [01:46.20]They wept and they mourned and then [01:48.66]She returned to her work and her weavin [01:52.97] [02:04.22]And they tried to forget about Cherokee Bend [02:06.97]Now the boy wasn't big but he hunted what he could [02:09.78]And they lived for a time that way [02:12.53]But the food run low and the meat went bad [02:15.41]And she said to the boy one day [02:17.97]I'm leaving tonight and I never will return [02:20.85]From the land of my Spirit Kin [02:23.35]You must take what you need and trade what you can [02:27.22] [02:27.97]For a Red Man's grave down in Cherokee Bend [02:30.53]It wasn't very long till she closed her eyes [02:33.41]And he wrapped her in a robe [02:35.60]He found her a place on the side of the hill [02:38.78]And he buried her in the snow [02:41.22]Early in the spring he was seen in the town [02:44.22]With his load looking ragged and thin [02:46.10]Not a year had gone by till he stood once again [02:51.72] [03:02.22]In the government store down in Cherokee Bend [03:05.03]He was ten years tall and a Redskin too [03:07.85]So he hadn't much face to save [03:10.22]And the men sat around and they laughed and they clowned [03:13.22]At the talk of a criminal's grave [03:15.91]Then the man from the east didn't smile when he said [03:18.78]You're the son of that Indian scum [03:21.16]If you value your hide then you better abide [03:24.85] [03:25.66]By the white man's rules here in Cherokee Bend [03:28.29]Daddy didn't like what the white man said [03:31.10]Bout the dirty little kid at his side [03:33.60]Daddy didn't like what the white man did [03:36.47]Nor the deal or the way that he lied [03:39.04]And he spit on the floor of the government store [03:41.91]And it served him to no good end [03:44.60]At the close of the day they had taken him away [03:48.10] [03:59.91]To the white man's school down at Cherokee Bend [04:02.66]It's been 21 years since the boy disappeared [04:04.55]Where he run to nobody knows [04:07.92]But they say he fell in with a man named Jim [04:10.86]And he rides in the rodeos [04:13.49]And they say he returns all alone to a place [04:16.36]Hidden deep in the Kentucky glen [04:18.92]And it's pretty well known who hauled up the stone [04:21.98] [04:23.55]To the grave on the hill above Cherokee Bend [04:25.98]Daddy didn't like what the white man said [04:28.80]Bout the dirty little kid at his side [04:31.30]Daddy didn't like what the white man did [04:34.17]Nor the deal or the way that he lied [04:36.86]There was blood on the floor of the government store [04:39.55]When the men took his daddy away [04:42.30]It was 1910 and they never had a friend [04:45.74] [04:46.61]When he died by the rope down at Cherokee Bend [04:49.11]It was 1910 and they never had a friend [04:52.11]When he died by the rope down at Cherokee Bend