Willie Dunn - The Ballad of Crowfoot lyrics

Comes the Spring, and it's warm thaw Around your neck, the eagle claw Upon your head, the buffalo horn Today a great new chief is born So raise him fast toward the sun A heart now beats, a life's begun It's eighteen hundred twenty-one Today a Blackfoot soul is born Crowfoot, Crowfoot, why the tears? You've been a brave man, for many years Why the sadness? Why the sorrow? Maybe there'll be a better tomorrow The years have gone, the years have past Your heart has set, your soul is cast You stand before the Council Fire You have the mind and the desire Of notions wise you speak so well And in brave deeds you do excel And it's eighteen hundred fifty-three And you stand the chief of Confederacy You are the leader, you are the chief You stand against both lier and thief They trade braves whiskey and steal your land And they're coming in swift like the wind-blown sand They shoot the buffalo and kill the game And send their preachers in to shame And it's eighteen hundred sixty-four And you think of peace and you think of war See the settlers in more numbers He takes whatever he encounters You've seen the Sioux all battered, beaten They're all in rags, they haven't eaten The Nez Perce' are much the same It seems like such a heartless game And it's eighteen hundred seventy-six And the enemy's full of those death-dealing tricks Today the treaty stands on the table Will you sign it, are you able It offers food and protection too Do you really think they'll hold it true? It offers a reserve, now isn't that grand And in return you cede all your land And it's eighteen hundred seventy-seven And you know the scales are so uneven Crowfoot, Crowfoot, why the tears? You've been a brave man, for many years Why the sadness? Why the sorrow? Maybe there'll be a better tomorrow Well, the buffalo are slaughtered, there's nothing to eat The government's late again, with the meat And your people are riddled With the white man's disease And in the summer you're sick And in the winter you freeze And sometimes you wonder why you signed that day But they broke the treaties themselves anyway And it's eighteen hundred eighty-nine And your death star explodes and then it falls Crowfoot, Crowfoot, why the tears? You've been a brave man, for many years Why the sadness? Why the sorrow? Maybe there'll be a better tomorrow The years have gone, the years have flown A nation since has swiftly grown But for the native, it's all the same There's still the hardship, there's still the pain There's still the hardship, there's still the strife It's bitterness shines like a whetted knife There's still the hypocrisy, and still the hate Was that in the treaties, was that our fate? We're all unhappy pawns in the government's game And it's always the native who gets the blame It's a problem which money can never lessen And it's nineteen hundred seventy-one Crowfoot, Crowfoot, why the tears? You've been a brave man, for many years Why the sadness? Why the sorrow? Maybe there'll be a better tomorrow Maybe one day you'll find honesty Instead of the usual treachery Perhaps one day the truth may prevail And the warmth of love which it does entail Crowfoot, Crowfoot, why the tears? You've been a brave man, for many years Why the sadness? Why the sorrow? Maybe there'll be a better tomorrow