BUFFALO JUMP
(Dougie MacLean)
I'm a child of the great Cree Nation
See me, I'm my father's son
We live by the Great Bull
See me, I'm the wild one
This morning we are ready
To show the buffalo our knives
And by the red of sunset
We'll have relieved them of their lives

Chorus:(2x)
Buffalo jump! Feel the thunder.
Buffalo jump! Across the plains.
Buffalo jump! Kill the hunger.
Crashing over the cliffs of pain.

The beast has well been gathered
We could have had a thousand more
We run them to the edge
They'll tumble out through death's dark door
And soon their blood will flow like water
Through these sunbleached ancient bones
It will revive this dusty land
On which our seeds of life are grown

Chorus

See me! I am the bravest
I'm the strongest of us all
I'll stand beside the river's edge
And watch the great black waterfall
I'm a child of the great Cree Nation
See me, I'm my father's son
We live by the Great Bull
See me, I'm the wild one!

I got this off an album by Shanghaied on the Willamette(PO Box 623, Beaverton, OR 97075, 503 626-7833 or 249-0467) The liner notes say:Buffalo were a vital source of food and clothing for North American Plains Indians. A "buffalo jump" was a place wehre buffalo were driven to their deaths over a high cliff. The particular site which inspired Dougie MacLean to write this song is near Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada and is called " Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump". Archeologists estimate that this site was used on and off for a span of six thousand years, and in modern times the pile of bones at the base of the cliff was found to be up to 35 feet deep. According to legend, the name "Head Smashed In" refers to a hunter who stood at the base of the cliff to watch the buffalo fall past him like a waterfall. He did not count on the hunt being so successful and as the buffalo piled higher he was eventually crushed.
Blessings,
Barbara