Songs about Geronimo

Subject: Geronimo
From: Fiolar
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 04:59 AM

This posting is a tribute to the great Apache chief Geronimo or Goyathlay to give him his real name who died on this day (February 17th) 1909 of pneumonia at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. May he rest for ever with the Great Spirit.

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: InOBU
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 10:35 AM

I had the great honnor of meeting his great grandaughter. Not to many folks can stop the sun in the sky. Joining your tribute, Hilo washteh,
Larry

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: Abby Sale
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 10:48 AM

Aged about 80, according to the "Happy!" file. I read his autobiography some years back. It does give a very different perspective than the usual press on him. Pursuit and continuous oppression of him by the relentless killers of the army. I don't have any traditional songs about him though.

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: rangeroger
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 07:48 PM

I'll have to sing "Geronimo's Cadillac" in commemoration.

rr

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 10:44 PM

Thanks, Fiolar, for noting this day. I went looking for an appropriate NA memorial quote. Instead I found some of his own words:

We had no churches, no religious organization, no sabbath days, no holidays, and yet we worshiped. Sometimes the whole tribe would assemble and sing and pray: some times a smaller number, perhaps only two or three. The songs had a few words, but were not formal. The singer would occasionally put in such words as he wished instead of the usual tone sound. Sometimes we prayed in silence; sometimes each prayed aloud; sometimes an aged person prayed for all of us. At other times one would rise and speak to us of our duties to each other and to Usen. Our services were short.

- Geronimo (Goyathlay) Chiricahua -("one who yawns") (1829-1909)

Mitakuye Oyasin,

kat

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: Fiolar
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 05:44 AM

To Kat. A marvellous rendition of a lost way of life. One of the most heartbreaking works I ever read was "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." Chapter 17 entitled "The Last of the Apache Chiefs" gives a fascinating insight into the negotiations between Geronimo and Cook with whom he finally agreed to "come in" from the cold. I won't use the word "surrender" because a man like Geronimo did not know the meaning of the word.Do you recall the film "The Outlaw Josie Wales" and the scene in which the old Indian played by Chief Dan George was discussing with Wales the situation about him and his horse. I can't remember the exact words but they encapsulated much of what I thought was so true.

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 08:37 AM

Yes, Fiolar, I do remember, but not the exact quote. Just as incredibly interesting, as "Bury My Heart" is some modern day reading along the same lines, including Russell Means' autobiography, Where White Men Fear To Tread. There are a couple of others, but I cannot remember their titles right now.

BTW, I don't know if you go into Paltalk, where we have live song circles or not, but I found a native American music room there, last night. They were playng CDs then, but I asked and they do have people drop by and do live stuff, too. It was really a nice room. I had a wonderful time.

I did a paper on the Ghost Dance Religion a long time ago, for a college class. Some of the books I was able to access for research were the originals of Indian Agent reports, etc. It was reallt incredibly interesting and sad.

Oh, there is one other which one of our Mudcatter's dads was co-author/editor of which is really well worth having, To Be An Indian: An Oral History just recently re-released. For more info please click here

Thanks, again,

kat

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: mkebenn
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 09:12 AM

Josie"didn't think I could sneak up on an indian" reply "white man been sneakin' up on indians for years". That one? Mike

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 10:34 AM

Not sure if that was it, but i di go look around and found some wav.files of Clint from that movie. The only quote I was able to find attributed to Chief Dan George was "endeavor to persevere."

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: Timehiker
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 12:01 AM

I think the line you're looking for was "I didn't surrender either. But, they took my horse, and made him surrender."

Take care
Timehiker

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: Fiolar
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 06:40 AM

That's the item I was thinking about.

Subject: Lyr Add: GERONIMO (Ernest McGaffey)
From: raredance
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 04:16 PM

GERONIMO by Ernest McGaffey

Beside that tent and under guard in majesty alone he stands,
As some chained eagle, broken-winged, with eyes that gleam like smouldering brands. -
A savage face, streaked o'er with paint, and coal-black hair in unkempt mane,
Thin, cruel lips, set rigidly, - a red Apache Tamerlane.

As restless as the desert winds, yet here he stands like carven stone,
His raven locks by breezes moved, and backward o'er his shoulders blown;
Silent, yet watchful as he waits, robed in his strange, barbaric guise,
While here and there go searchingly the cat-like wanderings of his eyes.

The eagle feather on his head is dull with many a bloody stain,
While darkly on his lowering brow forever rests the mark of Cain.
Have you but seen a tiger caged and sullen through his barriers glare?
Mark well his human prototype, the fierce Apache fettered there.

This poem is pre 1900 because it appeared in a "An American Anthology, 1787-1900" edited by E. C. Stedman. I found it in "Ballads of the Great West" by Austin and Alta Fife (1970 American West Publishing Co.)

rich r

Subject: Lyr Add: GERONIMO (Dana Lyons)
From: mousethief
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 04:49 PM

Geronimo
by Dana Lyons
(from the CD, "Cows With Guns")

Geronimo lives forever
And he walks the ground that we share
Geronimo lives forever
Why don't we listen, he might be near

He rides through a desert of saguaro
And he climbs several days to the sky
And he sees his Apache homeland
From the sacred mountain, he came to defend

And Geronimo runs forever
And nobody will ever track him down
Because she dances in another dimension
And she hears the songs of the old ones Underground

I thought I saw her walking by the cages
In her hand she held all the keys
I thought I saw her walking by the cages
And all the creatures were running free

I dreamed he was drowning with the dolphins
And he swam in the blood of the whale
But last night I thought I saw him in the harbor
A boat was sinking, he must have been there

Geronimo lives forever
And he walks the ground that we share
Geronimo lives forever
Why don't we listen, he might be near
Why don't we listen, he might be here

(c) 1996 Lyons Brothers Music (BMI)

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: Kim C
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 03:17 PM

Whoa boys take me back, I wanna ride in Geronimo's Cadillac...

Hope you will all endeavor to persevere ---------- KFC

Subject: Lyr Add: MAN-WHO-YAWNS (Lummis)
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 03:33 PM

One more historical poem:

About the author: As a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Lummis came close to meeting Geronimo. But the Apache warrior eluded capture during the couple of months that Lummis was on the scene covering the Apache War. This is his paean to the famous warrior -- and the vanished frontier. Lummis finished the poem, 32 stanzas in all, in the final months of his life. Here are excerpts.

Man-Who-Yawns>br> (1928)

The Desert's mighty Silence;
no fuss of man can spill
A hundred Indians whoop and sing,
And still the Land is still;
But on the city drunk with sound
the whisper is a shout --
'Apaches on the war-path!
Geronimo is out!'

Brave rode our wiry troopers --
they rode without avail;
Their chase he tweaked it by the nose,
and twisted by the tail;
Around them and around he rode --
A pack-train putters slow,
And 'horse and man of ours must eat' --
'Ahnh!' said Geronimo.

They never say a hair of him,
but ever and oft they felt --
Each rock and cactus spitting lead
from an Apache belt,
Where never sign of man there was,
nor flicker of a gun --
You cannot fight an empty hill;
you run -- if left to run!

A prophet of his people, he,
no War-Chief, but their Priest,
And strong he made his Medicine,
and deep the mark he creased --
The most consummate Warrior
since warfare first began,
The deadliest Fighting Handful
in the calendar of Man.

The Desert Empire that he rode
his trail of blood and fire,
Is pythoned, springs and valleys, with
the strangle-snake of wire.
The Fence has killed the Range and all
for which its freedom stood –
Though countless footsore cowboys mill
in mimic Hollywood.

A Tragedy? What wholesale words
we use in petty ways –
For murder, broken hearts of banks,
and disappointed days!
But here an Epoch petered out,
An Era ended flat;
The Apache was the Last Frontier –
The Tragedy is that!

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: BH
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 04:27 PM

In 1985 Carolyn Hester released her "Geronimo" on the Texas Songbird album. Beautiful piece that she still performs in concerts

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: Kim C
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 04:37 PM

I always wondered why someone like Geronimo was called "one who yawns." It doesn't seem fitting somehow.

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 01:45 AM

Found one more quote to share, seems especially appropriate for this thread:

While living I want to live well.
I know I have to die sometime,
but even if the heavens were to fall on me
I want to do what is right.

There is only one God looking down on us all.
We are all children of the one God.
God is listening to me.
The sun,
the darkness,
the winds,
all are listening
to what we now say..."

Geronimo

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 05:23 AM

Why do we shout "Geronimo" when we jump off something? It's not just me, but my contemporaries. We must have got it from a western film as kids, I suppose. I had a home-made "Indian" outfit when my friends had cowboy outfits. Probably because my parents could scrounge feathers from my grandad's chickens and couldn't afford to buy me a stetson! I wonder what Geronimo shouted?
RtS (just an ignorant Limey)

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: Kim C
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 12:50 PM

I heard that paratroopers started this custom, and chose Geronimo because he was brave. I don't know if that's true or not but it makes a good story. :)

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: The Walrus at work
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 01:20 PM

I'd heard that the US paratroopers used "Geronimo" as a jump off cry in the 2nd World War, because if shouted as one jumps on a static line it lasts long enough to stop the jumper being winded when the parachute starts to open and the body rapidly decelerates (I can't say is there is such a jolt, as I've never tried parachuting).

Walrus

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: mousethief
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 01:51 PM

I heard that one guy saw a movie or something about Geronimo the day before his first jump, and liked the sound of the word, so yelled it as he jumped out of the plane, and it became a tradition.

It is fun to say.

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: paddymac
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 06:16 PM

I met a fellow a few years ago who was/is active in AIM (American Indian Movement). He had been to the Kesh as an observer and related to me his astonishment at seeing pictures of Geronimo, JFK and MLK posted in the nationalist common area. He told me that he asked Bobby Sands for comment. Bobby told him something like "JFK is the first Irish-Catholic President, and Geronimo and MLK inspire us because they fought for the same things we're fighting for."

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 06:24 PM

I LOVE the Internet. Ask a question and you can almost always find some kind of answer!

"GERONIMO – From the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" (Second Edition, HarperCollins, 1977) by William and Mary Morris: "From the earliest wars in recorded history, men have plunged into battle shouting battle cries. Indeed, our common word 'slogan' was originally the Gaelic 'sluggh-ghairm,' meaning the call to battle used by Scottish Highlanders and Irish clan. One of the most interesting of these cries is that used by the U.S. airborne paratroopers: 'Geronimo!'

When we speculated in print on why our soldiers use the name of a dead Apache chieftain for their slogan, several alumni of airborne regiments reported stories of its origin. A plausible one came from Arthur A. Manion. 'At Fort Sill, Oklahoma,' he wrote, 'a series of rather steep hills, called, I believe, Medicine Bluffs, was pointed out to all new arrivals. It was said that one day Geronimo, with the army in hot pursuit, made a leap on horseback down an almost vertical cliff – a feat that the posse could not duplicate. The legend continues that in the midst of this jump to freedom he gave out the bloodcurdling cry of 'Geronimo-o-o!' Hence the practice adopted by our paratroopers. I hope this helps. It's at least colorful, if not authentic.'

Another correspondent, who once lived at Fort Sill, added the information that the bluff from which Geronimo made his daring leap 'is a cliff overlooking a small river.' So we know that Geronimo and his steed had water, rather than desert floor, to break their fall. Now, this is indeed an interesting tale and one that may very well be the real inspiration for the paratroopers were trained at Forts Bragg and Campbell. Why, then, did they reach to Fort Sill for inspiration for their battle cry?

R. Collier of Milwaukee offered a less glamorous but probably more accurate account of the origin of the call. 'In the early days of the 82nd Airborne,' he wrote, 'the men used to go to the nearby movie in Lafayetteville. During the week scheduled for the division's initial jumps, they saw a movie named 'Geronimo.' (If that wasn't the title, at least the Indian chief played a leading part.) Anyway, one guy hollered the name and one of those things no one can explain happened. The whole division took it up and from them it spread to the later-activated airborne forces.'"

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: MichaelAnthony
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 06:54 PM

I've heard a similar tale about a bluff on the Susquehanna River near Pittston, PA. I forget the name of the ridge, but the legend was that someone being chased by Indians made the jump with his horse, and survived, and the ridge was named after him. The river's not directly below, but this is explained to children: "back then, the river ran right below." I forget what the explanation was regarding getting a horse to jump off of a cliff.

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: Fiolar
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 09:30 AM

The legend of someone jumping off a sheer cliff or drop is fairly common in many lands. There is a place in West Cork called in Irish "Leim Ui Donabhain" ie O'Donovan's Leap" and as far as I can recall there is a spot at Killiecrankie in Scotland called "The Soldier's Leap."

Subject: RE: Geronimo
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 04:11 PM

I don't think Apaches rode horses much. They could run 90 miles a day with a mouth full of water - and they stole horse (more to eat than ride) but were more competent at merging into the landscape without the noble steed. At least that is what my San Carlos Apache Brother tells me.