Subject: Lyr Add: LAND OF THE NAVAJO (Peter Rowan)
From:
Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Jan 12 - 06:58 PM
LAND OF THE NAVAJO
Written by Peter Rowan
As sung by Old & In the Way on "Live at the Boarding House" (2008)*
CHORUS: Oh, the wind blows cold on the trail of the buffalo.
Oh, the wind blows cold in the land of the Navajo,
In the land of the Navajo.
A hundred miles from nowhere out on the desert sand,
One-Eyed Jack the trader held some turquoise in his hand.
By his side sat Runnin' Elk, his long-time Indian friend.
He vowed that he would stay by Jack until the bitter end.
Jack had gambled ev'rything he owned to lead this wanderin' life.
He might have had a happy home and a tender lovin' wife,
But his hunger was for tradin' trappers' furs for turquoise stone.
Anything the Indians had, Jack wanted for his own.
CHORUS
Said Jack to Runnin' Elk, "I'll gamble all my precious stones
Before I leave my body here among these bleachin' bones.
For now my time is drawing near an' I'm filled with dark regret.
My spirit longs to journey as the sun begins to set.
"We raped and killed; we stole your land; we ruled with guns an' knives,
Fed whiskey to your warriors while we stole away your wives."
Said Runnin' Elk, "What's done is done; you white men rule this land,
So lay the cards face up an' play your last broken-hearted hand."
CHORUS
When you're dealin' cards with Death, the joker's wild; the ace is high.
Jack bet the Mississippi River; Runnin' Elk raised him the sky.
Jack saw him with the sun an' moon an' upped him with the stars.
Runnin' Elk bet the Rocky Mountains, Jupiter an' Mars.
The sun was sinkin' in the west when Jack drew the ace o' spades.
Runnin' Elk just rolled his eyes; he smiled an' passed away.
Jack picked up his turquoise stones an' cast 'em to the sky.
He stared into the setting sun and made a mournful cry.
CHORUS
- - - - -
* I also listened to recordings by Michael Martin Murphey and Tony Michael. The lyrics are practically identical.
The ending of this story confuses me. It seems to imply Running Elk died instead of One-Eyed Jack, as we were led to expect. Why? Because Jack won the hand? Although the song describes outlandish bets, nowhere does it say their lives were at stake.
The ace of spades is sometimes a symbol of death. If that's what it meant, and Jack drew it, we would expect Jack to die, wouldn't we? On the other hand, maybe it was just a high card. Assuming they were playing poker, whether it was a good card or not would depend on what else you had in your hand. Since we don't know what else Jack held, we don't really know whether he won the hand, do we? So why did Running Elk die?
Can anyone explain what happened in this song?
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sj
