Tune Req: Native American folk songs

Subject: Tune Req: Native American folk songs
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:40 PM

Hi, I'm new to mudcat and I'm looking for folk songs with the topic of Native Americans or American Indians--tunes and lyrics are much appreciated!
thanks!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Native American folk songs
From: bobad
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:50 PM

The Ballad of Ira Hayes
by Peter LaFarge
recorded by Johnny Cash

(part of "Taps" is played on a flute, then:)

A             D         
Ira Hayes Ira Hayes
                   A
[CHORUS:] Call him drunken Ira Hayes
         D
he wonFt answer anymore
       E
not the whiskey drinkinF Indian
       A
nor the Marine that went to war

A                                  D
Gather round me people    thereFs a story I would tell
       E                      A
about a brave young Indian   you should remember well

>From the land of the Pima Indian   a proud and noble band
who farmed the Phoenix valley   in Arizona land

Down the ditches for a thousand years the water grew IraFs peoples crops
till the white man stole the water rights and the sparklin water stopped

Now IraFs folks were hungry and their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered and forgot the white manFs greed
[CHORUS]
There they battled up Iwo JimaFs hill, Two hundred and fifty men
but only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again

and when the fight was over and when Old Glory raised
among the men who held it high was the Indian, Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Ira returned a hero celebrated through the land
he was wined and speeched and honored; everybody shook his hand

but he was just a Pima Indian--no water, no crops, no chance
at home nobody cared what IraFd done and when did the Indians dance
[CHORUS:]
Then Ira started drinkinF hard; jail was often his home
theyFd let him raise the flag and lower it
like youFd throw a dog a bone!

He died drunk one morninF alone in the land he fought to save
two inches of water in a lonely ditch was a grave for Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes but his land is just as dry
and his ghost is lyinF thirsty in the ditch where Ira died
turnarounds:
A to D:D------0-   D to E:D-------   E to A:D--------
       A--3-4---          A-0-1---          A------0-
       E--------          E-----0-          E--2-4---
intro: D-----2-------------------
       A-0-4---4-0-------------0-
       E-----------0-----0--0----

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Native American folk songs
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:52 PM

George Kelischek sells some books of Native American tunes.

http://www.susato.com/

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Native American folk songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 08:20 PM

Stick american indian or native american in the Lyrics and Knowledge Search blank and pertinent threads will show up.
For a start, 51357: american indian etc

Much here at Mudcat; it is best to start out using this Search rather than startinmg a new thread.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Native American folk songs
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 08:46 PM

This is a very difficult area for western/12 or eastern/5 tonal to understand.

While the "shorthand" phonics, (US Military) can account for almost every variation in human vocal SPEECH....the Musical Aspects of a language.... or tonal variation is crude.

The Native American words (translations) are abundient (especially Cherokee/Choctaw) and also the beat/rhthym....HOWEVER....

It is the TONATION that is "the catch" when understanding indiginous languages....this goes begins with African "clicking languages" and becomes VERY complex when trying to render "Native Songs."

Attend an AMERICAN PowWow/Potlatch/Tribal/Gathering. Gather CD's. Listen Enjoy.

The complexity of Native American tunes is beyond the Mudcat's comprehension...beyond most research until the last 20 years.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Native American folk songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 09:59 PM

A fine old book with many 'songs' (as pointed out by Gargoyle, our concept of song is quite different from that of conservative American Indians) is
"The Indians' Book," recorded and edited by Natalie Curtis, first issued in 1905. This work, with some 200 song-poems along with tales, myths and art, has been beautifully reprinted by Bonanza Books and is a first reference for one interested in the subject. Curtis carefully transliterated the songs she collected, and arranged them into our system of rhythm and melody. The third element, harmony, is lacking.
Different Indian groups vary widely in their songs and manner of singing.

The Navajo Language doesn't have a word for tune; the meaning is bound into the particular kind of song and its essential elements.
These essential elements are called the sin bikétl*'ool, sin bá siláii (*HTML doesn't have the symbol for this letter).