UP WHERE WE BELONG

Darling Don’t Cry
© Edmund Bull and Buffy Sainte-Marie

I’d love the world to know about grassroots powwow music, and the first time I heard “Darling Don’t Cry” I thought it would make a great cross-the-borders pop song. Working with Edmund Bull in rewriting “Darling Don’t Cry” gave me the chance to come to Saskatoon (Saskatchewan, Canada) and record with the Red Bull Singers, and they’ve been great, right from the start.

I met him on the powwow trail
He was singing and I was a dancer
To the Heartbeat Drum
Heartbeat Drum – heyo heya

Long summer nights
Falling in love
Don’t ever want to part,
don’t ever wanna say goodbye

Darling don’t cry
When I leave the USA
If you like I’ll take you home
When I go back to Canada
hey ya, hey ya…

Up Where We Belong
© Buffy Sainte-Marie, Will Jennings, Jack Nitzsche

Written for the movie “An Officer and A Gentleman”, this song won Academy Award Oscars for Jack Nitzche, Will Jennings and me. Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes turned it into a #1 Hit. This is the first time I’ve recorded it and it’s a simpler, songwriter’s version. Patrick Cockett plays guitar in a Hawaiian slack key tuning.

Who knows what tomorrow brings
in a world where few hearts survive
All I know is the way I feel
When it’s real
I keep it alive

The road is long
There are mountains in the way
but we climb a step every day

Love lift us up where we belong
where the eagles cry
on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
far from the world we know
up where the clear winds blow

Some hang on to used to be
live their lives looking behind
When all we have is here and now
All our lives
out there to find

The road is long
There are mountains in the way
but we climb a step every day

Love lift us up where we belong
where the eagles cry
on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
far from the world we know
up where the clear winds blow

Time goes by
No time to cry
Life’s you and I
Alive… today

Love lift us up where we belong
where the eagles cry
on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
far from the world we know
up where the clear winds blow

The Piney Wood Hills
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

This is a love song for home, wherever a person finds it. As I’ve travelled around the world, there have been many places that made the song feel new to me. Bobby Bare made it a country hit in 1967.

I’m a rambler and a rover
and a wanderer it seems
I’ve traveled all over
chasing after my dreams
But a dream should come true
and a heart should be filled
and a life should be lived
in the piney wood hills

I’ll return to the woodlands
I’ll return to the snow
I’ll return to the hills
and the valley below
I’ll return like a poor man
or a king if God wills
but I’m on my way home
to the piney wood hills

I was raised on a song there
I done right I done wrong there
and it’s true I belong there
and it’s true it’s my home

From ocean to ocean
I’ve rambled and roamed
and soon I’ll return
to my piney wood home
Maybe someday I’ll find
someone who will
love as I love my piney wood hills

I was raised on a song there
I done right I done wrong there
and it’s true I belong there
and it’s true it’s my home

I’ll return to the woodlands
I’ll return to the snow
I’ll return to the hills
and the valley below
I’ll return like a poor man
or a king if God wills
but I’m on my way home
to the piney wood hills.

Cripple Creek
© Trad., Arr. Buffy Sainte-Marie

A traditional song known to fiddle players, banjo and guitar players, and me: a mouthbow player. I make mouthbows. It’s the world’s oldest stringed instrument, based on a hunting bow, and found all over the world. Different from a Jew’s harp, the flexible stick part of a mouthbow can be bent while playing, which slackens the string. The changing melody is made by directing the harmonics off the string into your mouth.

Hey, I got a girl at the head of the creek
Goin up to see her about 2 times a week
Kiss her on the mouth, sweet as any wine
Wrap herself around me like a sweet potato vine

Goin up Cripple Creek, goin on a run
Goin up Cripple Creek to have a little fun
Goin up Cripple Creek, goin in a whirl
Goin up Cripple Creek to see my little girl

Now the girls up Cripple Creek about half-grown
Jump on a boy like a dog on a bone
Roll my britches up to my knees
Wade ol Cripple Creek whenever I please

Goin up Cripple Creek, goin on a run
Goin up Cripple Creek to have a little fun
Goin up Cripple Creek, goin in a whirl
Goin up Cripple Creek to see my little girl

Now, Cripple Creek’s wide and Cripple Creek’s deep
Wade old Cripple Creek before I sleep
Hills are steep and the roads are muddy
and I’m so dizzy that I can’t stand steady I’m

Goin up Cripple Creek, goin on a run
Goin up Cripple Creek to have a little fun
Goin up Cripple Creek, goin in a whirl
Goin up Cripple Creek to see my little girl.

God Is Alive, Magic is Afoot
© words: Leonard Cohen music: Buffy Sainte-Marie

Leonard Cohen’s book “Beautiful Losers” stole my heart in 1963 and so did the idea of electronic processing on a vocal record. I had a recording session scheduled and Leonard was in town. I propped two pages of his book up on a music stand and I just sang it out, ad libbing the melody and guitar music together as I went along. I’ve always wanted to re-record it, as I love the way the power of the words obviously commands the music and drives it beyond any consideration of time signature.

1…

God is alive; Magic is afoot
God is alive; Magic is afoot
God is afoot; Magic is alive
Alive is afoot…..
Magic never died.

God never sickened;
many poor men lied
many sick men lied
Magic never weakened
Magic never hid
Magic always ruled
God is afoot
God never died.

God was ruler
though his funeral lengthened
Though his mourners thickened
Magic never fled
Though his shrouds were hoisted
the naked God did live
Though his words were twisted
the naked Magic thrived
Though his death was published
round and round the world
the heart did not believe

Many hurt men wondered
many struck men bled
Magic never faltered
Magic always led.
Many stones were rolled
but God would not lie down
Many wild men lied
many fat men listened
Though they offered stones
Magic still was fed
Though they locked their coffers
God was always served.

2..

Magic is afoot. God rules.
Alive is afoot. Alive is in command.
Many weak men hungered
Many strong men thrived
Though they boasted solitude
God was at their side
Nor the dreamer in his cell
nor the captain on the hill
Magic is alive
Though his death was pardoned
round and round the world
the heart did not believe.

Though laws were carved in marble
they could not shelter men
Though altars built in parliaments
they could not order men
Police arrested Magic
and Magic went with them,
for Magic loves the hungry.

But Magic would not tarry
it moves from arm to arm
it would not stay with them
Magic is afoot
it cannot come to harm
it rests in an empty palm
it spawns in an empty mind
but Magic is no instrument
Magic is the end.

Many men drove Magic
but Magic stayed behind
Many strong men lied
they only passed through Magic
and out the other side
Many weak men lied
they came to God in secret
and though they left him nourished
they would not say who healed
Though mountains danced before them
they said that God was dead
Though his shrouds were hoisted
the naked God did live

3…

This I mean to whisper to my mind
This I mean to laugh with in my mind
This I mean my mind to serve ’til
service is but Magic
moving through the world
and mind itself is Magic
coursing through the flesh
and flesh itself is Magic
dancing on a clock
and time itself the magic length of God.

Until It’s Time For You To Go
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

This song popped into my head while I was falling in love with someone I knew couldn’t stay with me. The words are about honesty and freedom inside the heart. The following people recorded “Until It’s Time for You to Go”, each in his or her own way, and I sure feel honoured: Elvis Presley, Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, Roberta Flack, Bobby Darin, and many more. Thanks.

You’re not a dream
You’re not an angel
You’re a man

I’m not a queen
I’m a woman
Take my hand

We’ll make a space
in the lives
that we’d planned

And here we’ll stay
Until it’s time
for you to go

Yes we’re different
Worlds apart
We’re not the same

We laughed and played
at the start
like in a game

You could’ve stayed
outside my heart
but in you came

And here you’ll stay
until it’s time
for you to go

Don’t ask why
Don’t ask how
Don’t ask forever
Love me now

This love of mine
had no beginning
It has no end

I was an oak
Now I’m a willow
Now I can bend

And though I’ll never
in my life
see you again

Still I’ll stay
until it’s time
for you to go

Don’t ask why
Don’t ask how
Don’t ask forever
Love me now

You’re not a dream
You’re not an angel
You’re a man

I’m not a queen
I’m a woman
Take my hand

We’ll make a space
in the lives
that we’d planned
And here we’ll stay
Until it’s time
for you to go.

Universal Soldier
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

I wrote “Universal Soldier” in the basement of The Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto in the early sixties. It’s about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all. Donovan had a hit with it in 1965.

He’s five feet two and he’s six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He’s all of 31 and he’s only 17
He’s been a soldier for a thousand years

He’s a Catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain,
a Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
and he knows he shouldn’t kill
and he knows he always will
kill you for me my friend and me for you

And he’s fighting for Canada,
he’s fighting for France,
he’s fighting for the USA,
and he’s fighting for the Russians
and he’s fighting for Japan,
and he thinks we’ll put an end to war this way

And he’s fighting for Democracy
and fighting for the Reds
He says it’s for the peace of all
He’s the one who must decide
who’s to live and who’s to die
and he never sees the writing on the walls

But without him how would Hitler have
condemned him at Dachau
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He’s the one who gives his body
as a weapon to a war
and without him all this killing can’t go on

He’s the universal soldier and he
really is to blame
His orders come from far away no more
They come from him, and you, and me
and brothers can’t you see
this is not the way we put an end to war.

Goodnight
© Cliff Eberhardt

From 1976 for the next sixteen years, I quit recording to concentrate on being a mommy and an artist. I did very few concerts, mostly on Reserves or big splendid things in Europe for UNICEF, and got into home recording. I heard Cliff Eberhart’s beautiful “Goodnight” sung by The Modern Folk Quartet. In 1991, with my son grown up, I was invited by Ensign Records to re-enter professional recording, and with Chris Birkett as my co-producer, made Coincidence and Likely Stories, mostly at home with my Macintosh computer which had been my constant companion since 1984. I sang and played “Goodnight” right into the Mac. It’s my favourite song.

Sleepless nights don’t bother me at all
If dawn comes I don’t worry
Something deep inside keeps me awake
I wish that you were here right beside me

I recall when I was very young
and could not go to sleep
My father sang me songs to make me tired
But memories don’t make it easier so

Goodnight
wherever you are sleeping
and I hope that if you dream
you dream of me.
Oh goodnight
wherever you are sleeping
and I hope that if you dream
you dream of me

Now I lie awake and it’s no fun
tossing and turning
I’d call you if it weren’t so very late
but telephones don’t bring you close to me

I recall the times we stayed up late
Wide awake but still dreaming
There was nothing on this earth could make me tired
but memories don’t make it easier so

Goodnight
wherever you are sleeping
and I hope that if you dream
you dream of me.
Goodnight
wherever you are sleeping
and I hope that if you dream
you dream of me…

Dance Me Around
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

The chord progression for Pachabel’s Canon has inspired a lot of songwriters. Me too. The lyrics are about having missed the chance to love somebody because your lives used to be so far apart… but what about now? The title sets the song at a powwow.

And when I think about all I missed
All those kisses that you gave to someone else
I wish I’d been around
But I was up there in the air
while you were over here
with both feet on the ground

Who’d’ve ever thought it
that it shoulda been you and me
Got to find a way to show it
This effect you have on me

When I think about what I missed
I wish I coulda been your girl

And when I think about all I’ve lost
I could never count the cost
Cause of what we’ve got for free
And now it’s later,
maybe better late than never
I don’t know
But here you are with me

Dance Me Around again
Hold me like it’s never gonna end
Finally I’ve found
somebody who’s always been a friend

When I think about what I missed
I wish I coulda been your girl.

He’s An Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

Big hit in Boise, Idaho in 1971. Big hit in tipis and pickup trucks throughout the west. This new version is blessed with the presence of International World Champion powwow group Stoney Park, who also sang at The Juno Awards for my induction into the Hall of Fame in 1995. Migwetch, Stoney Park.

Sun is up
Day is on
Look for me
I’ll be gone
cause today’s the day
I’m gonna see him again

He’s an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
and I’m just another little girl
who loves him so
He’s an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
and I’m just another little girl
who loves him so

Once he stopped
and talked to me
I found out
how dreams can be
with a big wide smile
and a big white hat

He’s an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
and I’m just another little girl
who loves him so
He’s an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
and I’m just another little girl
who loves him so

Sun is up
Day is on
Look for me
I’ll be gone
cause today’s the day
I’m gonna see him again

He’s an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
and I’m just another little girl
who loves him so
He’s an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
and I’m just another little girl
who loves him so.

Now That the Buffalo’s Gone
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

This song was on my first album and I’d have thought it would be obsolete by now. But governments are still breaking promises and stealing indigenous lands, and I still believe that informed people can help make things better.

Can you remember the times
That you have held your head high
and told all your friends of your Indian claim
Proud good lady and proud good man
Some great great grandfather from Indian blood came
and you feel in your heart for these ones

Oh it’s written in books and in song
that we’ve been mistreated and wronged
Well over and over I hear those same words
from you good lady and you good man
Well listen to me if you care where we stand
and you feel you’re a part of these ones

When a war between nations is lost
the loser we know pays the cost
but even when Germany fell to your hands
consider dear lady, consider dear man
you left them their pride and you left them their land
and what have you done to these ones

Has a change come about my dear man
or are you still taking our lands
A treaty forever your senators sign
They do dear lady, they do dear man
and the treaties are broken again and again
and what will you do for these ones

Oh it’s all in the past you can say
but it’s still going on here today
The governments now want the Navaho land
that of the Inuit and the Cheyenne
It’s here and it’s now you can help us dear man
Now that the buffalo’s gone.

Soldier Blue
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

I wrote this song as the title theme for the movie Soldier Blue and it became a hit in Europe, Japan and Canada during the summer of 1971. But the movie disappeared from U.S. theatres real fast, so few Americans are familiar with it. As there’s a difference between love and rape, the same differences exist in how one views their country. “Soldier Blue” is not about loving one’s “nation state”; it’s about loving the natural environment in which all nations are related as children of the Sacred. Chris Birkett plays guitar.

I look out and I see a land
Young and lovely hard and strong
For 50,000 years we’ve danced her praises
Prayed our thanks and we’ve just begun
Yes, yes

This this is my country
Young and growing
free and flowing sea to sea
Yes this is my country
Ripe and bearing miracles
in every pond and tree

Her spirit walks the high country
giving free wild samples
and setting an example how to give
Yes this is my countrry
Retching and turning
She’s like a baby learning how to live.

I can stand upon a hill at dawn
look all around me
Feel her surround me
Soldier Blue
Can’t you see her life has just begun
It’s beating inside us
Telling us she’s here to guide us.

Ooo
Soldier Blue, Soldier Blue
Can’t you see that there’s another way to love her

Yes this is my country
I sprang from her and I’m
learning how to count upon her
Tall trees and the corn is high country
Yes I love her and I’m
learning how to take care of her

When the news stories get me down
I take a drink of freedom to think of
North America from toe to crown
It’s never long before
I know just why I belong here

Soldier Blue, Soldier Blue
Can’t you see that there’s another way to love her.

Eagle Man / Changing Woman
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

In 1974 I made a record with Norbert Putnam called “Changing Woman”, which took its title from this song. I’d been spending time with Apache and Navajo friends, and their beautiful religious poetry inspired me in many ways.

Eagle Man
climbing the skies
Red light of evening
falls like rain
Rainbow’s my yarn
The sky is my loom
I will weave sunsets
later on

Snow Woman
Climbing the wind
Blue light of winter
fills her baskets
Oh woh-h Changing Woman
Dance on the weather
Lightning and feathers
mark her trail

Life Lovers
splinting the worlds
Healing the broken
and the lame
Reach out to me
Give me your hands
We close the circuits of time

Angel Ranger
Stay here by me
Guide my transmission
of energy
Oldest religion
simple and clear
Pour out a lesson
into my dream

Eagle Man
climbing the skies
Red light of evening
falls like rain
Rainbows my yarn
The sky is my loom
I will weave sunsets
later on.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

When people ask, “What happened to the North American Indians in the 1880s?”, you can pretty much point to the robber barons of the time who needed to make a fortune in oil, gold and other precious metals. Simple greed in the hands of a powerful few who manipulated the media and politicians. When people ask, “What happened to the Indian movement of the sixties and seventies?”, you can pretty much point to the same motives a hundred years later, with uranium added to the list in very big print. The shocking information in this song is not new, but strung together; the events tell a story that most non-Indian people don’t know. Dedicated to Leonard Peltier, the memory of Anna Mae Aquash and Joseph Stuntz.

INTRO:
Indian legislation on the desk of a do-right Congressman
Now, he don’t know much about the issue
so he picks up the phone and he asks advice from the
Senator out in Indian country
A darling of the energy companies who are
ripping off what’s left of the reservations. Huh.

1.
I learned a safety rule
I don’t know who to thank
Don’t stand between the reservation and the
corporate bank
They send in federal tanks
It isn’t nice but it’s reality

chorus:
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Deep in the Earth
Cover me with pretty lies
bury my heart at Wounded Knee. Huh.

2.
They got these energy companies that want the land
and they’ve got churches by the dozen who want to
guide our hands
and sign Mother Earth over to pollution, war and
greed
Get rich… get rich quick.

chorus…

3. We got the federal marshals
We got the covert spies
We got the liars by the fire
We got the FBIs
They lie in court and get nailed
and still Peltier goes off to jail

chorus…

4.
My girlfriend Annie Mae talked about uranium
Her head was filled with bullets and her body dumped
The FBI cut off her hands and told us she’d died of
exposure
Loo loo loo loo loo

chorus…

We had the Goldrush Wars
Aw, didn’t we learn to crawl and still our history gets
written in a liar’s scrawl
They tell ‘ya “Honey, you can still be an Indian
d-d-down at the ‘Y’
on Saturday nights”

Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Deep in the Earth
Cover me with pretty lies
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. Huh!

Starwalker
© Buffy Sainte-Marie

This is one of my favourite songs, not only because it’s a gas to sing it, but also because it’s about the incredible energy of our contemporary Indian people. Because of what our ancestors went through for us. I sing it for all our generations past, and all our generations yet to come.

Starwalker he’s a friend of mine
You’ve seen him looking fine he’s a
straight talker
he’s a Starwalker don’t drink no wine
ay way hey o heya

Wolf Rider she’s a friend of yours
You’ve seen her opening doors
She’s a history turner
she’s a sweetgrass burner and a
dog soldier
ay hey way hey way heya

Holy light guard the night
Pray up your medicine song oh
straight dealer you’re a spirit healer
keep going on
ay hey way hey way heya

Lightning Woman Thunderchild
Star soldiers one and all oh
Sisters, Brothers all together
Aim straight Stand tall
Starwalker he’s a friend of mine
You’ve seen him looking fine he’s a
straight talker
He’s a Starwalker don’t drink no wine
ay way hey o hey…