Cornball 70's tune just came on the radio.

[Archae]

I'm listening to WRIT out of Milwaukee, they're playing a tune I haven't heard in decades.

Remember this one?

"Cherokee Nation" :eyes:

[ewagner]

1. Paul Revere and the Raiders? n/t

[Archae]

2. Yup.

I remember at that time, "That song is just so profound..."

"You said that about Horse With No Name too." :crazy:

Now the station played "Feelin' Groovy" and now "Eve Of Destruction" is on.

All the goofy oldies we laughed at then, and laugh our asses off at now! :D

[ewagner]

3. Never thought that

about Cherokee Nation ..........

Eve of Destruction was a whole 'nother matter............

[MercutioATC]

5. Amazing what a few decades can do....

"I'm still part red man deep inside" was seen as "profound" 30 years ago. I cringe whenever I hear it now...

[fishwax]

7. Maybe it's cringeworthy now, looking back

but it's almost unimaginable to think of a top 40 song now looking at things from a NA perspective.

[jpgray]

4. That song is epic, fabulous cheese

Cherokee people!

shoodoodoobumbumbumbash

Cherokee tri-hibe!

So deliciously cheesy. :D

[Archae]

11. I love cheesy 70's tunes.

Night Chicago Died

Ballroom Blitz

Saturday Night

And so on...

[1monster]

6. There is a story behind this song...

For those of you who weren't around or who don't remember, the early to mid seventies were a time of great activisim among Native Americans. There were several really nasty standoffs between certain tribes and the good ole US government. There was certainly quite a bit of hostilitiy toward white folks from the very understandably angry Native Americans.

According to a blurb I heard on (I believe it was Casey Kasem's show) the radio, John Loudermilk and a friend were snooping around a Cherokee Reservation in Oklahoma and got caught by some young angry Cherokee men.

Whether or not the young Cherokees would have harmed Loudermilk and his friend is a moot point. Loudermilk apparently believed they would and promised them that if they released him and his friend unharmed, he, being a published songwriter, would write a song describing the plight of the Cherokee.

Remember, that back in those days of the TOP 40, any song that went over three minutes usually didn't get much play time on most radio stations...

Indian Reservation

Artists: Paul Revere and the Raiders
1971 Words and Music by John D. Loudermilk

They took the whole Cherokee Nation
Put us on this reservation
Took away our ways of life
The tomahawk and the bow and knife
Took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the beads we made by hand
Are nowadays made in Japan

Cherokee people,
Cherokee Tribe
So proud to live,
So proud to die

They took the whole Indian Nation
Locked us on this reservation
Though I wear a shirt and tie
I’m still part redman deep inside
Cherokee people,
Cherokee Tribe
So proud to live,
So proud to die

But maybe someday when they learn
Cherokee nation will return,
Will return, will return, will return, will return

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Actually, the Paul Revere&the Raiders version was a cover of

the 1968(?) version by Don Fardon. The earlier version is simpler and less electronically enhanced.

[NightTrain]

10. There was a version that even predated Don Fardon's.

Its original title was "Pale-Faced Indian." It was recorded by the Native American singer Marvin Rainwater.

[NightTrain]

9. That story is a myth!

John D. Loudermilk made the story up to get back at Casey Kasem, whose producer called Loudermilk in the middle of his favorite TV show to ask about "Indian Reservation" (the correct song title). Annoyed at the interruption, Loudermilk made up the "kidnapping" story on the spot. The following week, Casey Kasem told the apocryphal story on "American Top 40," thus adding a brand new myth to rock and roll history. :eyes:

[mitchum]

12. I included it on a compilation of really cringeworthy "social protest"...

songs
along with:
Signs
One Tin Soldier
In The Ghetto
Things Get A little Easier (Once You Understand)
Hey Mr Businessman
What Is Truth?
and the most ludicrous of the lot...American Woman (You can just take your imperialist backstage blowjobs somewhere else, Yankee pig!)

I titled it "Sucking In The Wind"

[maveric]

13. "In the Ghetto" is terrible! You can tell a white guy wrote it.

:puke:

[mitchum]

14. Mac Davis...one of the whitest of the white guys