Cherokee Bend

You must take what you need and trade what you can
They came down with a bag of skins
Now the mother was alone and the winter was at hand
And it served him to no good end
So he hadn't much face to save
And he buried her in the snow
It was 1910 and they never had a friend
She returned to her work and her weavin'
Daddy didn't like what the white man did

Where he run to, nobody knows
In the government store down in Cherokee Bend
I'm leaving tonight and I never will return

To the grave on the hill above Cherokee Bend

Now the boy wasn't big but he hunted what he could
And he told her the tale of the terrible affair
And he rides in the rodeos

He found her a place on the side of the hill

Nor the deal or the way that he lied
And he run like the wind from Cherokee Bend

And the men sat around and they laughed and they clowned
It wasn't very long till she closed her eyes
And they tried to forget about Cherokee Bend
Not a year had gone by till he stood once again

And she said to the boy one day
Nor the deal or the way that he lied
When the men took his daddy away

'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
It was 1910 and they never had a friend
There was blood on the floor of the government store
With his load looking ragged and thin
And it's pretty well known who hauled up the stone
They wept and they mourned and then
Then a blizzard came down and it covered up the door
There was blood on the floor of the government store
He was ten years tall and a Redskin too
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
By the white man's rules here in Cherokee Bend
When the men took his daddy away
And they lived for a time that way
From the land of my Spirit Kin

For a Red Man's grave down in Cherokee Bend

But to trade in the white man's place
Nor the deal or the way that he lied

Daddy didn't like what the white man did
In the government store down in Cherokee Bend

And they say he returns all alone to a place

To the white man's school down at Cherokee Bend
When he died by the rope down at Cherokee Bend
It was warm in the lodge in the Kentucky hills
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
It was early in the spring when the snow had disappeared
But the boy stayed back till he come to his end
And she prayed to her spirit kin

Daddy didn't like what the white man said
For three long days and three long nights
Then the man from the east didn't smile when he said
Daddy didn't like what the white man said
So they lived in the hills and they never came down
Daddy didn't like what the white man did

It's been 21 years since the boy disappeared
Till they thought that it never would end

Daddy didn't like what the white man did
You're the son of that Indian scum
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
But the food run low and the meat went bad
And he wrapped her in a robe
But they say he fell in with a man named Jim
Nor the deal or the way that he lied
In the fall of the year of 1910
Hidden deep in the Kentucky glen
Daddy didn't like what the white man said
On the day when the boy came in
Early in the spring he was seen in the town
At the close of the day they had taken him away

Daddy didn't like what the white man said
At the talk of a criminal's grave
If you value your hide then you better abide
And he spit on the floor of the government store
Daddy died by the rope down in Cherokee Bend