Cherokee Bend

For three long days and three long nights
They wept and they mourned and then
In the government store down in Cherokee Bend
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
There was blood on the floor of the government store
It was early in the spring when the snow had disappeared
If you value your hide then you better abide
Then the man from the east didn't smile when he said
Then a blizzard came down and it covered up the door

When the men took his daddy away
In the government store down in Cherokee Bend
It was 1910 and they never had a friend
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
And she prayed to her spirit kin

It's been 21 years since the boy disappeared
Early in the spring he was seen in the town

She returned to her work and her weavin'
You must take what you need and trade what you can
But the food run low and the meat went bad
And he told her the tale of the terrible affair
Daddy didn't like what the white man said
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
They came down with a bag of skins
And she said to the boy one day
With his load looking ragged and thin
To the white man's school down at Cherokee Bend
But the boy stayed back till he come to his end

Nor the deal or the way that he lied
And it's pretty well known who hauled up the stone
In the fall of the year of 1910

There was blood on the floor of the government store
You're the son of that Indian scum

Nor the deal or the way that he lied
And he buried her in the snow
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
So he hadn't much face to save
By the white man's rules here in Cherokee Bend
Where he run to, nobody knows
And the men sat around and they laughed and they clowned
On the day when the boy came in
It was 1910 and they never had a friend
Daddy didn't like what the white man said

Not a year had gone by till he stood once again
But to trade in the white man's place

Now the boy wasn't big but he hunted what he could

Nor the deal or the way that he lied
I'm leaving tonight and I never will return
When the men took his daddy away
Now the mother was alone and the winter was at hand
He found her a place on the side of the hill

Till they thought that it never would end

Nor the deal or the way that he lied
But they say he fell in with a man named Jim
It wasn't very long till she closed her eyes
And they say he returns all alone to a place
At the close of the day they had taken him away
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
So they lived in the hills and they never came down
And he run like the wind from Cherokee Bend
Daddy died by the rope down in Cherokee Bend

For a Red Man's grave down in Cherokee Bend
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
At the talk of a criminal's grave
'Bout the dirty little kid at his side
To the grave on the hill above Cherokee Bend

From the land of my Spirit Kin
And they tried to forget about Cherokee Bend

Hidden deep in the Kentucky glen
And he rides in the rodeos
When he died by the rope down at Cherokee Bend
And he spit on the floor of the government store
And it served him to no good end
Daddy didn't like what the white man said
It was warm in the lodge in the Kentucky hills
He was ten years tall and a Redskin too
And they lived for a time that way
And he wrapped her in a robe
Daddy didn't like what the white man said