Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)
Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian) is a socially critical pop song written by John D. Loudermilk in 1959 and successful with Don Fardon in Great Britain in 1970 and with the Raiders in the USA in 1971 . It is one of the few pop songs that became million sellers in two cover versions . The play is about the expulsion of the Cherokees from Georgia in 1838.
History of origin
The often-read story that Loudermilk was held up with his car during a storm and held captive by Cherokees until he promised to write a song about their suffering is untrue. Loudermilk had presented this unusual genesis of the song in an interview with " American Top 40 " radio DJ Casey Kasem .
Marvin Rainwater , himself a Cherokee descendant, recorded the song composed by John D. Loudermilk under the title The Pale Faced Indian (" The Pale Faced Indian ") on December 9, 1959. This original recording was released in January 1960. The song is about the forced displacement of the Cherokees from Georgia on June 6, 1838, the " Trail of Tears ", because gold had been discovered in this area ten years earlier.
The play describes how the whites impose their white culture on the Indians in terms of language or clothing up to the point of giving up self-identity. On April 6, 1984, the Cherokee Eastern and Western Indian Societies were reunited in Cleveland, Tennessee . It is also a lament about the plight of the Indians in general, as all Indian tribes can identify with the content. Because of its criticism of the treatment of minorities, the song is also classified as a protest song .
Loudermilk had the song first recorded on September 15, 1965 for his album John D. Loudermilk Sings a Bizarre Collection of the Most Unusual Songs , which was released in November 1966, under the title Indian Reservation . Some text changes and the other title first appeared in Loudermilk's version. Only Loudermilk's publication formed the basis for the successful cover versions .
Successful cover versions
The first commercial cover version was the British production of Don Fardon. Under the title Indian Reservation / Dreaming Room , the single produced by Miki Dalton was released as GNP Crescendo # 405 in August 1968, initially in the USA. Here she reached rank 20 on the pop hit parade. The British initial release in October 1968 failed, and it was not until October 1970 that it was re-released on the Young Blood YB # 1015 record label in Great Britain, where it then rose to third place - with the B-side Hudson Bay . Worldwide it achieved a record sales of over 1 million copies. The music is in minor , with repetitive minor chords appearing at the end of each stanza. The electronic organ maintains the melody during a slowly performed musical double strike .
Columbia Records' producer Jack Gold had the idea to release another version of Indian Reservation after more than two years . The American rock band Raiders released the single with the B-side Terry's Tune (Columbia 45332) produced by band leader Mark Lindsay in February 1971 and made it to first place in the pop charts, which it lasted for a week held. It was recorded on December 3, 1970 with the participation of Arthur Butler, Carol Kaye , David Cohen and Gary Coleman, who were members of the community of studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew . With over 4 million copies, it was the band's biggest hit and the best-selling single for Columbia Records. Mark Lindsay, who was also half Cherokee, didn’t sing lead here for once, but guitarist Freddy Weller. The group was awarded the gold record on June 30, 1971. Both versions use drum beats that imitate the Indian drum rhythms and should give the song an Indian impression.
More cover versions
- The German formation Orlando Riva Sound produced a disco version of Indian Reservation (Ariola 600088) in 1979, which climbed to seventh place in the German charts in January 1980. The group appeared on December 3, 1979 with the song in the show Disco as an opener.
- On November 14, 1989, the British punk band 999 released a cover version that reached number 51 on the British charts.
- The written by Tommy Barnes, Jumpin 'Gene Simmons and Loudermilk country song Indian Outlaw of Tim McGraw of February 1994 starts with a part of the choir sequence "Cherokee People" from Indian Reservation . It sold more than 500,000 copies and came to number eight on the US country and number 15 on the pop charts.
All versions vary significantly in their textual content. The title, which is copyrighted by BMI , received a BMI award. According to Coverinfo, there are 25 versions, including a German version titled Weißer Mann has lied to us by Marco Polo from 1971.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marvin Rainwater - Biography by Cub Koda on Allmusic (English). Retrieved December 16, 2016.
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 260.
- ^ Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits , 1985, p. 295.
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 333.
- ↑ BMI entry for Indian Reservation ( memento from January 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on June 6, 2018
- ^ Entry cover info about Indian Reservation