Joseph Cross
Saga of Joseph Cross: A Frontier's Echo
Lyrics
There's word from the caf?
There's information from the café
That the old mans ailin'
Reports that the old man is unwell
His eyes are pailin'
His eyes are weakening or losing color
And the weather took his hands
The weather has affected his hands
They say the ring on his finger
Mention of a ring on his finger
Was shaped from a bone
The ring is made from a bone
From some white man in Missouri
The bone is from a white man in Missouri
That spilled whiskey on his wife
The white man spilled whiskey on his wife
He has traveled in a sacred circle
He has experienced both native and Western journeys
And he has traveled on a white man's train
He has killed for survival and out of anger for a white man's identity
He's killed for hunger his buffalo brother
Introduction of Joseph Cross
He's killed for anger and a white man's name
He was raised in a mission and refused to conform to certain customs
His name was Joseph Cross
Reiteration of his name
And he was raised by the mission
Background on his upbringing
Just one of a hundred Indian boys
He was one of many Indian boys with a distinct identity
That wouldn't tie his shoes
Emphasizing his refusal to adopt certain Western practices
He cried the night his grandpa died
He cried when his grandfather passed away
And told him in a vision
He received advice in a vision to follow specific animal teachings
"Stay close to the ways of the rattlesnake
Guidance to stay close to the ways of the rattlesnake
Stay close to the ways of the grizzly"
Advice to stay close to the ways of the grizzly bear
In the 1919
Reference to the year 1919
Chill of December
Description of the December chill
The bear and the rattler
Mention of the bear and rattlesnake in a state of rest
Coil sleepin' hardly breathin'
Describing their condition as barely breathing
It's a penny to the kitchen boy
A penny is offered to the kitchen boy
To run get sister Lydia
To fetch sister Lydia
"Now you tell her that old Indian
Instructions to inform her about the old Indian's condition
Is sleepin', hardly breathin'."
Clarifying that the Indian is barely breathing
Someone said it just weren't right
Disapproval of giving him a traditional white man's funeral
To give him a white man's funeral
Preference to let his body float down the river
Someone said they'd just as soon as not
No one wants to touch the ring
Float him on down the river
No objections to floating him down the river
But no one touched the ring
Emphasis on the untouched ring
And no one said a thing about his chest
No comments on the apparent injury on his chest
Where it looked like a bear had ripped him
Describing the chest wound resembling a bear attack
And a rattler kissed his cheek
Indicating a rattlesnake's kiss on his cheek
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