Buffalo Calf Road

Water was the sacred power
That defined the plains
And with the sun promised the earth
To activate the grains
So the bison collected to graze with
Greasy was the grass grown by the rains

"He who steals the fat comes soon"
Sitting Bull explained
He spoke that land was not for men
To loan or exchange
After gold was bellowed from the bluffs that
Settlers came to occupy the range

Money was the white man's god
On it was his face
And in his eyes reminders of
A way of life erased

So the spirits are left with the bison, watch them
Living all their lives on day's gaze
Made to worship Bibles in the place
Of the hunt

So said Custer to his men
Surveying the hills
"They'll vacate to their agencies
The ones that don't we kill"
And what guns and forced relocation can't do
Alcohol and isolation will

After all the gold was gone
Oil came in its wake
Paleface drained it out and found
A new promise to break

Once their land and lore had been stolen there was
Nothing but their water left to take
Nothing but their spirits left to break

Buffalo Calf Road Woman
Watched the shadows dancing into the infinite
Custer's horse became increasingly fast and then
She fired the shot to have his body removed from it

Greasy was the grass grown by the rains
Greasy was the grass grown by the rains
Greasy was the grass grown by the rains

As they fell
Onto the freezing brave