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His father was a man who could never understand |
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The shame on a red man's face |
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So they lived in the hills and they never came down |
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But to trade in the white man's place |
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It was early in the spring when the snow had disappeared |
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They came down with a bag of skins |
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In the fall of the year of 1910 |
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Daddy died by the rope down in Cherokee Bend |
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Daddy didn't like what the white man said |
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'Bout the dirty little kid at his side |
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Daddy didn't like what the white man did |
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Nor the deal or the way that he lied |
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There was blood on the floor of the government store |
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When the men took his daddy away |
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But the boy stayed back till he come to his end |
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And he run like the wind from Cherokee Bend |
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Now the mother was alone and the winter was at hand |
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And she prayed to her spirit kin |
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It was warm in the lodge in the Kentucky hills |
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On the day when the boy came in |
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Then a blizzard came down and it covered up the door |
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Till they thought that it never would end |
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And he told her the tale of the terrible affair |
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In the government store down in Cherokee Bend |
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Daddy didn't like what the white man said |
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'Bout the dirty little kid at his side |
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Daddy didn't like what the white man did |
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Nor the deal or the way that he lied |
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For three long days and three long nights |
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They wept and they mourned and then |
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She returned to her work and her weavin' |
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And they tried to forget about Cherokee Bend |
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Now the boy wasn't big but he hunted what he could |
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And they lived for a time that way |
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But the food run low and the meat went bad |
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And she said to the boy one day |
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I'm leaving tonight and I never will return |
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From the land of my Spirit Kin |
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You must take what you need and trade what you can |
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For a Red Man's grave down in Cherokee Bend |
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It wasn't very long till she closed her eyes |
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And he wrapped her in a robe |
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He found her a place on the side of the hill |
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And he buried her in the snow |
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Early in the spring he was seen in the town |
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With his load looking ragged and thin |
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Not a year had gone by till he stood once again |
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In the government store down in Cherokee Bend |
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He was ten years tall and a Redskin too |
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So he hadn't much face to save |
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And the men sat around and they laughed and they clowned |
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At the talk of a criminal's grave |
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Then the man from the east didn't smile when he said |
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You're the son of that Indian scum |
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If you value your hide then you better abide |
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By the white man's rules here in Cherokee Bend |
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Daddy didn't like what the white man said |
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'Bout the dirty little kid at his side |
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Daddy didn't like what the white man did |
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Nor the deal or the way that he lied |
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And he spit on the floor of the government store |
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And it served him to no good end |
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At the close of the day they had taken him away |
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To the white man's school down at Cherokee Bend |
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It's been 21 years since the boy disappeared |
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Where he run to, nobody knows |
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But they say he fell in with a man named Jim |
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And he rides in the rodeos |
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And they say he returns all alone to a place |
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Hidden deep in the Kentucky glen |
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And it's pretty well known who hauled up the stone |
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To the grave on the hill above Cherokee Bend |
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Daddy didn't like what the white man said |
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'Bout the dirty little kid at his side |
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Daddy didn't like what the white man did |
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Nor the deal or the way that he lied |
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There was blood on the floor of the government store |
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When the men took his daddy away |
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It was 1910 and they never had a friend |
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When he died by the rope down at Cherokee Bend |
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It was 1910 and they never had a friend |
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When he died by the rope down at Cherokee Bend |