Song #256: "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" by The Raiders

Date: July 24, 1971
Weeks: 1

Search Link

The music is this song is really neat. This is a well-crafted song, and for once we have a song with a string section that actually puts it to good use. This song aspires to create a hybrid rock/orchestra sound, and the result is fairly successful.

The song has an excellent and appealing bass backbone that I can't help but tap my foot to. I also really enjoy the orchestra stings. They intensify and punctuate the rest of the music. They are jolts of energy and contrast perfectly with the rather cool and relaxed bass. The drums also provide very neat accents throughout. They keyboard "plink" sound seems a bit unnecessary, but most of the additional instruments provide nice accents throughout.

The song's best moments come during the chorus. The instruments build up to their fullest sound, and the singers open up and yell "Cherokee People!" with an intensity that is appealing. In those moments, the song feels like the protest song it is intended to be. But what makes the song great is the alternating lulls and highs in both the music and the vocals. This is a well-composed and well-performed song.

As I said, this is a protest song, lamenting the fate of Native Americans, most obviously the Cherokee. I'm not well-versed on the culture of the Cherokee, so I'm not sure I feel comfortable criticizing the accuracy of the lyrics. It seems like the lines "They took away our way of life, the tomahawk and the bowie knife" lament the loss of a war culture that I don't think they had before there was someone trying to take it away from them, though. Other lyrics are better, such as "They took away our native tongue and taught their English to our young." That's a powerful statement of the cultural warfare that devastated their culture maybe more than the actual warfare. It's an effective lyric. Overall, it's an effective acknowledgment of the cultural conflict many Native Americans experience, trying to reconcile assimilating into a culture that destroyed their native culture.

My verdict: Like it. It's a well-crafted song with appealing variation that makes it a lot of fun, but also seems socially aware at the same time.