When I was president of Reprise Records, Neil's wish was always my command. That's a long time ago and I haven't spoken to Neil in years but, in his awesome new song, "Indian Giver," he says he wishes somebody would share the news. So... here goes. For a little background, let me suggest two things: watch the brand new Neil Young video of "Indian Giver" above-- oops, the song was just removed from YouTube, so listen to "Who's Gonna Stand Up?" instead-- and read Gaius Publius' report on the native American protests at the DAPL pipeline in North Dakota. These are the "Indian Giver" lyrics I transcribed while the song was still on YouTube this morning:
There’s a battle raging on the sacred landOur brothers and sisters had to take a standAgainst us now for what we all been doin'On the sacred land there's a battle brewin' I wish somebody would share the news Now it’s been about 500 years We keep taking what we gave awayJust like what we call Indian giversIt makes you sick and gives you shivers I wish somebody would share the news Big money going backwards and ripping the soil Where graves are scattered and blood was boiledWhen all who look can see the truthBut they just move on and keep their groove I wish somebody would share the news Saw Happy locked to the big machine They had to cut him loose and you know what that meansThat’s when Happy went to jailBehind big money justice always fails I wish somebody would share the news Bring back the days when good was good Lose these imposters in our neighborhoodAcross our farms and through our watersAll at the cost of our sons and daughtersOur brave songs and daughters We're all here together fighting poison watersStanding against the evil wayThat’s what we have at the end of day I wish somebody would share the news
That was a quick turn-around for Neil. The "Happy" he refers to in the song is Dale "Happy" American Horse Jr., a Native American protestor who was arrested August 31st at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation chaining himself to pipeline construction equipment for nearly six hours. So Neil wrote the song, recorded it and shot the video in the past two weeks. That's fast; that's lightning speed fast. That would be faster than a speeding bullet for an artist on an independent label, let alone for an artist with a gigantic corporate label.This is just Neil's latest foray into protesting environmental degradation by corporate greed. If you missed "Who's Gonna Stand Up?" please listen to the orchestral version above and a Crazy Horse version below. The lyrics aren't subtle or hard to understand... and they're very much worth taking to heart. And they're very much in line with what he's done with "Indian Giver."Paul Clements has one of the strongest and most comprehensive environmental platforms of any Democrat running for Congress anywhere. A longtime Neil Young fan, he's running for the southwest Michigan seat held by the odious chairman of the House Energy Committee, Fred Upton. Blue America has endorsed Paul-- and you can contribute to his campaign here-- and Big Oil has endorsed Upton... with $928,300 in legalistic bribes. This morning Paul told us that "It saddens me to see the plight of the Standing Rock Sioux, and how their voices are being silenced. The sanctity of their tribal lands must be defended. Unfortunately, there are some placing greed before tribal rights and our environment. My opponent has taken $40,750 from Energy Access Partners, the company trying to ram this pipeline through. What does that buy you? The energy plan that he wrote reduces the amount of time allowed for pipelines' environmental reviews. With him in Congress, we could see many more Dakota Access Pipelines.Chase Iron Eyes is an attorney and the progressive Democratic candidate for North Dakota's single congressional seat. He was raised on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and has been participating in the pipeline protests. A few minutes ago he told us that "Not only is water sacred but food security, energy security and all economic value flows directly from water security. Water is life." This video went up yesterday:UPDATE: "Indian Giver" Is Back Online
