Lyrics for American Ghost Dance as interpreted by PrismPuck

American Ghost Dance Lyrics
Oh give me a home
Where the buffalo roam
And the death of a race is a game
Where seldom is heard
A peacable word
From the white trash
Who killed as they came
Though these words dig deep
They offer no relief
God save the queen
I am an indian chief
There is a secret I keep
It's called the talking leaf
And you better believe
That he speaks his beliefs
Like a rock that bleeds
A sea of grief
My talking leaf speaks of
A wounded knee creek

American ghost dance...

A new man who is with old ways
He walks the streets of life
But he's in chains
I'm alive he cried
I can feel the flame
Burning red inside
I am an indian brave
There is a memory
That lives in my blood
Of the brand you laid
On all you touched
But the burning flame
Turns to burning pain
Genuine genocide
And that's truly insane
So like a wild hurricane
I will dance on the grave
Of my race that died
When it should have been saved

American ghost dance...

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  • 18 Comments
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Dread Girl
05-23-2002

Rated 0 
Well its kinda obvious what this song is about. Its about how when whites came to america they destroyed peaceful indian tribes without reason.

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moe2000
06-05-2003

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very true. the theme seems to be a recurring one throughout the red hots career (thinking of "johnny kick a hole in the sky" especially)

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Bldsgrsxmg
06-19-2004

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Considering anthony has native american roots this song is very personal.

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apettythief
10-29-2004

Rated 0 
Don't want to disagree with anyone...
There's a book by Kurt Vonnegut jr called Player Piano that deals with a US in which people have no function and bring back the Ghost Shirt idea to fight a revolution. I don't know the song but having read the lyrics and knowing the topic, i figured that I had to connect it to something for pepole.

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i love JF
12-21-2004

Rated 0 
so im not crazy if i thought the whole album was sort of like that

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JosephWolf
01-09-2005

Rated 0 
Native Americans really are the greatest......

It's about the last of the great race of Natives, and they look toward the ghost dance for revival.

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JosephWolf
01-09-2005

Rated 0 
Native Americans really are the greatest......

It's about the last of the great race of Natives, and they look toward the ghost dance for revival.

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melrfaz
01-27-2005

Rated 0 
beautiful song

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ANTWANmyMAN
07-29-2005

Rated 0 
rhcp have the best songs, it's an amazing song

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freakystyley
08-20-2005

Rated 0 
kul

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i love JF
08-23-2005

Rated 0 
i think that the ghost dance is for when somone dies you dance for their spirit or something so maybe its for someone he loved

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boisvert0
10-07-2005

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This song and Vonnegut's novel are both vague references to The Ghost Dance, a Native American spiritual movement based on the belief that the Earth would open up to swallow all whites and to revert back to its natural state so that the Native Americans, along with their ancestors, could live in peace. It was claimed that by dancing the round-dance continuously, the dream would become a reality.

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311rhcp
03-01-2006

Rated 0 
Ghost dance is what the indians used to do to scare the invaders.
I think I heard that in U.S History class.

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lin_nea
06-28-2006

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i LOVE this song.

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mrs.sideik
04-19-2007

Rated 0 
this song kind of sounds similar to Hump de Bump, like you could sing "Hump De Bump...." along with the music of this song, instead of saying "Amer-i-can Ghost Dance.."

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gravity_girl
06-24-2007

Rated 0 
mrs. sideik (very clever name, i must say) you're totally right..... now that you mention it, it can be done, i guess....... but this song fuckin' RULES..... like every single other Chilis song...... very informative posts, guys, i really had no idea about the whole ghost dance ritual, thanks....... RIP Hillel, you frickin' monster genius........

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aficianado
07-03-2007

Rated 0 
Its a classic one of RHCP's best songs! The lyrics are very meaningful and just telling the way it was. The white man came to america and killed off the native american tribes that stood in the way of 'progress'.

If you like songs with a deep message then you might also like 'Power of Equality', 'Shallow Be Thy Game' and 'Californication' and they are all RHCP songs! It also helps that they are great tunes not just with great lyrics.

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RIPhillel
12-02-2007

Rated 0 
I'm pretty sure that Hump De Bump was based off of the bass line in this. I think the working title was Ghost Dance 3000

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