A few words on the Cult's lyrics and Native American connections....





It has never failed to annoy me how consistently the press and other ignorant writers make light of Ian and the Cult's use of Native American symbolism and imagery, all too frequently dismissing it as "ersatz mysticism" and/or "vapid hippie babble" rather than the result of solid research. Not at all! Anyone examining the material seriously will readily find direct correspondences with actual Native materials and writings - and there's probably more to be found than I have.

Take the much-abused line from Dreamtime:
"I will wear my hair long,
An extension of my heart."

I quote Thomas E. Mails from his massive and authoritative volume,
The Mystic Warriors of the Plains:
"Their acceptance of the [scalping] custom began with their ideas concerning the hair itself. Because the hair was the only part of the body which continued to grow significantly during the lifetime of the individual, the Plains people came to believe - perhaps with the help of someone's vision in the earliest period of a certain tribe - that the hair was the extension of the person's soul or spirit. In accordance with this view, the hair became visual evidence that the soul was a living thing, for it was constantly growing, constantly revealing itself. Therefore, the hair was groomed with especial care...Wives helped their husbands with this, and husbands helped their wives. And they did so with infinite patience since the care and consideration of the soul was involved. One immediately sees why, in some tribes, the hair was encouraged to grow as long as possible. Some Crow warriors attained growths so long that the ends dragged on the ground as they walked..."

mm! wouldn't you love to see some of those Crow folk! =) but the point is that this lyric is no mere peace'n'love fluff, but references a documented practice and belief of the Plains Tribes, and ought to be understood as such.



Quanah, a Native American horse.

My favorite item in this vein is Horse Nation, which comes almost verbatim from a Sioux vision chant.
(I have yet to find a Cult website including lyrics which has this one right! - mainly because people don't seem familiar with the word "neigh" or "neighing" as representing a horse's whinny.)
Compare the main part of the Cult lyric:

"See them prancing, they come neighing, they come
A horse nation, see them dancing, neighing they came
See them prancing, proudly they will conquer...
The whole world is coming
From the four directions
Scream and shout!"

with the original, as related by Black Elk, the great Oglala Sioux mystic:

"Then they all stopped short, rearing, and were standing in a great hoop about their black chief at the center, and were still. And as they stood, four virgins, more beautiful than women of the earth can be, came through the circle, dressed in scarlet, one from each of the four quarters, and stood about the great black stallion in their places; and one held the wooden cup of water, and one the white wing, and one the pipe, and one the nation's hoop. All the universe was silent, listening; and then the great black stallion raised his voice and sang. The song he sang was this:

My horses, prancing they are coming.
My horses, neighing they are coming;
Prancing. they are coming.
All over the universe they come.
They will dance; may you behold them.
(4 times)
A horse nation, they will dance.
May you behold them. (4 times)

His voice was not loud, but it went all over the universe and filled it. There was nothing that did not hear, and it was more beautiful than anything can be. It was so beautiful that nothing anywhere could keep from dancing. The virgins danced, and all the circled horses. The leaves on the trees, the grasses on the hills and in the valleys, the water in the creeks and in the rivers and the lakes, the four-legged and the two-legged and the wings of the air--all danced together to the music of the stallion's song."



(If you would like to read the whole of this magnificent vision, it's available all over the Web = this version comes from http://www.thefoundation.com/redroad/TheVision.htm - and also in the book dictated by Black Elk to the poet John Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks.)

There are probably more examples to be found! but these prove that we shouldn't let anyone sneer at what they assume is fake or "pseudo-Indian" usage in the Cult's music - in fact it shows careful research and genuine respect, which we fans of course knew all along.
(Many people are not so honest. Here's a great reference site: A Line in the Sand..)


If you'd like to read more about Native American horses: The Native American Horse Registry.
...return to Wolfchild Triumphant


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