songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. Throughout her career in all of these areas, her work has focused on issues of indigenous peoples of the Americas. Her singing and writing repertoire also includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism.
In 1997, she founded the Cradleboard Teaching Project, an educational curriculum devoted to better understanding Native Americans. She has won recognition and many awards and honours for both her music and her work in education and social activism.
Buffy Sainte-Marie was born in 1941 on the Piapot Plains Cree First Nation Reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada. She was later adopted, growing up in Massachusetts, with parents Albert and Winifred Sainte-Marie. She attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, earning degrees in teaching and Oriental philosophy and graduating in the top ten of her class. She went on to earn a Ph.D in Fine Art from the University of Massachusetts.
In 1964, on a return trip to the Piapot Cree reserve in Canada for a powwow she was welcomed and (in a Cree Nation context) adopted by the youngest son of Chief Piapot, Emile Piapot and his wife, who added to Sainte-Marie's cultural value of, and place in, native culture.
In 1968, she married surfing teacher Dewain Bugbee of Hawaii; they divorced in 1971. She married Sheldon Wolfchild from Minnesota in 1975; they have a son, Dakota "Cody" Starblanket Wolfchild. That union also ended in divorce. She married her co-writer for "Up Where We Belong," Jack Nitzsche, on March 19, 1982. He died from a heart attack on August 25, 2000. As of 2007, she lives in Hawaii.
Although not a Bahá'í herself, she became an active friend of the Bahá'í Faith by the mid-1970s when she is said to have appeared in the 1973 Third National Bahá'í Youth Conference at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and has continued to appear at concerts, conferences and conventions of that religion since then. In 1992, she appeared in the musical event prelude to the Bahá'í World Congress, a double concert "Live Unity: The Sound of the World" in 1992 with video broadcast and documentary. In the video documentary of the event Sainte-Marie is seen on the Dini Petty Show explaining the Bahá'í teaching of progressive revelation. She also appears in the 1985 video "Mona With The Children" by Douglas John Cameron. However, while she supports a universal sense of religion, she does not subscribe to any particular religion.
Sainte-Marie claimed in a 2008 interview at the National Museum of the American Indian that she had been blacklisted by American radio stations and that she, along with Native Americans and other native people in the Red Power movements, were put out of business in the 1970s.
In a 1999 interview at Diné College with a staff writer with the Indian Country Today, Sainte-Marie said "I found out 10 years later, in the 1980s, that President Lyndon B. Johnson had been writing letters on White House stationery praising radio stations for suppressing my music" and "In the 1970s, not only was the protest movement put out of business, but the Native American movement was attacked."
As a result of this blacklisting led by (among others) Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and Nashville disc jockey Ralph Emery (following the release of I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again), Sainte-Marie said "I was put out of business in the United States".
Civilization
Buffy Sainte-Marie Lyrics
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He tells the native population that civilization is fine
And three educated savages holler from a bamboo tree
That civilization is a thing for me to see
So bongo, bongo, bongo, I don't wanna leave the Congo, oh no, no, no, no, no
Bingo, bangle, bungle, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go
Don't want no bright lights, false teeth
That no matter how they coax him, I'll stay right here
I looked through a magazine the missionary's wife concealed (magazine? What happens?)
I see how people who are civilized
bung you with automobile (You know you can get hurt that way Dani)
At the movies they have got to pay many coconuts to see (what do they see, darling?)
Uncivilized pictures that the newsreel takes of me
So bongo, bongo, bongo, he don't wanna leave the Congo, oh no no no no no
Bingo, bangle, bungle, he's so happy in the jungle, he refuse to go
Don't want no penthouse, bathtub, streetcars, taxis, noise in my ear
So, no matter how they coax him, I'll stay right here
They hurry like savages to get aboard an iron train
And though it's smokey and it's crowded, they're too civilized to complain
When they've got two weeks vacation
they hurry to vacation ground (what do they do, darling?)
They swim and they fish, but that's what I do all year round
So bongo, bongo, bongo, I don't wanna leave the Congo, oh no, no, no, no, no
Bingo, bangle, bungle, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go
Don't want no jailhouse, shotgun, fish-hooks, golf clubs, I got my spears
So, no matter how they coax him, I'll stay right here
They have things like the atom bomb, so I think I'll stay where I am
Civilization, I'll stay right here
Buffy Sainte-Marie's song "Civilization" is a commentary on the colonialism and cultural imperialism that was prevalent during the 20th century. The song presents the perspective of the indigenous people who are being forced to abandon their way of life by the "missionary" who advertises civilization as an ideal. The singer of the song, who is a native of the Congo, declares that they prefer to live in the jungle and resist the attempt of the colonizers to impose their way of life on them.
The first verse of the song begins with the missionary using a neon sign to promote civilization to the natives. However, the educated savages, who are depicted as being more rational than the natives, reject the idea of civilization as being nothing more than a spectacle. The chorus, which is repeated throughout the song, highlights the singer's preference for staying in the jungle, where they feel happy and content.
The second verse of the song takes a critical look at what civilization has to offer. The singer discovers a magazine that reveals the darker side of civilization - such as car accidents and exploitation in the movies. The singer rejects the urban lifestyle that is associated with civilization, preferring instead to remain in the natural environment. The last verse of the song satirizes the idea of civilization through the singer's analysis of modern technology such as the atom bomb. Ultimately, the singer chooses to stay where they are, preferring their own way of life to the one being imposed on them.
Line by Line Meaning
Each morning, a missionary advertises neon sign
Every day, the missionary promotes modern society with flashy lights
He tells the native population that civilization is fine
He convinces the locals that modern life is good
And three educated savages holler from a bamboo tree
Three knowledgeable natives disagree passionately
That civilization is a thing for me to see
The artist implies that modern life is something to observe from afar
So bongo, bongo, bongo, I don't wanna leave the Congo, oh no, no, no, no, no
The artist repeats their desire to stay in the jungle rather than join modern life
Bingo, bangle, bungle, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go
The singer makes it clear that they find joy and contentment in their current lifestyle
Don't want no bright lights, false teeth
The singer is listing things they don't want - modern amenities such as cosmetic dentistry
Doorbells, landlords, I make it clear
More things the artist does not want - including people in positions of power over them
That no matter how they coax him, I'll stay right here
The artist is steadfast and will not be swayed from their current way of life
I looked through a magazine the missionary's wife concealed
The artist found a magazine that the missionary's wife had hidden
I see how people who are civilized bung you with automobile
The singer is realizing how dangerous modern life can be
At the movies they have got to pay many coconuts to see
The artist is pointing out the absurdity of the monetary system of modern society
Uncivilized pictures that the newsreel takes of me
The singer is frustrated with the way they are portrayed in the media
They hurry like savages to get aboard an iron train
The singer is characterizing modern life as a frenzied rush
And though it's smokey and it's crowded, they're too civilized to complain
Despite the obvious problems with modern life, people have become numb to them
When they've got two weeks vacation they hurry to vacation ground
People work hard to earn vacation time but then rush through it
They swim and they fish, but that's what I do all year round
The artist is pointing out that they don't need a special break from their lifestyle
They have things like the atom bomb, so I think I'll stay where I am
The singer is referencing the dangers of modern technology as a reason to avoid it altogether
Civilization, I'll stay right here
The singer is holding to their decision to stay in the jungle and avoid modern life
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Chuck
on Moonshot
I don’t know if this interpretation is by AI or an idiot, but it isn’t close to the mark. “Off into outerspace” isn’t an awestruck nod to space travel, but sneering at those whose minds are basically in outer space. “We wish you bon voyage” is sardonic. Welcoming back is sincere, hoping they come back to earth and realize what is here in these simple places, these cultures rooted in balance with nature and those around us. Cultures buried by the might and white-washing of American society. The anthropologist disappeared from that American society and into native culture, for which his wife is distraught viewing him as lost. But he spoke the truth and spoke it boldly and wisely as if from the heavens themselves.