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 BahĆ”'Ć herself, she became an active friend of the BahĆ”'Ć Faith by the mid-1970s when she is said to have appeared in the 1973 Third National BahĆ”'Ć 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 BahĆ”'Ć 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 BahĆ”'Ć 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 DinƩ 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".
He's An Indian Cowboy In The Rodeo
Buffy Sainte-Marie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Look for me, I'll be gone
'Cause today's the day
I'm gonna see him again
He's an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
And I'm just another little girl who loves him so
He's an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
Once he stopped and talked to me
I found out how dreams can be
With a big wide smile
And a big white hat
He's an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
And I'm just another little girl who loves him so
He's an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
And I'm just another little girl who loves him so
Sun is up, day is on
Look for me, I'll be gone
'Cause today's the day
I'm gonna see him again
He's an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
And I'm just another little girl who loves him so
He's an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
And I'm just another little girl who loves him so
The song "He's An Indian Cowboy In The Rodeo" by Buffy Sainte-Marie tells the story of a young woman's infatuation with a man who is an Indian cowboy in the rodeo. The song expresses the emotions of love and longing that the singer feels for the cowboy. The chorus, "He's an Indian cowboy in the rodeo, and I'm just another little girl who loves him so," captures the singer's feelings of awe and admiration for the cowboy.
In the first verse, we see the singer anxiously waiting for the day she will see the cowboy again. The second verse describes a moment when the cowboy stopped and talked to her, sparking her fascination with him. Throughout the song, the repetition of "sun is up, day is on, look for me I'll be gone" suggests the transience of their encounters and the fleeting nature of their relationship.
The song is a poignant reflection on the power of attraction and the beauty of fleeting moments. It highlights the complexity and nuance of love and desire, and celebrates the mystery and wonder of life.
Line by Line Meaning
Sun is up, day is on
The morning has arrived
Look for me, I'll be gone
I plan on leaving
'Cause today's the day
It's a special occasion
I'm gonna see him again
I'll be reunited with my love interest
He's an Indian cowboy in the rodeo
My love interest is a Native American cowboy who participates in rodeos
And I'm just another little girl who loves him so
I am a young woman who cares deeply for him, though others may not take me seriously
Once he stopped and talked to me
I had a meaningful conversation with my love interest
I found out how dreams can be
He helped me realize how to make my aspirations come true
With a big wide smile
He was visibly happy
And a big white hat
He was wearing his signature cowboy hat
Lyrics Ā© Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Buffy Sainte Marie
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
trevor boller
Wow, love the ending!
Ray K
Buffy Rocks! What a Gal! Great Song....still sounds fresh after all these years........
kitabwalli
So evocative of the crazy optimism of a young girl. Fifty years later, I still remember.
Kai Black
heard this on my transistor radio and I still love it today.
Richard Hornbostel
And most people are saying what is a transistor radio
Shawn Raven
Kai Black aamandy pankin singing
Estrid Melissa
I've been a fan of Buffy since the 1970's .... she still rocks!
Cheers from Denmark
Bernard Coldwell
Great song, wonderful voice and happy beat to toe tap along to :-)))
mkilborn93
Hey Buffy that was great loved the ending nice touch much love!
cryss T
Great song, takes me back to a very wonderful summer a very long time ago.