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".
I'm Going Home
Buffy Sainte-Marie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I got a home high in my heart
Heaven is right where I come from
I never throw it away
I know the place and I'm going home
I'm going home
I'm going home
They know your name
And I'm not ashamed to need it
I'm going home
I'm going home
You keep on a-knocking
I'm not coming out of this state I'm in
I'm traveling right, I'm gonna get there soon
I'm standing up praying
I'm singing, saying, "Hey-yo, ha-ha, hey-yo, ha, hey-ya"
I know the way and I'm going home
I'm going home
That's where the heart can rest
The best is there
And only a fool would leave it
I'm going home
I been around, I been to town
Hey, where you think I learned right from wrong?
I'm going home
I'm going home
In the song "I'm Going Home," Buffy Sainte-Marie expresses her longing to return to her homeland or the place where she feels the most rooted. By stating that heaven isn't as far away as people say and that she has a home high in her heart, it could be interpreted that Buffy believes her home to be a place of sanctuary and contentment. The lyrics "I never throw it away" and "only a fool would leave it" suggest that whatever this home represents, it is of the utmost importance to her and something that she holds dear.
In the second verse, she voices her belief that heaven is not the same as where she comes from, indicating that her idea of heaven is something personal and perhaps even tangible. She describes a sense of comfort that comes from being known and accepted, suggesting that her home is a place where she feels she truly belongs. In the third verse, she emphasizes her determination to return to her home against any obstacle and hints at a spiritual quest. By praying and singing, she is reaffirming her connection with her home and remaining steadfast in her journey.
Line by Line Meaning
Heaven isn't so far away as people say
The idea of heaven being far is exaggerated, as it feels closer to me.
I got a home high in my heart
I have a home within me that I carry always.
Heaven is right where I come from
Heaven is a place that I call my origin and identity.
I never throw it away
I don't take my home and identity for granted.
I know the place and I'm going home
I am aware of my actual home, and I am on my way back.
See up there it's not the same
The place where I am headed is not the same as here.
They know your name
In my real home, my name is known and recognized.
And I'm not ashamed to need it
I'm not embarrassed to say that I need my real home, as it's important to me.
You keep on a-knocking
Although you keep disturbing me, I won't leave my home.
I'm not coming out of this state I'm in
I'm not getting out of the state of mind that I'm in right now.
I'm traveling right, I'm gonna get there soon
I'm on the right path and my journey home won't be long.
I'm standing up praying
I'm standing up for myself and my beliefs, and I am praying to stay strong.
I'm singing, saying, "Hey-yo, ha-ha, hey-yo, ha, hey-ya"
I'm keeping my spirits up by singing and cheering.
That's where the heart can rest
Home is a place where one can have peace of heart.
The best is there
The best things in life are found at home.
And only a fool would leave it
Only a foolish person would willingly abandon their home.
I been around, I been to town
I've been to many places and experienced life.
Hey, where you think I learned right from wrong?
I learned what was right and wrong during my life experiences.
I'm going home
I am on my path to reaching my true home.
I'm going home
I'm going to reach the place that I belong.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Buffy Sainte Marie
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@caseye.leydon7584
Heaven isn't so far away as people say
I got a home high in my heart
Heaven is right where I come from; I never throw it away
I know the place and I'm going home
I'm going home
I'm going home
See up there, it's not the same
They know your name
And I'm not ashamed to need it I'm going home
I'm going home
I'm going home
You keep on knocking but
I'm not coming out of this state I'm in
I'm travelin' right, I'm gonna get there soon
I'm standing up praying, I'm singing
Saying 'Heyo ha ha heyo ha hey ya'
I know the way and I'm going home.
I'm going home
I'm going home
That's where the heart can rest
The best is there
And only a fool would leave it. I'm going home
I'm going home
I'm going home
I'm going home
I been around, I been to town
Hey, where you think I learned right from wrong
And I'm going home
I'm going home
@awooblenuts
My mom is Cree. I played this on repeat as we were going through the Rockies heading to Alberta. Edmonton.
@lesleybryant7557
Always loved her style of singing and her truth that she speaks so plainly x
@philharnden243
I AM, 1/8 CHEROKEE Indian, I can totally feel it in my Blood. God Bless Buffy Sainte Marie, see you all in Heaven..
@yuqiinchefaa
I love this song. I'm a Cree Indian, and it reminds me of home all the time. Some day I'll come home.
@wolfmosler8117
I am german, but each time I went to Canada, I got the feeling of going home. And then I listened often to this and other goinghome songs. And in Canada, in Ssskatoon, at Beardys, I was home.
@Music4allofU
Gosh this track is wonderful. I think Buffy is the one of the best singers\songwriters of our time. A great humanitarian.
@eldaremington341
I am not Indian but I play this cd to get me ready to go up against some of the same problems that Buffy went up against. I figure if she could I can too.
@njombo
One of her greatest songs. I've been a fan of hers for 35 years now. My soul dances when I hear her voice. Only have this in cassette. Thank you SO much for posting this entire collection. I'm going home.
@johnandert3521
Possibly my favorite Buffy Ste-Marie song ever... and that's saying something.
@friesiamans1966
+ john andert - cool - i just discovered this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5zb0WTSLsY