Musician was KIDNAPPED & Told to WRITE a Hit or He'd Be KILLED…Became a 70s Smash!-Professor of Rock
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Coming up, the terrifying story of a songwriter named John D. Loudermilk who was kidnapped by three men while sleeping in the backseat of his car during a late-night blizzard. Allegedly, his captors abused him for three days, until they found out that he was a professional songwriter in the Nashville music scene…and then.. they made him a deal…. agree to write a song about the injustices put upon the Cherokee people… or die. Loudermilk who had written songs for Johnny Cash, the Everly Brothers, and Roy Orbison agreed to their demands to save himself and honored the deal by writing a song that eventually became a massive global smash, the 70s hit Indian Reservation (the lament of the Cherokee). It would later be picked for Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders and became the biggest-selling song until Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. The incredible story the writer told about writing the song was hard to believe… That’s because… he made the whole thing up. The truth surrounding one of the biggest pop smashes of the Rock Era is revealed. NEXT on Professor of Rock.
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Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you ever had a members-only jacket or wanted one… you’ll dig this channel of Deep musical nostalgia. Make sure to subscribe below right now. I know you’ll dig out this daily rock history lesson… We also have a Patreon you'll want to check out. There you’ll find an additional catalog of exclusive content and you can even become an honorary producer to help us curate this music history.
In the 60s, John D. Loudermilk was one of the busiest songwriters in Nashville. He wrote songs that were recorded by many of the biggest names in Music City, including songs for the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash. Some of his songs are outright classics- such as “Waterloo” by Stonewall Jackson: And “Talk Back Trembling Lips” by Johnny Tillotson.
Loudermilk’s most famous song, ironically, clouded his legacy and led to the most infamous words to come out of the great Casey Kasem’s mouth on the syndicated American Top 40 Countdown. It was all part of one the most shocking fabrications of the Rock Era. The song was the 3rd biggest hit of 1971, and until Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” was released in 1983, it was the best-selling single in the history of CBS Records and a story you’ll never forget… I’m talking about “Indian Reservation (the Lament of the Cherokee)” by The Raiders.
John D. Loudermilk moved to Nashville in the late 50s to make a name for himself in the music business, first as a singer. He made it onto the Billboard Hot 100, twice as a solo artist, first in ’57 with a remake of “Sittin’ in the Balcony,” using the stage name, Johnny Dee, that peaked at #38, and “Language of Love” that made it to #32 in ’61. In 1963, he firmly established himself as a legit songwriter, when he penned “Abilene” that was recorded by George Hamilton IV, and became a #1 Country hit, along with Top 15 success on the Billboard Hot 100.
Following the success of “Abilene” Loudermilk ascended to the top of the list of most sought-after lyricists in the business. It was a tremendous achievement, considering his father, John D. Lowdermilk Senior, never learned
Poll: Who was the greatest songwriter of the rock era?
Mcartney
Macca
Mark Knopfler
Bruce Springsteen
Stevie Nicks
Fish
Damn I forgot Jimmy Buffett
Stevie Wonder
Dylan
Willie Nelson
George Harrison
Paul Simon
In addition to John D. Loudermilk, I'll nominate:
The team of Holland-Dozier-Holland
Laura Nyro
Jimmy Webb
Jim Weatherly
Diane Warren
Mark Lindsay was a heart throb at the time he recorded "Indian Reservation". It had nowhere to go but straight up.
You're absolutely right, Mark was a huge heartthrob. However you can't ignore the fact that he was a great musician and singer. True my feelings on this matter may be shadowed because I was a huge Mark Lindsay fan.
Love that song. It's a great song with great lyrics. Mark Lindsey was so hot. 🔥🔥🔥🔥. I've never heard this story before. Shocking!
@@katie-didellis2437Me too. Lust, love Mark Lindsey 💋😘🔥
@@jojospeechy4848 Why did Lindsey's career end at about that time? I wish I knew. Sure he's still performing but he's a shell of the great performer he once was.
My Great-Great-Great Grandmother was a full-blood Cherokee and she married my 3G grandfather in Tennessee prior to the trail of tears. She didn't have to walk it, but instead became part of the homesteading that occurred in Missouri. Loved this song back in the 1970's and got it on 45 vinyl then. Still have that to this day. Connected with the song even though I didn't know my heritage at the time.
My brothers and I watched the Raiders' tv show and loved them. I was a junior in high school when Indian Nation came out. It was a powerful song. Still love it.
Most people I know just don’t get its message. Sad.
Phenomenal song. I remember hearing it on the radio countless times as a little girl in the summer of ‘71, and I’ve loved it ever since. Thanks, Adam, for giving us the intriguing history behind this great hit.
Great song by a great band---didn't know that anyone besides the Paul Revere and the Raiders had covered it---pretty interesting. I also liked "Tobacco Road" by Loudermilk, one of his most famous songs.
I heard it as a kid too... weren't the 70s a great time to be listening to music ?
There were hundreds of great songs on the radio during the 70s ! Now music sucks !
This song reminds of songs like Billy don't be a hero... The night Chicago died... Bad Bad Leroy Brown... Saturday night's all right and Crocodile Rock by Elton John...
and that's not even counting the Jackson 5 and the rest of Motown like Ball of Confusion and I Can't get next to you by the Temptations !
The 70s were jam packed with great music ! Also, The night the lights went out in Georgia...It never rains in Southern California... Half Breed by Cher... I could go on and on ! 😂
That's not even counting the late 70s !
A great musical history lesson Professor. Well done.
Thanks Michael!
I love your history lessons! Always, well done!
This song just seemed to be of its age. It was everywhere in the early 1970s. But it just disappeared off the radar later. Like eve of destruction, it just had so many intense ideas to casually be on the radio.
Oh my, I loved Paul Revere and the Raiders - and what a crush we girls had on Mark Lindsay!! I couldn't get home fast enough to watch "Where the Action Is". Crush aside tho, they did some great tunes, and I honestly believe they don't get enough attention these days.
I can’t believe I never heard about the fabricated story, maybe it never reached our small town. 😉 😅
Thanks for an especially great story! I love your channel, and especially your love and appreciation for these songs that are so much part of the soundtrack of my life. ✌️❤🎶
Still, the guy was probably more Cherokee than Elizabeth warren.
I’m part Algonquin Indian from my Dad and even as a little girl when this song came out I knew how important it was to him that there was a rise in understanding for the history of the Indians. More than ever before Adam, thanks for the memories!! ❤
Here in Germany Indians have largely a totally different standing, an unrealistic, but positive one, caused by the books of Karl May, the prudent Apache Winnetou.
Karl May had never been in the US, but that was what he imagined. Honorable, wise, just, tolerant - while the bad ones are the whites.
Maybe some of those that are now so afraid of immigrants have in the back of their heads that their own ancestors 200+years ago were quasi illegal immigrants that, once they had established themselves, set out to systematically go after the residents, drove them from their land, destroyed their settlements, killed not only the warriors, but also the old, women, children, exterminated the basis of their life, the buffalo, and finally rounded up the sad remains in concentration camps they called reservations. Nice...
One last, a while ago I met Willy Michl on the road. A bavarian musician that decided he now want to be an indian - in Munich, Bavaria. A bavarian indian. He started to wear indian clothes, immersed in indian spirituality, for decades lived in a tipi on the Isar river bank in Munich, getting the name "Isarindianer".
Somehow I see it that he made his life (I'm not too happy with the music) a piece of art.
(in any way better than the guy that just sold his tattooed skin as art object - after his death).
I just drove down the road on my bicycle and came past a weird figure until it dawned on me, "Can that be??!" and drove back. It was really him loading stuff in his car. A fur around his shoulders, standing barefoot on another fur. Absolutely weird for somewhere in a Munich suburb.
I talked a little with him, a real mellow guy, He passed the 70 and still lives his dream. Few people do that.
I hope that was not too intrusive, but it might be that so one can "broaden" one's spectrum. Germany is an ocean away, What else is to be known about Munich Bavaria than the Hofbräuhaus and the Oktoberfest?
One of my favorite songs in 1971. I must have played my 45 hundreds of times. Loved it! I enjoy your deep dive on so many songs. More 60s and 70s please!
As a kid I walked part of the Trail of Tears, only 5 miles, but to a 10 year old it seemed like a long hike, and I learned the true horrific story. I can't imagine walking all the way from the east to Oklahoma without much food or shelter!
I’ve never done it, but I know its history and it was brutal.
My great grandmother was Choctaw. She was 4 years old when she walked from TN to Oklahoma on the trail of tears without moccasins. Her feet were permanently damaged. I can remember her, barely and how painful walking was for her. She was 98 years old when she died. I was maybe 5 or 6 years old when she died. The main thing I remember was her hair. She’d never cut it and it drug the ground if she didn’t keep it braided. I loved to comb it for her.
People don’t realize that there are still a lot of us old folks who are old enough to remember people who lived that history. It’s not as far away in time as young people think.
Awesome experience at10.
Had the privilege of having the song writer in my shop. Loudermilk himself told my dad and myself that the story was made up. Loudermilk was originally from Durham, NC. That’s where I’m from. Even if the story wasn’t true, it’s still a great work of fiction. And a great song!
It’s a terrible work of fiction, and an irresponsible one at that. As if the Native American antidefamation league didn’t already have enough to worry about. Cherokee men kidnapping and torturing someone for political reasons wasn’t exactly a great look.
I heard Casey Kasem tell this story and I didnt believe it when he read back then.
Loudermilk defames a whole culture, and we celebrate it?! What the...
How did he defame them?
Yeah, the story doesn't make sense. Waaaaay too many problems with the "facts."
WOOOOOOWWWW!! I was a Raider fan going back to "Where The Action Is" but was never aware of the background of Indian Reservation. I was 16 when it hit the charts and happy that The Raiders had a hit!! Paul Revere was a heck of a businessman (Rest In Song Uncle Paul) and knew what would sell and what wouldn't. I am also a quarter Cherokee. Thank you for a great video on the song and its background! ✌👍
Thanks for watching!
@@ProfessorofRock Thank you for presenting The History of Rock'n'Roll that appeals to ALL Rock Fans!! Keep Rocking!!! 👌👍✌👏
His name was Paul Revere Dick!
I was a camp counselor for years. The kids were divided up into 4 "tribes", one of which was the Cherokee. Because of the popularity of this song all the kids wanted to be in the Cherokee tribe. We had so much fun, with competitions, stories, campfires and pretty much getting into as much as we could, even as counselors. Frequently we had actual tribal members who came in to talk about what had happened to the Native Americans. It made history live for all the kids and remains one of my fondest memories. To the kids there was nothing cooler than having actual Native American ancestry and I know there were quite a few tall tales about that too! Great video.
Sadly, that is called "cultural appropriation." Did you have any Irish, English, German or French tribes? We are not mascots and we do not wear costumes. We wear regalia. There is a big difference.
I do agree with you. It is necessary to remember when this happened. In the 70s when I was a young teen counselor, political correctness was far away still. There was so little accurate history of Native Americans being taught in schools and what was there was frequently incorrect. As the camp brought in Native American speakers, a better history was related to all of us. The Trail of Tears and the history of Tecumseh, were just a couple I remember word for word more than 50 years later. In that era tv, books and movies provided even less accurate history and were frequently perpetuating stereotypes. In the balance it was far more positive than negative for the campers. I understand your comment and am glad that things are changing .@@bridgettbwilson
@kc-sz3ym In today’s political climate, it was so refreshing to have read your thoughtful response to @bridgettbwilson.
If only more could have such a perspective…thank you!
@@chlebscototally agree with your reaction here. That was a Very positive response. Personally I think getting upset because a group of kids used a tribal name when they are in the active pursuit of learning about the tribe is a little short-sighted. I can understand disapproving if it was just teams for a sporting game, but here they were actually attempting to teach these kids about the different native tribes and that's a wonderful thing, with no appropriation involved.
The fact that the participant remembered it 50 years later so clearly means it had a deep impact on everyone involved. That's a good thing!
This song has always held a high place in my mental music library as well as physical library. I purchased the cassette as one of my first Columbia records 12 cassettes for a penny ( Queens greatest hits and Van Halens 1984 were also in that same order). Music has always played a pivotal role in my development/life and this song has always ranked in the top 10. Thanks for the memories
😊
Remember this song quite fondly. I was 11 when I first heard it and immediately loved it. Thanks Professor, I had no idea of the history of the song. Let alone, that only one Raider was on the recording. As for that organ outro....absolutely classic. Funny, how the line "and all the beads we made by hand, are nowadays made in Japan ", was meant to be derogatory. Today, we associate Japan with quality, but back then we associated it with trashy trinkets. Funny how the tables turn.
I view the lyrics "the beads we made by hand is nowadays made in Japan" as how capitalism has erased creativity and one's way of life, but again, anything creative be it a song, a piece of art, etc, is subject to interpretation.
This has always been one of my favorite songs. Love the way that you bring the story of the song to life. Thanks
I talked with JD several times. He was, indeed, a teller of tall tales.
I live in SE TN where the trail ran right through town.
I remember listening to this when it came out on my little AM radio on WLS out of chicago.
Great segment Adam!
Bravo 👏👏👏
Thanks for listening!
My dad gave me a turquoise blue radio, I wish I still had it, it was so cool. I lived in Northeast Texas, and I listened to WLS out of Chicago, too. I thought it was so amazing that I was listening to a radio show broadcast in Chicago.
John D. Loudermilk also wrote the often covered song "Tobacco Road" best known by the Nashville Teens but also covered by The Animals, Blues Magoos, Lou Rawls, David Lee Roth and many others.
I am a huge PR&R Fan and am so happy to hear the recognition they deserve on this channel! I have had the pleasure of meeting Mark a couple of times and Paul once,both great honors,I even got to kiss Mark on the cheek❣️ Paul was just to funny...Rip Mr Revere!
Loudermilk was joking thinking they'd have better sense than to believe such a ridiculous story!
I had long since forgotten this song. I remember hearing it playing on the radio when my Dad was shaving before going to work. Using an old fashioned safety razor 🪒 and shave cream. It was a frequently played song for years. I think that Sonny & Cher, sang it on their variety show as well one time? Great presentation of this golden old hit! Thank you for sharing all of these classics! Your channel has become one of my favorites on UA-cam! Thanks again, Professor!
Professor, thank you for such a respectful analysis. You're a fantastic music and cultural historian, thank you!
Thank you kindly!
We used to sing this song without the least knowledge of the history of this song. It wasn't until later that we connected the history with the song. Lindsey made this song stand out for a lot of people. It didn't hurt that Mark Lindsey was the cutest guy on two legs!
My late ex-husband was an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, and he dismissed all the people who claimed to be part Cherokee. This song, however, made me cry when I first listened to it.
I always took Negative look at people who claimed Cherokee descent. Then my sister got on ancestry and chased our father’s lineage waaaay back.
The most interesting find great great grandfather’s mother was Cherokee. He was forced off his land and took the trail of tears.
The general in charge of that displacement was a guy named Winfield Scott. The man my maternal grandfather and favorite uncle were named after.
What an episode. I remember this song growing up in the 70s, along with the solo hits you covered. Fascinating story.
Awesome episode Professor! Learned alot from this episode I never knew! Thanks for keeping the music alive!👍
You bet!
The whole time I was listening to this I was thinking the story didn’t quite make sense, didn’t ring true. Then the reveal that it wasn’t was a huge relief.
I cried at the end of this. I'm an 1/8th Cherokee and so glad to have a bit of native in me.
All the power to you.
I've got not one drop of American Indian blood but I have come to know many Original Americans and I personally feel some shame for the losses because of the treatments, the thievery. I can't go back to change it, but I feel love for all of the people, who are my brothers and sisters in spirit.
Great story Prof. I grew up in the same area as A.Jackson and went to the State Park a lot growing up. I learned about his courageous feats and tough reputation in school. But when I learned about the Trail of Tears my whole opinion of him changed. The way Native Americans were made to leave their homes and walk thousands of miles to start over with nothing. Or in 1814 Our gov. Paying between $50 to $100 for every American indian skull brought in. They were guilty of believing Our gov. Treaties and were robbed of their land and killed for their trust. My grandfather who raised me was 1/2 Cherokee. So that made it hit home a little more. I love our country, just not the criminals running it. But things have changed now. Things like this could never happen again. Right? We can trust them. 🇺🇸
No. No, we cannot trust them. Not until they pay restitution for what they have stolen from our people to every living descendant with Indigenous DNA. Sadly, that is less than 500,000 people left in the USA when we were once over 30 million.
In several states, it will be illegal to teach about history such as Trail of Tears because we don’t want to confront our history. I say teach the good and bad, and let’s hope we learn from our mistakes and sins!
Andrew Jackson, a complex subject. Mr. Jackson is the sole reason much, most, or even ALL of the USA is not today an English possession. Had Jackson's army not defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans, the British might well have taken the whole of the Louisiana Purchase from the USA. By 1814 the British had defeated Napoleon, and thus considered the sale from Napoleon's France invalid. The British would have had no qualms The indian tribes in the area of the Louisiana purchase had fought on the side of Britain in several recent wars, as well as in the French and Indian War in the disputed USA-Canada border area, so the USA as a whole considered most indian tribes as enemy combatants allied with Britain. It was WAR, and war is nasty, evil, oppressive, bloody, and just generally Hell on Earth. The British loss at the Battle of New Orleans essentially made the British respect the USA militarily and stick to the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, and cease in trying to take New Orleans and much of the Missisippi. I'm not trying to blindly defend President Jackson, or the Trail of Tears, only to point out that there was a wartime context at the time and war is hell. I do absolutely condemn the atrocities perpetrated on various indian tribes in the process. I also consider President Jackson one of our greatest presidents, for many reasons, including "He killed the bank", but do agree the Trail of Tears could be viewed as leaving a stain on his otherwise brilliant record.
@bigdaddy735, do you have a reference source for the "$50 to $100 for each American Indian skull?" Not that I doubt, just would like to have enough info to place into proper historical context, timeline, location, governmental agencies and politicians involved, etc.
@@jdaniels1313even if Jackson lost in New Orleans the treaty of Paris had already been written and signed. The battle of New Orleans had no impact on territorial decisions. Jackson’s victories in Florida were much more important leading to the future annexation of Florida.
This was one of my all time favorite childhood songs, And later in life as a single dad I'd take my daughter to the Great Smokey Mountains in Cherokee N.C. from Fla. Every Summer where she learned about her Mother's heritage. And when we'd get there I'd pop in my home burned CD that had Indian Reservation on it and we'd sing that song going up into the Mountains to hike all the killer trails to the best waterfall's in the USA.
I've got a slow traveling tear rolling down my cheek right now from this story Professor! Thank you for all the GREAT Musical memories you resurrect from our aging minds.
Loved this song. So meaningful
Amen!
WOW...another GREAT ONE Adam, GREAT "investigative" research! 🤘🏻😎
I saw Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Grass Roots, & Gary Puckett and The Union Gap when I was 5th-6th grade at local college in Va! I still remember his awesome keyboard decked out to look a 55 Ford (?), working lights etc! It was awesome! Paul also put one of those toy monkeys with symbols on it, & after it working, Paul “shot” it with a fake gun 🤣🤣🤠🤘. Oh and Roll On Wrecking Crew!!!🤘
Very cool!
Yes, those shows came much later, but I loved them. Rob Grill, who was the Grass Roots front man was a friend of mine. Sadly, there’s still a band going around using the name. No original guys.
What year was it?
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 87-88?
This is one of those hits back then that everybody agreed on
I remember riding in my uncles 1948 Pontiac. He did not care for Rock&Roll, so I would play the radio low. This song comes on, and he reaches over and cranks it up loud!
Considering all the great music of the era, it amazed me that this made it anywhere near #1
This is one of my top 10 favorite songs 🎵 of all time!I know Mark Lindsey and knew Paul Revere.
Back In The Saddle Naturally
Get me an interview with Mark!
Naturally!
Have you met both of them?
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Hey Silly Lilly, 😜 yes I met them 1st in the 80's. Once in the 90's my daughters met Mark I forget where now. Earlier this morning when I started my comments this morning I remembered then. It was so good to see a fellow Cherokee. This song whenever I hear it I have to hear 👂 it multiple times. The writer of this song met my girls and his daughter and grandchildren. I told you months ago that this was one of my favorite songs. This is one of the many reasons that I chose the 70's as my favorite decade of songs!
My little niece that summer in '71 played that 45 allllllll day, every day, and it drove me NUTS. But it IS a good song, and I'm glad to know Mark Lindsay has Cherokee blood. I've since found out I have Powhatan blood! I grew up on the Trail of Tears in MO, and always have felt that was a terrible scar on our nation's history. Thx for the great story!
Drove you nuts ? 😂😂 it was definitely a great song tho...
My great grandmother had a beautiful Cherokee name. The school they sent her to took that name from her. My mother's mother was French-Cherokee. My father's mother was Cherokee! I didn't know that I had any native blood in me until I was old. It was something people hid because half- native people were not accepted by either native or white until after I was older. I feel as though I missed out on so much. It was all because my parents were trying to protect me! This song was a favorite of mine before I ever knew my lineage!
You mention the Raiders sax player who had the early childhood encounter with a lawnmower...Same was true with John Denver. He had part of a foot cut off by a lawnmower early on. Ultimately, & very sadly, that's how his exwife Annie, helped the coroner in California identify him, when he crashed his plane..Then there was Jim Croce, Jerry Garcia, Django Reinhardt & even Dr.John, who became a piano player, after being shot through the left hand. How many more music greats where there like this?
See, I did not know this about John Denver until now! 😳
Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath had two of his fingers cut off at the end joints and is one of the most influential guitarists of all time.
Just like so many other 60s pop acts, (Paul Revere and) The Raiders had their comeback hit in the 1970s, and it also became their swan song.
I remember Indian Reservation and have always loved it because it is true on how Indians were treated back on the day.
Love the story and the song. Sounds like Laudermilk could have been an author. Reminds me of some other songs of the 70's that had fictional back stories.
Which other songs are you referring to Ted?
@ProfessorofRock - Two songs that instantly came into my head were: "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks and "Love Rollercoaster" by The Ohio Players. The rumor for "Seasons in the Sun" was that Terry Jacks wrote and recorded the song while he was dying from a terminal illness. I didn't find out until much later that he didn't even write the song. "Love Rollercoaster" was rumored to have accidentally recorded a murder that occurred in one of the other rooms in the recording studio while the band was recording the song. All fictional, yet memorable.
That's a great point. Some people who make up stories and fabrications about their lives would be well served to instead turn them into pros and publish them as short stories and novels.
He should have been an author because this is well written prose!
Laudermilk could have been a fan of Mark Twain who said, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
When this song came out I had already spent some of my childhood on an Indian reservation as a minority. It was an important experience. Then we moved very close to another reservation, and because of my first experience I recognized the poverty and desperation of the people. That was in the 1960's, and there was a lack of compassion for the people that still bothers me all these years later. It was unkind talk about people who had a drinking problem, even harsh treatment at times. Other things that people wouldn't have allowed to happen to their loved ones.
Mark Lindsey had some other real good solo hits after his stint with The Raiders such as "Miss America" and "Silverbird" from the early '70's.
Mark also played the long sax solo on The Raiders nice ballad "Melody For An Unknown Girl" which is on their Midnight Ride and greatest hits LP/CD's.
Also " Arizona"
We can't change the past, it's done. Sometimes, all we can do is keep it in the memories of future generations, just like the tribes' medicine men. So glad that this song did that for the Cherokee Nation ❤️
Absolutely love your podcasts, Adam!! You really bring the backstories of Rock to life with your differnt series such as Revelations. I keep listening every evening, hoping that one day I'll hear the backstory of a song I heard many years ago... a song that I cannot find anywhere. For years I've been looking for this song I heard on my car radio in the summer of 1976 (if I recall correctly...) The song started with a light symphonic opening and the chorus repeated the line "That was then, this is now..." BUT I cannot find it anywhere!! Anyone have a clue to what I'm talking about?? I can remember the DJ saying "The name of that song has nothing to do with the words..."
I doubt this is the song you're looking for but The Monkees recorded a song in 1966 called, That was then, This is now". I didn't hear a symphonic beginning so maybe some band did a cover version in '76? Good luck hunting for it.
As a fan of Paul Revere and the Raiders, I adored this song. Living just a mile from a local reservation, it gave me insight into their history, as the reservation concept was not limited to those tribes living in the southeast. Many tribes, all over the US, were herded onto was was considered unusable land by the US Government. The tribe local to me - The People of the Pines - had been forced down out of the mountains to hardscrabble foothills, straddling the San Andreas Fault.
That they survived, and later, with the advent of Indian Gaming (Bingo Halls and Casinos), THRIVED, is of great joy to me, not least because my BFF and her husband both have native blood - Cherokee and Choctaw to name just two lines.
I never knew that Artie Butler was the organist for the outro of Indian Reservation or that he was also the one who did Society's Child. Both are masterful short riffs with a hard-edged overdrive tone.
This song is popular with many Indian & native tribes. Also CCR's Proud Mary dance song with words about life on a river is a smash.
what a wild story... the fact he made that all up is sort of hilarious...
i suspected it was bogus just by where he pulled over to sleep out the storm...
great song, great backstory.
That story sounds exactly like a story Roberto Clemente told about being kidnapped, then after they discovered who he was, drove him at high speed to the ballpark, just making the game.
When I first heard this song, I was totally captivated and wanted to hear it over and over again. My son who's 28 now, has it on his playlist.
I bought this song when I was 12 years old and was oblivious to it's true depth of meaning for a long time. I've seen Mark Lindsey perform this live twice on the happy together tour. he was incredible kicking his leg up over his head in his 70s lol while performing the song kicks. mark had to retire recently I've heard. highly recommend the happy together tour if you have the opportunity.
What an incredible story and research by yourself. The lying toe rag but at least there was a kind of happy ending. Ive never heard of this song or artist before but very fascinating
I loved that song from the first time I heard it when I was really little. I actually saw them do a little concert in the late 70s at Disneyland. Great show!!
What did they play there?
@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 They played the hits that they had, and they did some covers of songs like Born to be Wild. They sounded great.
New to your channel. What a fantastic “deep dive” behind the scenes. I remember hearing this song played on the school bus taking us to the YMCA summer camp. I appreciate the details you uncovered, especially all the participants (and the other projects they’ve worked on). Phenomenal! Consider me a BIG fan (and a new subscriber)
Great song. My junior high music teacher used to play it in class all the time. I’d never heard of the crazy story the songwriter made up about how he composed it. Another great video Professor.
I’m curious do you have any videos on 1960s garage rock music? Bands such as The Seeds, The Yarbirds, The Stooges, etc? It’s a genre I like a lot and feel that should still have some popularity. But I think it’s mostly not listened to much anymore. Some great bands and songs from that genre.
Keep up the great content!!
I JUST heard this story like last week on an old Casey Kasem American Top 40 show!
Awesome! Wow. what a coincidence!
Premiere Radio edited in a piece with Larry Morgan talking about how John came clean about the story later on in the 70s. Premiere had Larry do a similar piece about Barry Sadler during a rerun that had Casey Kasem playing "Ballad of The Green Berets" as an AT40 extra.
@@raylsullivan- haha, I certainly bought it hook, line & sinker!
I have Cherokee on both sides of my family (not enough to count for anything). I heard this song when I was a little kid in the mid 70s.
Always loved 60s music because my mom would dance around the house. Good memories.
Always great and informative episodes Adam!!
JJ -South Alabama
This is one of my favorite songs from that period. It didn't hurt that it had that iconic Hammond riff at the end, and I had just started learning to play the organ.
I heard Casey tell this story on the classic Top 40 earlier this year. After the show, the announcer clarified that it was all bogus. I would also mention that the group Europe had a song "Cherokee" in 1987 with the same theme.
I was Indian when Indian wasn't cool. The most painful ( when I was 6 years old) was just before Halloween. Kids looked at me and said, what are you going as tonight? Then they all laughed and said, oh you're going as an Indian. I never got over it.😢
I'm a 1/4 Cherokee. It's not much but I'm proud of my heritage. My paternal grandmother was full blooded Cherokee.
This is one of my favorite songs ever. I play it on repeat all the time.
I'm working on a science fiction story in which, one of the things that happens on Earth is that the Cherokee Nation truly returns.
Not just a monument (👍), and not just the East and West uniting, and having a National Park (👍), but truly returning to prominence and territory.
Becoming a nation again.
This song is the impetus for that story.
I grew up with this song, and still love The Raiders definitive version.
Thank you for the showcase of it, Adam. 🤙
Be Excellent to each other and Party on. 🤘🎸😎
OOH OOH I can't wait to read it!
@@ReleaseTheQuackers Thank you very much for the vote of confidence and interest. 😊
Be Excellent to each other and Party on. 🤘🎸😎
Would love to hear the story!
In 1971 I was 11 years old. That year, I bought my first three albums with my own money. I had bought a few 45's, but never an album. The three were, Blood, Sweat & Tears self-titled album, American Pie by Don McLean, and Indian Reservation by Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the next few years my tastes ran toward the Eagles, Marshall Tucker, Allman Bros, the Doobie Bros, Lynyrd Skynyrd, then the Outlaws, Boston, Molly Hatchet and others as the 70's marched on. I have never forgotten the feeling of buying those albums with my own, hard-earned money. I had also gotten my first guitar in the fall of 1970. I spent countless hours trying to learn the riffs and chord structures of those memorable songs. Drove my parents crazy. Some years later it was satisfying to see the pride in their faces when I could play several of the melodic ballads from those great bands. Thanks for the nostalgic catalyst, Adam.
My mother was from Columbus Ohio born and raised until she married my dad. I didnt know until recently that there was a large population of Cherokee Indians. My mother's grandfather was a full blooded Cherokee Indian
OMG I Was just thinking of this song last week . I WAS SEARCHING CHEROKEE PEOPLE AND COULDN’T FIND IT. WOW thanks for airing this👍🤘❤️
Excellent story!! Great production!!
Paul revere and the raiders did some good songs! I was a tiny girl, but the youngest of five...so I heard all the music!
My mother was a Paul Revere and the Raiders fan. Her father took her to see them several times in Kansas City and she had Mark Lindsey's solo records. One of them ended up being very useful for transporting a 6 inch lizard that no one believed my sister about, out of the house. We sawr him in concert on New Years Eve in 1995 in Daytona. This song always struck me in particular of his music. Mother mentioned that he actualy had Cherokee blood and that made it stand out ot me more. I was aware that someone else wrote it, but Lindsey was the real creator of the song to me.
I cry every time I hear this song.
It's very moving.
It’s poignant.
I remember a kid I went to school with tell me this story, I thought that's how the song was created, he must have heard it on Top 40 or his older brother told it to him, thanks for clearing this up.
It sounded like it was believable because of Wounded Knee and other social unrest at the time.
Great information your always enlightening me.
Thanks
I'm guessing he wrote the greatest song ever, but all we got was just the Tribute.
Back around 1957-60, an American rock n roller named Buddy Knox had a couple of hits, including Hula Love, Party Doll. etc., before being confronted and threatened by mobsters forcing Buddy to flee the USA and move to my region of British Columbia, Canada. Also in 1964, the bassist for The Four Seasons ran a foul of the mafia and required the intervention of a mafia head to spare him.
I have always loved this song. In 1971 i was 8 yo. Maybe that planted a seed in my psyche that has led me to 'always' empathize & side with native Americans & their causes since European settlers invaded their land & took over. Thank you for sharing!!
Huge fan of AT40 back then. I remember believing the story.
Oh well.
Don Fardon had an earlier hit "Take a Heart", with a melody similar to Indian Reservation.
The Raiders finally had the huge hit they always wanted, but by that time were passe and their album stiffed.
Good work with the seventies Professor!
Thanks Peter!
They probably weren’t the only band to not hit #1 until late in their peak career.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 But much like Peter Paul and Mary, they finally hit the top when people liked the song but were no longer interested in the artist.
In Australia it was Don Fardon's version that got the airplay. The only Mark Lindsay songs that got airplay were Arizona, Silverbird and Miss America.
I was too young to understand it when it came out but I still loved it.
Cher approves of this video.
I had the 45 rpm when I was a 7th grader. I play that song over and over.
Collected this incidentally with some jigsaw game or desktop themes from a site that packaged soundfiles with them. Oh, wow, am I glad I did! Great music by itself, & thru my own abuse growing up, had a _tiny_ taste of what they went thru.
Learning that "backstory", then that it was faked?? Infuriated is too small a word!!!
My wife‘s paternal grandfather grew up on a Cherokee reservation and his name is on the registry. She does not claim to be Cherokee but she has ancestors that perished on the infamous trail of tears.
I was friends with the girl on the Cars album on your shirt! I also recorded "I Hate Christmas " with Rick Berlin in the Cars studio on Newbury St. Good times...
OMG I LOVE the shirt you're wearing in this one...classic. I had it back in the 80s but it was lost to time...your channel rocks!
It's neat to learn not only about this song and how Paul didn't appear on it but did participate in its promotion.
Isn't that cool?
@@ProfessorofRock When Paul got a new Raiders band together as a sort of nostalgia act, this song was usually the closer. It went on for decades until his passing. That’s serious longevity!
I thought he was involved because it had his name on it! Oh well.
Did he just say Don Farton? OMG. That guys kids must have lived through hell growing up.
Mark & Paul, two Idaho pals! I remember my older sister had a crush on Mark. Great video~! edit: I just have to say Casey Casam was one in a million! He gave us so many woderful memories & of course Scooby Doo's Shaggy ! [voice]
I worked with Paul 12 times......he told me if his kids hadn't liked the song so much that he wouldn't have pushed it.
I definitely remember the Raider's version of this one. I grew up in Western Montana in the 70's (and 80's), and this was a radio favorite.
I remember when Casey Kasem told that story on "American Top 40"-"Indian Reservation" is an all-time classic.
Great Choice @ Thanksgiving. Great Song..Still have the 45 & the Mark Lindsey Album on CD
I repaired/restored the Hammond B3 that Paul Revere And The Raiders used in the studio to record this song.
I, too, was kidnapped....and forced to vote for Joe Biden.
😂😂😂👍
See it worked out for the best…
My sympathies.🙏🏻😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
One of my past lives keeps voting Democrat.
I miss Casey Kasem. His broadcasts were epic and I always looked forward to them.
I remember when this song came out, I was 13 at the time and had a big crush on Mark Lindsay!
I had been following Paul Revere and the Raiders through all of the teen magazines and their show on TV. If I remember correctly, the show aired on Saturday? Hard to remember the details that far out.
I do recall, there was controversy about the song.
But not about the so called kidnapping. I believe it was more about how Mark Lindsay wasn't Cherokee, so why would he be singing about them? I didn't care, I loved the song and Mark Lindsay...lol!
Thanks for sharing this story. I found it amusing!.
There was a Country version of this song during the 70s!! It was sung by a man named Billy Thunderkloud!! He sang it as Indian People!! My whole family hated this version!! You can find it on UA-cam!! Thanks for sharing this story!!
If it's on YT will you link to it here? Thanks!
ua-cam.com/video/UjOoD2iSqCE/v-deo.htmlsi=JF8HVJyz650Y-Xd6
I just posted it!!
Whaaaa?
Cherokee Nation wasn`t one of my favorites,but I`m glad someone did it. The Trail of Tears should be recognized as the most shameful things our ancestors did. Speaking of John D. L. I do have his Language of Love in my collection from my early years memories. Also I have Arizona,and quite a few Paul R.& Raiders. My favs being "Him or Me,and I Had a Dream.