Marty Stuart - Three Chiefs lyrics

In a 4 by room at Pine Ridge
On a cold December day
A spirit come down from the heaven
World to take Red Cloud away
Mary and Jesus and the stars and stripes
Looked down on his bed
Women brought snow in off the ground
To cool his fevered head
When the dust of his wars
Rolled in from the past
Like storm clouds gathered from time
He knew his day on earth had come
To make his peace and die

He raised his hand for mercy
Surrendered his last breath of life
Then six white horses came into the room
And took him to the sky
Where he stood face to face with a
Mysterious form at the edge of eternity
God said "Hello, Red Cloud
Now say what you will to me"

Red Cloud said
"I hope the great heavenly father
Who looks upon us
Will give all the tribes his blessings that
They may go forth in peace
And live in peace all their days
And that our Heavenly Father will look
Upon our children as his children
That all tribes may be his children
And as we shake hands today
On this broad plain
May we forever live in peace
Now my sun is set my day is done
Just like the book says from the
Days of old, no cross, no crown
At the end of the life, at the setting sun
We lay our burdens down
We lay our burdens down

When Sitting Bull laid down to sleep
He didn't know when the mornin' come
That red tomahawk and police force
Armed with blazing guns
Would storm into his cabin and
Drag him from his bed
Throw him in the yard like a mangy dog
Where he was shot and left for dead

Murdered by McLaughlin's men
He never even had a chance
All because he stayed true to the ghost in
His heart and wouldn't give up the dance
His horse started spinin' and twirlin'
The world went round and round
Everybody saw Sitting Bull's body but his
Soul was nowhere to be found

He stood face to face with a mysterious
Form at the edge of eternity
God said, "Hello Sitting Bull
Now say what you will to me"
"You made me an Indian and I thank you
But Father now I ask you
What treaty have the Sioux made with the
White man that we have broken not one
And what treaty has the white man ever
Made with us that they have kept not one
Is it wrong for me to love
My own and defend them?
Is it wicked for me because my skin
Red or because I am a Sioux?
I gladly died for my people and my
Country because I am an Indian"

Just like the book said from the
Days of old, no cross, no crown
At the end of the life, at the setting sun
We lay our burdens down
We lay our burdens down

In a jailhouse in Nebraska
It was on September 5
Crazy Horse was fighting hard
To keep himself alive
He screamed just like a panther
At the sight of a guardhouse door
Stabbed in the back by a soldier's dagger
Crazy Horse fell down on the floor
He was the last warrior standing
Defending the old way of life
Where mountains sing and ponies run
Like smoke from the sacred pipe
Touch the Clouds took his body
Back home to his family
Nobody knows where they laid him down
To set his spirit free
He stood face to face with a mysterious
Form at the edge of eternity
God said, "Hello Crazy Horse
Now say what you will to me"

"Upon suffering beyond suffering the Red
Nation shall rise again
And it shall be a blessing for a sick world
A world filled with broken
Promises selfishness and separations
A world longing for light again
I see a time of seven generations when
All of the colors of mankind
Will gather under the sacred tree of life
And the whole earth will
Become one circle again and that day
There will be those among The Lakota
Who will carry knowledge and understanding of
Unity among all living things
And the young white ones will come to those
Of my people and ask for this wisdom
I salute the light within your eyes
For the whole universe dwells
For when you are at that center within you
And I am at that place within me
We shall be one"

Three men, three warriors
Good and noble chiefs
Prophets to their people
May they rest a while in peace
Their words echo like thunder through
The canyons at time
And shine like a flaming arrow in a world
In a world the truth is hard to find
No cross, no crown no cross, no crown
No cross, no crown