The Heart Of The Appaloosa Lyrics - Singles - Small Fred

From the land of shooting waters to the peaks of the Coeur d'Alene 

Thimbleberries in the forest, elk grazing on the plain 

The People of the Coyote made their camp along the streams 

Of the green Wallowa Valley when fences had no name. 

And they bred a strain of horses, the treasure of the tribe 

Who could toe-dance on a ridge or gallop up a mountainside 

Who could haul the hunter's burden, turn a buffalo stampede 

The horse that wore the spotted coat was born with matchless speed. 

CHORUS: 

Thunder Rolling in the Mountains 

Lead the People across the Great Divide 

There's blood on the snow in the hills of Idaho 

But the heart of the Appaloosa never died. 

In the winter came the crowned ones near frozen in the cold 

Bringing firearms and spyglasses and a book that saves the soul 

The people gave them welcome, nursed them till their strenght returned 

And studied the talking paper, its mysteries to learn. 

In the shadow of the mission sprang up farms and squatter towns 

The plain was lined with fences, the plow blade split the ground 

In the shallows of the Clearwater gold glittered in the pan 

And the word would come from Washington: remove the Indian. 

CHORUS 

The chief spoke to the People in his anger and his pain 

"I am no more Chief Joseph. Rolling Thunder is my name. 

They condemn us to a wasteland of barren soil and stone 

We shall fight them if we must, but we will find another home." 

They fled into the Bitterroot, an army at their heels 

They fought at White Bird Canyon, they fought at Misery Hill 

Till the colonel saw his strategy and sent the order down 

To kill the Appaloosa wherever it be found. 

CHORUS 

Twelve hundred miles retreating, three times over the Divide 

The horse their only safety, their only ally 

Three thousand Appaloosas perishod with the tribe 

The people and the horses dying side by side. 

Thunder Rolling in the Mountains said, "my heart is sick and sad. 

Our children now are freezing. The old chiefs are dead. 

The hunger take our spirit. Our wounds are deep and sore. 

From where the sun now stands I shal fight no more." 

CHORUS 

They were sent to Oklahoma, malaria ran rife 

But more died of broken hearts far from the land that gave them life 

And the man once called Joseph at death was heard to say 

"We have given up our horses. They have gone away." 

But sometimes without warning from a dull domestic herd 

A spotted horse of spirit wondrous will emerge 

Strong it is and fearless and nimble on a hill 

Listening for thunder, the Appaloosa's living still. 

CHORUS