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Official Lyrics

Where the Missouri hills roll down through the timber

And Arkansas rivers carry stories on

There are names the passing years still remember

There are roots that have been holding all along


Through the changes through the silence

Through the years when no one seemed to hear

Western Cherokee kept standing

And the truth is still standing here


We ain't asking for a story made

We're standing on the words already laid


Missouri and Arkansas

Western Cherokee Nation

Still standing on the ground

Of every generation


It's already written

It's already there

Cherokee names and history

Still living everywhere


You can turn another page

You can look the other way

But Missouri and Arkansas

Still know our name today


Western Cherokee Nation

We've been here all along


This is more than lines upon a paper

More than signatures somebody chose to see

It's the people holding fast to one another

It's a history carried faithfully


We don't need a brand-new beginning

We don't need a story handed down

We are asking recognition

For the Nation already standing on this ground


Recognition ain't creation

It can't make us what we already are


Missouri and Arkansas

Western Cherokee Nation

Still standing on the ground

Of every generation


It's already written

It's already there

Cherokee names and history

Still living everywhere


You can turn another page

You can look the other way

But Missouri and Arkansas

Still know our name today


Western Cherokee Nation

We've been here all along


Missouri knows our footsteps

Arkansas knows our names

These hills have watched us carry on

Through every season every change


We are not another story

We are not a borrowed name

We are Western Cherokee

And we are standing here the same


Missouri

Still here


Arkansas

Still here


Cherokee

Still here


Western Cherokee Nation

Still here


Missouri and Arkansas

Western Cherokee Nation

Still standing on the ground

Of every generation


It was already written

It was always there

Through the years and through the struggle

Through the burdens that we bear


Let the truth come to the daylight

Let the old record testify

You can wait on recognition

But you cannot pass us by


Missouri and Arkansas

Let the Cherokee voices rise

Western Cherokee Nation

Still standing

Still alive


We've been here all along


Missouri

Arkansas


Western Cherokee Nation


Still Cherokee

Still standing


Still here

Notes:

I have been tasked with giving the website of the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas & Missouri a new facelift. My research consumed me. The Nation has a lot of history.

My songwriting wandered into new territory. Could I write some kind of Anthem for the Nation? A white dude on his way to Missouri through multiple states? After working on social media, photos, and PowWow information for the past two years, thousands of miles away in the desert?

Could I represent the Nation without being a member? After white men, my ancestors, broke all of the treaties? Me. Write lyrics and pull it off?

You tell me.
This song version made me cry. It is powerful. When a version makes me cry time and time again, I know no other version will be worth exploring. That's when I stop iterating.

Listen to the Lyrics. it's not my story. It doesn't even need to be written. It was written a long time ago.

Truly, this is a song to honor the members of the WCNAM. I've had great responses so far.

Giddy-up!

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