[Intro]
Personally, I should prefer to see the aborigines
And the Indians, too!
And the Indians, too!
This should be most enlightening
What makes the red man red?
Teach 'em all about red man
[Chorus]
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
Teach 'em all about red man (red man)
[Verse 1]
Your history books (lies)
Your holidays (lies)
Thanksgiving lies and Columbus Day
Tell me why I know more than the teacher
Tell me why I know more than the preacher
Tell me why you think the red man is red
Stained with the blood from the land you bled
Tell me why you think the red man is dead
With a fake headdress on your head
Tell me what you know about thousands of nations
Displaced and confined to concentration camps
called reservations
We died for the birth of your nation
Hollywood portrays us wrong (like savages)
History books say we're gone (like savages)
Your god and church say we're wrong (savages)
We're from the Earth, it made us strong
[Chorus]
Many moons, red man fought paleface
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
Please, you want to stay here and grow up like, like
savages?
[Verse 2]
Savages is as savage does
The white man came and ravaged us
Caused genocide, look in my eyes
And tell me who you think the savage was
Savages?
Savages?
Their great celebration continued into the night
[Bridge]
Manifest destiny arrested what's best for me
They kill my culture, America made a mess of me
You inherited everything we die for and all we get is
a goddamn mascot
Manifest destiny arrested what's best for me
They kill my culture, America made a mess of me
You inherited everything we die for and all we get is
a goddamn mascot
Redskin, red-redskins, redskins, redskin, those
redskins
Many moons the red man fought paleface
Sometimes you win, sometimes we win
You made me red when you killed my people
Made me red when you bled my tribe
Made me red when you killed my people
(Like savages, like savages)
[Chorus: The Chief & Frank Waln]
The real true story of the red man
The real true story of the red man
No matter what is written or said
What made the red man red?
All the lies that you spread
What made the red man red?
All the blood that you bled
What made the red man red?
All the lies that you spread
What made the red man red?
You, you
Now you know why the red man's red.
[Outro]
Pale-face savages
Pale-face savages
Go out and catch a few Indians
Savages
Personally, I should prefer to see the aborigines
And the Indians, too!
And the Indians, too!
This should be most enlightening
What makes the red man red?
Teach 'em all about red man
[Chorus]
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
Teach 'em all about red man (red man)
[Verse 1]
Your history books (lies)
Your holidays (lies)
Thanksgiving lies and Columbus Day
Tell me why I know more than the teacher
Tell me why I know more than the preacher
Tell me why you think the red man is red
Stained with the blood from the land you bled
Tell me why you think the red man is dead
With a fake headdress on your head
Tell me what you know about thousands of nations
Displaced and confined to concentration camps
called reservations
We died for the birth of your nation
Hollywood portrays us wrong (like savages)
History books say we're gone (like savages)
Your god and church say we're wrong (savages)
We're from the Earth, it made us strong
[Chorus]
Many moons, red man fought paleface
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
What made the red man red?
Please, you want to stay here and grow up like, like
savages?
[Verse 2]
Savages is as savage does
The white man came and ravaged us
Caused genocide, look in my eyes
And tell me who you think the savage was
Savages?
Savages?
Their great celebration continued into the night
[Bridge]
Manifest destiny arrested what's best for me
They kill my culture, America made a mess of me
You inherited everything we die for and all we get is
a goddamn mascot
Manifest destiny arrested what's best for me
They kill my culture, America made a mess of me
You inherited everything we die for and all we get is
a goddamn mascot
Redskin, red-redskins, redskins, redskin, those
redskins
Many moons the red man fought paleface
Sometimes you win, sometimes we win
You made me red when you killed my people
Made me red when you bled my tribe
Made me red when you killed my people
(Like savages, like savages)
[Chorus: The Chief & Frank Waln]
The real true story of the red man
The real true story of the red man
No matter what is written or said
What made the red man red?
All the lies that you spread
What made the red man red?
All the blood that you bled
What made the red man red?
All the lies that you spread
What made the red man red?
You, you
Now you know why the red man's red.
[Outro]
Pale-face savages
Pale-face savages
Go out and catch a few Indians
Savages
inviata da Pierre-André Lienhard - 25/7/2025 - 13:37
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On his first studio record, "The Bridge" [2017]
Lyrics by Frank Waln, with samples from Disney's 1953 "Peter Pan"
Lakota rapper and activist Frank Waln wrote this scathing satire of the song “What Made The Red Man Red?” from Disney’s 1953 film Peter Pan to criticize its broadly stereotypical portrayal of Native American tribes. Using audio samples from the original song, he lambasts the United States for its legacy of colonialism and genocide in what was originally Native territory as well as Hollywood’s whitewashing of the harsh history of U.S.-Native relationships.
The song was first released on Dec. 29, 2015, on KOYA FM, the local radio station for the Sicangu Oyate (Oyate is the Lakota word for nation). Place and date are significant: on that December day of 1890, about 300 Lakota were slaughtered by the US 7th Cavalry in what remains sadly known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. His flipping of the stereotype of the "good savage" was a gift to his community, an acknowledgement to the resistance of the elders and a kind of manifest, a commitment to what his beginning rapper career would be dedicated.
(More infos in the web article "Breaking stereotypes with lyrics")