BuffyFest One

It's Buffy Sainte-Marie's birthday this week so I'm having a bit of a BuffyFest on on my iPod. To celebrate the birth of a great woman I thought I'd share my thoughts about some of her songs I've heard today and each day this week.

Lazarus

The first song that popped up on my iPey was 'Lazarus' from Buffy's 'Many A Mile' album from 1965. I don't know much about the song and assumed it's an old spiritual about a runaway slave (but if you know differently, then please tell me). The thing about 'Lazarus' is that it's just Buffy's voice and hand-claps and that's it. No other instruments or backing, a stark, harrowing and powerful sound, with Buffy's voice ringing out above a slow hand-clap.

It's an astonishing sound, so astonishing that Kanye West "sampled" it a few years ago for a track he produced for Cam'ron called 'Dead or Alive'. The "sample" is basically just Buffy singing the phrase, 'dead or alive', with her voice fed through a computer but still recognisably Buffy. Even feeding her voice through a computer isn't exactly original since Buffy was doing that herself back in 1969 on her experimental electronic album, 'Illuminations'.

Starwalker

'Starwalker' is from Buffy's 'Sweet America' album from 1976, and, as noted on the album sleeve, is dedicated to the American Indian Movement. It's a very poetic song with some powerful imagery and pow wow sound, with each verse about a different traditional archetype and the overall message to 'Aim straight, stand tall'. We're introduced to Starwalker, Wolf Rider and Lightning Woman and invited to 'pray up your medicine song' to pounding drums and pow wow singing.

This has been a long time favourite but my take on it changed last year when I finally read 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' while I was in hospital. I read a short reference to Buffalo-Calf-Road-Woman who rode out in a hail of bullets to save her brother from ambush by the US cavalry while the warriors of the tribe watched. A woman of such bravery must have done more with her life but that one sentence in a book is all we seem to know about her. I think of her when I hear 'Starwalker', one of the many unknowns lost to history, she is Wolf Rider, the Dog Soldier, Lightning Woman, Thunderchild and a host of other archetypes.

Wolf Rider she's a friend of yours
You've seen her opening doors
She's a history turner
She's a sweetgrass burner
And a dog soldier
Ay hey wey hey wey heya

Scoot on over to the Buffy tribute site to listen to some samples of these tracks (click 'discography' and then the title of the album to hear 30 second samples). More Buffy tomorrow...