Moving on to the great plains of the American West we find the remains of the Buffalo and here are some songs that reference them.
“Buffalo Creek” is a song by American Minor taken from the eponymous 2005 album. The song’s title refers to the bursting of the Buffalo Creek Dam in Logan County, West Virginia which released 132 million gallons of black waste water on February 26, 1972. The waste water was a product of the Pittston Coal Company, who also owned the dam. 125 people were killed, 1,121 injured and over 4,000 left homeless.
“Buffalo Soldier” is a reggae song written by Bob Marley and Noel “King Sporty” Williams and recorded by Jamaican band Bob Marley and the Wailers. It did not appear on record until the 1983 posthumous release of Confrontation, when it became one of Marley’s best-known songs. The title and lyrics refer to the black US cavalry regiments, known as “Buffalo Soldiers”, that fought in the American Indian Wars after 1866. Marley linked their fight to a fight for survival, and recasts it as a symbol of black resistance. The origin of the term “Buffalo Soldier” is theorized as given to black troops by Native Americans. The name was embraced by the troops, who were well acquainted with “the buffalo’s fierce bravery and fighting spirit”. The Buffalo Soldier’s duties were settling railroad disputes, building telegraph lines, repairing and building forts, and otherwise helping settlers colonize lands taken from Native Americans. They were also tasked with protecting the colonizing settlers from Native Americans.
“Buffalo Stance” is a song by Swedish singer Neneh Cherry, released from her debut album, Raw Like Sushi (1989), in November 1988. The song peaked at No. 3 in the UK and also on the US Billboard, and it reached No. 1 in her native Sweden and the Netherlands. An early version of the song appeared as the B-side on the 1986 Stock, Aitken and Waterman produced single “Loking Good Diving” by duo Morgan-McVey, which was made up of Jamie Morgan and Cherry’s future husband Cameron McVey. The song, titled “Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch”, was sung by Cherry.
“Buffalo Gals” is a traditional American song, written and published as “Lubly Fan” in 1844 by the blackface minstrel John Hodges, who performed as “Cool White”. The song was widely popular throughout the United States, where minstrels often altered the lyrics to suit local audiences, performing it as “New York Gals” in New York City, “Boston Gals” in Boston, or “Alabama Girls” in Alabama, as in the version recorded by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins on a 1959 field recording trip. The best-known version is named after Buffalo New York.
“Now That the Buffalo’s Gone” is the first song from the 1964 album It’s My Way! by Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. The song’s title refers to the near-extinction of the American bison and serves as a metaphor for the cultural genocide inflicted by Europeans. A classic folk protest song, “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone” has a simple arrangement with guitar and vocals by Sainte-Marie and bass played by Art Davis. The song is a lament that addresses the continuous confiscation of Indian lands. In the song, Sainte-Marie contrasts the treatment of post-war Germany, whose people were allowed to keep their land and their dignity, to that of North American Indians.
