The Songs of River Road

The Buffalo Song

River Road, Track 3 - 3:27
T Longbottom / G Pruden / D Koulack

The culture of the Métis revolved around the buffalo hunt; it was no coincidence that when the buffalo disappeared, so did the old Métis culture.

I was there at Seven Oaks 
Was wounded at the Grand Coteau
And endless miles of trail I've wandered
Searching for the buffalo

My pony was a mighty runner
Mane of fire two eyes like coal
We'd charge into the herd like thunder
The world was full of buffalo

Chorus
My dreams are haunted by the past
Where do the old ways go
Vanished like a prairie sunset
They follow the buffalo

Over the ridge the herd was waiting
Said the ponies and a squawking crow
We had a life filled to the bursting
When we hunted buffalo

You give us meat to fill our bellies 
To warm us when the cold winds blow
You give us robes to make our beds soft
Thank you God for buffalo

We had a place outside St Francis
By the river where the breezes blow
But it was stolen by a whiteman 
When we were hunting buffalo

So we fought the British at Batoche
Our blood ran red as their coats
We lost the war and our land
All gone the way of the buffalo