THE SQUAW DANCE

Lew Sarett

All: Beat, beat, beat, beat, beat, beat upon the tom-tom

Beat, beat, beat, beat, beat, beat upon the drum.

Solo 1: Hoy-eeeeeeeeee-yah! Hoy-eeeeeeeeee-yah!

All: Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle to the left, to the right,

Solo 2: Fat sqaws, lean squaws gliding in a row,

Grunting, wheezing, laughing as they go.

All: Bouncing up with a scuffle and a twirl,

Flouncing petticoat and hair in a whirl.

Solo 3: Rheumatic hags of gristle and brawn,

Rolling in like a ponderous billow;

Girls: Fair sqaws lithe as the leaping fawn—

Swaying with the wind and bending with the willow;

Solo 1: Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hoy-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-hay!

Solo 4: Medicine man on the medicine drum,

Beating out the rhythm with a steady thrum,

All: Medicine gourd with its rattle, rattle, rattle,

Finding wild with the call of battle.

Solo 5: Beaded drummers squatting in the ring

Leap to its challenge with a crouch and a spring;

Solo 6: Weathered old bucks that grunt and wheeze

As they jangle bells on their wrists and their knees.

All: Shining new and olden bells, silver, copper,

golden bells,

Cow-bells, toy bells, ringing sleigh-bells,

Solo 7: Beaded dance bells, “give-away” bells,

All: To the beat, beat, beat, beat upon the tom-tom,

Beat, beat, beat, beat, beat upon the drum;

A shuffle, shuffle, shuffle to the left, to the right,

Solo 1: Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hoy-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-yah!