Tecumseh, Tenskwatawa and the "Panther in the Sky" (revised)

It only took me a few minutes to write this song, but I got so caught up in researching it that I felt like the process of writing the lyrics was the break from the greater project of learning and stuff otherwise incomplete

I wrote it yesterday afternoon so the vocals are still unsteady. I tried a few different rhythms, but I think the clumsy driving down-strokes is where the song wants to go, so that's why this might be a good Elephant Walk song.

This song means alot to me. I hope that after you listen to it you stick around and let me tell you all about it.

Here is the song called "Panther in the Sky."

Below the words is the story of Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa aka the Prophet and how they helped me write this here song:

"I've seen shapes in the sun

the vultures circle one by one

through the panther in the sky

no one taught me how or why

but

I know signs when I see em

I know signs, i believe em

i know signs

paint her toe, her foot white

I can walk with her tonight

as the earth trembles beneath

the soft steps of her feet

catch a dream, catch a spell

of the times that i could tell

it will warn us far and wide

with a panther in the sky

I know love when I see it

I know love, i believe it

i know love

Take a stick stack, put 'em in your pack

give the good ones to your chief

throw the red ones away, on the 30th day

it's gonna shake all disbelief. Believe me

I've seen ponds, i've seen tides

where the moon beam abides

and the panther in the sky

keeps a warning watchful eye

bother makes a loud noise

he can't help to hear his voice

and all the work that we have done

melts like snow before the sun

I know signs when I see em

I know signs, i believe em

i know signs

i knows love"

I'm 1/16 native American and I recently took a great interest in my heritage. This song was inspired by the story of Tecumseh, the fearless Shawnee native chief.* I will refrain from entertaining any conspiracy that I may imagine concerning the lack of information of Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (ten-squat-away) especially considering their prophesies and how they may have been some of the most profound revelations ever in the Western Hemisphere. But needless to say, I find it very interesting that this stuff is not taught in school. That said...

When Tecumseh was born in modern day Ohio, it is said that the night sky lit up so he was given the name that means "Panther in the Sky", or as us white people might say, "shooting star." He was one of the greatest warriors and hunters of his time and became chief of his tribe in his early 20's. Tecumseh realized his potential as a prophet and seer at a young age as well. His life's work was to unite rival tribes of Indians together to resist a purge led by future president, Gov/Gen William Henry Harrison. He was very close to this achievement which would have changed the face of America as we know it, but ultimately failed due to poor timing. He left his brother Tenskwatawa, aka The Prophet to lead his tribe located at Prophetstown Indiana while he went to the tribal council of chief to propose his treaty. Knowing that a conflict with the whites would jeopardize the treaty, he left instructions to Prophet to avoid all conflict. As he was away, the Prophet led his tribe in a battle against Harrison's forces at Prophetstown now modern day Battle Ground, IN. Ultimately, almost the entire tribe was annihilated at the hands of Harrison's troops resulting in the failure of the treaty. Prophet, or Tenskwatawa whose name means "To Make A Loud Noise" claimed he had a vision that he should lead the tribe to attack the whites. He had his visions on Prophet's rock, a powerful and unusual geographic place. On the stone memorial beneath Prophet's rock it says that it "was here that the Prophet sang songs to his warriors to lead them to battle and ultimately their death."

Tecumseh's legacy of prophesy seems much more intriguing. Have you ever heard of the New Madrid earthquake of 1811? It was the strongest earthquake to ever hit North America, ever, ever. Centered in New Madrid, Ill/MO it knocked down chimneys in far away Maine. There are several interesting things about the New Madrid Earthquake, besides it's sheer destructive power, New Madrid is devoid of seismic activity. Though Tecumseh predicted this massive quake and little information is available about his predictions or the quake itself. Tecumseh didn't merely predict this massive quake, he prophesied it many months in advance down to the very day it occurred. Some find it odd that the truth hidden from American history the quake was the signal Tecumseh gave to the Indians in advance to unite and drive the land stealing whites off the continent. The Great Spirit of land was not pleased with the whites and would give a signal to Tecumseh to unify the tribes. Tecumseh went around the country and visited several tribes and gave the chiefs 30 red sticks. 29 to be discarded at certain intervals. When the 30th one was reached, you could look to the night sky and see the sign of Tecumseh, the Panther in the Sky. This was later confirmed to be the great comet of 1811, the brightest comet that the Earth had seen at the time. (I would like to comment that the Comet with it's tail reminds me of a panther's claw ripping open the sky from another dimension.)

So if your a chief, you got these 30 red sticks right and instructions to follow these signals, you already threw out 29 of them and now your at the 30th one and you look up, see the sign of Tecumseh, say "Holy Shit he was right," then you take the 30th stick and break it into 30 more pieces and burn one piece a night until they are gone. On the 30th day, the New Madrid Earthquake happened. Crazy huh? It is speculated that the comet caused the earthquake with it's proximity and gravitational pull considering the lack of a fault line around New Madrid.

So I took those two stories and that's how I got my lyrics, but not entirely, there's more.

Prophet's Rock

This place was the sole inspiration of this song. I go there almost every time I visit my folks in Indiana, it's right off the freeway on I-65, about 11 miles North of highway 26 in Lafayette. Stop there next time. It's funny to me that it seems that nobody in the area knows where it is, but the place seems to draw me in. This rock reminds me of the rock in the movie the Lion King where the monkey holds the baby lion guy up. It jets out from the Earth in an odd way, there is a cave under the plateau and climbing to the top incredibly difficult. But once you are on top, it is really magical. You can sense an energy, you can feel it in the trees, you can tell this is where Prophet received revelations and "sang songs to lead his warriors into battle and ultimately their death." When I'm there, I can't stop thinking about that. Music, songs, singing songs on top of this rock to lead people into battle that they know they are greatly outnumbered, they know they are going to die, but it is here where he sang them SONGS that convinced them nonetheless. I always wondered what the song sounded like. I always take a leave from the 100+ year old tress and use them as bookmarks or put them under my pillow, maybe they might remember how it goes if they heard it and would sing it to me in a dream. When I'm there, I like to stay for awhile and meditate on that. Once I took Adam K there when we were in town. I brought my guitar, we brought a bottle of red Lambrusco and a joint and had Elephant Walk practice up there, singing songs to no one but the old trees. We split a great deal of wine for the warriors by spilling it around the ground, and it was one of the best band experiences I've ever had. I've always wanted to write a song about it, and though this song is not about it particularly, it reminds me of my mission. I really love that place, I could always sense something about it ever since I was a young guy.

*If you are Chris Capelle or share his infamous dislike for Indian songs, this song is not really about Indians. Please disregard everything you just read. I intentionally left it vague and open for your own interpretation... make it about dress socks or cats or Europeans and enjoy.

read also info on Tecumseh's Curse, a cursed placed on Harrison after he took office of the President for his drive to purge the Indians from North America. His curse said that presidents elected in a year that ends in 0 would die in office. Harrison died just a month after taking office from pneumonia. Every president elected in a year that ended in 0 has been killed or died in office until 170 years later when Reagan survived an assassination attempt.