Johnny Lobo

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Kris Kristofferson

Once upon a dusty reservation
Somewhere in the land of Sitting Bull
Johnny Lobo played with fire and dreamed of open spaces
Locked inside a heaven gone to hell
All the dreams were gone but not forgotten
Murdered like the holy buffalo
But Johnny Lobo knew the rules and grew into a warrior
Fighting for his people and his soul

Chorus:
Oh...... Johnny Lobo
Oh...... Johnny Lobo

Loaded down with lessons that he carried
Home from Viet Nam to Wounded Knee
Johnny Lobo burned a flag he knew had been dishonored
Paid the price for thinking he was free
Someone set his house on fire, burned it to the ground
With his wife and children locked inside
Later when the bitter tears were falling to the ashes
Something good in Johnny Lobo died

Chorus:
Oh...... Johnny Lobo
Oh...... Johnny Lobo

In a darkened corner of a tavern
Burning down old memories again
Johnny Lobo stares into the smoke and dream of clouds
Running like wild horses with the wind
Holy Phoenix rising from the ashes
Into the circle of the sun
Johnny Lobo's warrior heart was burnished in the embers
And the battle's just begun

Chorus: Oh...... Johnny Lobo
Oh...... Johnny Lobo

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Johnny Lobo Background Information
by Freedom Heart Rising

Being an Indian, and a bit of an activist myself, I know much about the man. I have seen him, and heard him talk, in a documentary that was made by Robert Redford, called "Incident at Oglala", which is about the Jumping Bull Compound firefight, between the Indians and the FBI, and how Leonard Peltier was imprisoned wrongly for the supposed killing of 2 FBI agents that day. (Two FBI agents did die that day, but not from being shot by Peltier! An Indian was also killed that day, but no one ever hears about that...his name was Joe Killsright Stuntz).

Also, John is a member, and one of the originals, of the American Indian Movement. (AIM). He is also a writer, songwriter, and a poet...a speaker, an advocate for all Indian Rights, etc. He also has 2 CD's out, "graffitti man", and "johnny damas and me". They are unusual, in that John talks on most of the songs, but there is music and singing. Kris is on 2 of the songs, BTW.

John also has several books out, (I think there are several), the most recent of which is called "Stickman". I also have this, and it is very good.

So: if you want to see what "Johnny Lobo" looks like, you can go and rent "Incident of Oglala" from your local video store, and you will learn some things in the process. John is in the documentary quite a bit. (His real name is John Trudell...in the house that the government burned down, were his wife Tina, his 3 children, and his mother-in-law, all who were fast asleep, and were innocent victims, as was John. The people in the house all died, as the house burned to the ground!)

This song, and his friendship with John, shows a side of Kris that makes me respect him greatly as a person, for being socially aware of the plight of the People, and for caring enough to participate in John's projects, as well as let people know about him, and what happened to him.