When I was a child I played cowboys and Indians Riding the range, taming the west We were the good guys Killing the Indians Then we'd tell the stories How we won the west Based on the white man's Version of history We never knew The wrong we had done Claiming the land Our manifest destiny Stripping the red man Of all that he owned Cowboys and Indians Arrows and guns The death of the nation Gave rise to a new one But what of the people Proud and noble and bold? The story of cowboys and Indians Must be retold We called them Indians They had their own name They were the people They had their own way But their way of life Would soon be no more The white man brought death Sickness and war Cowboys and Indians Arrows and guns The death of the nation Gave rise to a new one But what of the people Proud and noble and bold? The story of cowboys and Indians Must be retold We promised them justice Time after time Then broke every treaty We ever signed Those reservations Still cry out in shame But we couldn't break their spirit or faith Cowboys and Indians Arrows and guns The death of the nation Gave rise to a new one But what of the people Proud and noble and bold? The story of cowboys and Indians Must be retold The story of cowboys and Indians must be retold The story of cowboys and Indians Must be retold