The Raiders had their biggest hit with this protest song that was recorded as a solo demo for their lead singer. 'Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)' was written by Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer John D. Loudermilk about the displacement of Native Americans from the American southeast to reservations west of the Mississippi on the "Trail of Tears" after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Marvin Rainwater and Don Fardon each released the song with little success before this version was recorded.
Mark Lindsay tells the story of how the single came together: "It was supposed to be a Mark Lindsay single. The guy that wanted me to sing ballads at CBS, was a guy named Jack Gold. He'd heard my voice and wanted me to do an album of ballads. He's the guy that put me with Jerry Fuller (producer) and that's where 'Arizona' and 'Silver Bird' and all those things came from. Anyway he calls me into his office one day and says, "Lindsay, I've found your next single." And he plays me "Indian Reservation." And I knew the song because I'd heard it by Don Fardon. And I said, "That's great but Fardon had this out six months ago and it fell off the charts." And he said "Aren't you part Cherokee?" And I said, "Yeah I'm a little Cherokee." So he said, "I think you can sell this song. It's right for the times." And he was right. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee was a bestseller and there was a whole giant backlash about the way Native Americans had been treated. So it was right for the times. And it was cut as a Mark Lindsay single. Except when I went to Jerry Fuller with the demo he didn't have the time to produce it. So I went in and produced it myself. I was producing the Raiders but I didn't produce myself because I thought it was too hard to be objective. So when we finished the session, I really, really liked it but I didn't know whether I liked it because I produced it -- and it was certainly the most ambitious production I was ever involved in -- or whether it was just a great cut. At the time we needed a single for the Raiders. I had cut 'Birds Of A Feather' for the Raiders. And I went to Revere I told him I thought that was chart hit but maybe it would chart around 30 or somewhere. But not a top ten record. And I told him, "I've got this thing I cut for myself and I honestly don't know if it'll be number one or won't even make the charts. But if you want it for a Raiders record we can put the Raiders name on it." And we did and it was of course the biggest single the Raiders never played on."
'Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)' was the only American number one for Paul Revere & the Raiders, became Columbia's biggest-selling single for almost a decade, with over six million copies sold, and led to an hit album with the same title. The last line of the song was prophetic. The Eastern and Western bands of the Cherokee Nation became one again on April 6, 1984 when the tribes officially reunited at the Red Clay Council Grounds outside Cleveland, Tennessee.
They took the whole Cherokee Nation
Put us on this reservation
Took away our ways of life
The tomahawk and the bow and knife
Took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the beads we made by hand
Are nowadays made in Japan
Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die
They took the whole Indian Nation
Locked us on this reservation
Though I wear a shirt and tie
I'm still a red man deep inside
Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die
But maybe someday when they've learned
Cherokee Nation will return
Will return, will return
Will return, will return
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