Story Behind The Song

From the Billboard Top 10 American Roots album "Dust Bowl - American Stories. This song is told from the perspective of Native Americans who were moved against their wills up into the Great Plains 100 years before the Dust Bowl, and who then suffered as everyone did during the drought and storms of the 1930s. "Isht A Lhampko" means "Have Strength" in the choctaw language

Song Description

From the Billboard Top 10 American Roots album "Dust Bowl - American Stories. This song is told from the perspective of Native Americans who were moved against their wills up into the Great Plains 100 years before the Dust Bowl, and who then suffered as everyone did during the drought and storms of the 1930s. "Isht A Lhampko" means "Have Strength" in the choctaw language. The choctaw were the first of the five tribes that were forcibly relocated by the US government in the 1830s "Trail Of Tears." Thanks to the cultural center of the Choctaw Tribe in Durant, OK for helping me understand their culture, and with these words and their pronunciation.

Lyrics

Isht A Lhampko (Have Strength)
Words & Music © Grant Maloy Smith

Earth below my blanket
Sky above my head
Just outside my vision
The sky was turning red

Water is our life line
Rain is like our blood
Why's our whole world dying?
Lord, what have we done?

But it's all right
We're still breathing
Isht a Lhampko
We're not leaving

Air has come against us
Clouds of humma roll
Listen to the wind song
Singing from his soul

Fire has cooked our rabbits
And lit our skies for years
We will not be beaten
We have walked the trail of tears

But it's all right
We're still breathing
Isht a Lhampko
We're not leaving
But it's all right
We're still breathing
Isht a Lhampko
We're not leaving

But it's all right
We're still breathing
Isht a Lhampko
We're not leaving
But it's all right
We're still breathing
Isht a Lhampko
We're not leaving