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Ghostdance

Bill Miller

Text File

GHOSTDANCE - Bill Miller
from the album Ghostdance (1999)

On this, the title cut from his 1999 album, Miller combines a driving acoustic 
rock with the vocal technique common to Native American singing, that being the 
use of "vocables". these are simply word sounds, used so the voice can act as an 
instrument without having specific meaning to impart. This is used most often in 
pow wow drumming, where the singing is more properly chanting, adding melody to the drumming.

INTRO hammer Am7->Am  Am7->Am   Am  Am  Am Am Am x 4

V1

Am
I wanna go where the blind can see.

Am
I wanna go where the lame can walk.

Dm
I wanna see the sick ones clean.

Am
Where the deaf can hear and the silent talk .

CH1

Dm            Am          E7                Am
Where are you going? To a ghostdance in the snow.
 
  Dm          Am               E7            Am
I am a mighty warrior, and I'm finally comin home.  

V2 [Drum singers sing vocables together]

Am
I wanna go where the dead are raised (hey ya ho)

Am
Where the mountain lion lays down with the lamb (hey ya ho)

Dm
I wanna stand where God is praised (hey ya ho)

Am
I wanna ride across the plains to the promised land  (hey ya ho)

CH2

Dm            Am          E7                Am
Where are  WE going, to a ghostdance in the snow
 
  Dm          Am               E7            Am
I am a mighty warrior, and I'm finally comin home  .... Am


V3a [1 = singer solo; D = drum singers repeat together]

Am
1 hey ya hey ya hey ya hey ya hey

Am
D hey ya hey ya hey ya hey ya hey

Dm
1 hey ya hey ya hey ya hey ya hey

Am
D hey ya hey ya hey ya hey ya hey

V3b

Am
Where i'm going don't-need-to-raise your voice.

Am
No starvation we'll have plenty to eat.

   Dm
No guns no wars, no hateful noise.

       Am
Just a victory dance, we'll never taste defeat.

V3c

      Am
Where nothin's done or said that can't be forgiven.

      Am
Where every step you take is on sacred ground. 

      Dm
Walk away from death to the land of the living.

      Am
Where all the lost tribes are finally found.

CH3

Dm            Am          E7                Am
Where are you going? To a ghostdance in the snow.
 
  Dm          Am               E7            Am
I am a mighty warrior, and I'm finally comin home. 

Dm            Am          E7                Am
Where are you going? To a ghostdance in the snow.
 
  Dm          Am               E7            Am
I am a mighty warrior, and I'm finally comin home. 

E7            Am
YES I'm finally comin home 

Am 
w/ HEY YA HEYYA to end

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Ghostdance

Bill Miller