Saturday 16 February 2013

When I was a kid we played cowboys and Indians...

and I always wanted to be an Indian when I grew up.

Ville Valo, front man of Finnish rock band HIM (yes, I know them so well) said this. But it could have been me.


It's funny, I didn't think children played cowboys and Indians anymore, really. There's me bought up on a diet of The High Chaparral, The Lone Ranger and The Magnificent Seven.

Most often, Indians were cast as baddies in that era but I never wanted to be a cowboy. I must have had perception beyond my tender years.

Back to the question - Do children play cowboys and Indians these days? The answer is YES.

This morning, on Ashdown Forest, poor Alfie was traumatised by Indians - whole tribes of them - crashing through the trees, leaping out of bushes, whooping, and shooting each other with imaginary bows and arrows.


It was wonderful to witness but Alfie was paralysed with fear. The whooping...

It was a very long ride.

So much for my Sioux dreams of galloping across the plains of whichever plains you galloped across on my faithful steed, the wind sweeping through my long black plaits, a jaunty feather in my head dress...

But my childhood affinity with Indians was justified (to me, at least) the very first time I saw Soldier Blue 
in 1970.

And here's that wonderful song by Buffy Sainte Marie.

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