Seven Little Indians
John Hiatt
 
There were seven little Indians
Living in a brick house on Central Avenue
Gathered 'round their daddy tellin' stories in the living room
From a slightly unrealistic point of view
Momma was off yonder in the kitchen somewhere
Boiling up some hot water for them all to get up to their necks in
The seven little Indians knew if the rest of the tribe ever scrutinized their household
Somehow it would not pass inspection

The big chief railed on and spun his tales of brave conquest
About the moving of his little band up to Alaska where the caribou run free
You see he'd done time up there putting in telephone lines for the army during World War II
He even brought back a picture of a frozen mastodon for the little Indians to see
And some mukluks and some sealskin gloves, and a coat with beads around the collar
His wife kept them in the mothballs underneath the Hudson Bays
And every once while he'd get wound up with one of his stories
And put 'em all on and dance around in that blue TV light like it was some campfire blazing away

Well he stamped and he hollered but he could not stay warm in that living room
And even the seven little Indians could feel the chill
And although everything always worked out for the better in all of his stories
In that old brick house it always felt like something was movin' in for the kill

Blazing like a trail shot through the eyes of the seven little Indians
Blazing like an arrow shot from Cochise's last stronghold out in Arizona
Blazing like the sheets of light dancing in the sky up above Anchorage
Blazing like a star shot down to the ground back home again in Indiana

Now it finally got so quiet you could hear a pin drop
They started dropping like flies
The oldest little Indian got sick and vanished and the big chief went two years later
And the momma raised the six little Indians up the best she could
To be housewives, musicians, and insurance salesmen
But they all shared this common denominator

You see, all the characters in the big chief's stories were named after the seven little Indians
And like I said, in his stories everything always worked out for the better
And now as I'm telling this stuff to my own kids and dancing around in the TV screen light
Well, I wish I had those mukluks, and those sealskin gloves
And that coat with beads around the collar