'Genocide (The Killing of the Buffalo)'
New Acoustic Cover and Lyric Video of a Thin Lizzy Classic Album Track
I've loved Thin Lizzy since before I even knew what I was listening to. In 1977, I had just finished 4th Grade and we were moving into a new house on a plot of land my grandparents had given us near Temecula, CA. We drove around a lot that summer because we were being kicked out of our rental and thought we might need something temporary before our new house was ready to move into. My mom always had AM radio on in the car (back when L.A.’s KFI played Top 40), and it was singles from Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, Eagles' Hotel California, Steve Miller Band's Book of Dreams and Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak that I remember the most from those hot summer drives.
It's a bit ironic that my mom turned me onto one of my favorite bands that I still love today, because she and my dad did their best to get me switched off of rock 'n' roll when I got the bug later that Fall. My dad made me learn classical guitar if I wanted to play, and my mom tried various methods, like forcing me to get rid of an album she thought was too "loud," and taking away my radio. (Which I don’t remember lasting more than a day or so.) They made me keep my hair short, which enraged me so much that when I went to college I didn’t cut it for years. It eventually stopped growing due to split ends and I had to cut it all off.
Despite really liking them, I only ever owned two Thin Lizzy albums: Johnny the Fox and Bad Reputation. I remember seeing the live album being displayed at Licorice Pizza in Riverside when it was brand new, and wanting it really bad, but not having the money or permission from my parents to buy an album. (I always had to ask permission.)
So there were tons of songs I hadn't heard, including "Genocide (The Killing of the Buffalo)."
I think films and songs about Native Americans resonate with me because my mom, aside from being an authoritarian content moderator, was deeply interested in Native American history, folklore, tools and artwork. She had an eye for finding artifacts like arrowheads and motates (grinding stones), and had built up quite a collection.
She learned later, when she went back to school for her Masters degree in Archaeology, that it was unethical to remove such artifacts from where they lay, so she stopped keeping her findings after that. Then she began going off on "digs" for sometimes weeks at a time with teams of archaeologists. She was the only person on her crews who actually liked to dig in the dirt for hours a day and sleep outdoors at night. After one long job she had to sleep outside on our back porch because she had gotten so used to it.
My mom taught my brother and I how to do Native American weaving (sort of) when we were little, during our vacations near the Chiricahua Mountains in Portal, AZ, where my dad taught a summer Entomology course at the research station there. I used to marvel at the turquoise jewelry on display at the store a local rancher owned where we sometimes rented cabins.
I think the influence of my mom’s love of the Southwest and Native American culture helped me make my decision to attend the all-adobe University of New Mexico in Albuquerque for grad school, where I studied classical guitar performance with Michael Chapdelaine, (Who “died suddenly” on November 16, 2023, may he Rest in Peace.) Check out Michael’s own homage to the Native Americans here.
I first heard the song "Genocide" in 2016 when my friend Toast sent me mp3 versions of all the Thin Lizzy albums I didn't have. It hit me hard for so many reasons, as you might imagine. When I started rehearsing with a new two-guitar version of The Discontents in 2018, I didn't hesitate to add it to the set list.
We worked so hard on that song. Our drummer Ramses played it fast and hard, and we struggled to get through it without a train-wreck for quite a few weeks before we figured out the complex puzzles that are the bridge and outro sections. It didn’t come without a lot of friendly arguments. It turns out I was the one not counting it right. (It sounds much easier than it is.)
I'll end with a story I heard someone tell on Bob Nalbandian's Shockwave Skullsessions Podcast. (RIP to Bob, who also "died suddenly" just last year. He was a super nice guy, a journalist at the forefront of metal when it first happened and interviewed many players back then when the bands were just being formed.) I don't remember who told the story, but it could have been Bob Daisley (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep).
Daisley (if it was him) was backstage at the Grammys one year, and he was talking with Gene Simmons and Bob Dylan. Someone brought up Phil Lynott (bassist, founder, singer and songwriter of Thin Lizzy). Gene said "he was a junkie." Dylan responded, "He was a genius."
I think this song is one that illustrates that genius.
At some point I realized I wanted to record "Genocide," but it made no sense to do our band arrangement because it was pretty much a sped-up version of the Lizzy version. Fine for a live show, but not for a recording. I thought something more Nick Cave-inspired might work. I had recently started taking Argentine tango dance lessons and asked one of my instructors, Ruxanda, who is also a singer, to do the backing vocals. She made a slight change to the lyrics that I really like. ("We used to roam this land," instead of "They used to roam this land.")
It sat on my hard drive for about four years. I wanted to pay a pro to mix it but I had spent so much time tweaking it that I figured there was no use in starting over. I already had the levels right where I wanted them.