Is J.D. Blackfoot the name of an individual or a band?

J.D. Blackfoot is the name of an individual who has released several albums under that name.

Is J.D. Blackfoot his real name?

No. His real name was Benjamin Franklin VanDervort, but in 1970, he legally changed his name to J.D. Blackfoot. He has always owned the name "J.D. Blackfoot". J.D. Blackfoot is not a Native American Indian although he has released two albums which dealt with this topic. He has also held various benefits for the American Indian.

What do the intials "J.D." stand for?

The intials "J.D." do not stand for anything. Originally, the group was going to be called Blackfoot. However, there was another band already using this name.

Did J.D. Blackfoot play in any bands prior to this group?

Yes. The J.D. Blackfoot band began as a combination of two local groups from Columbus, Ohio - The Ebb Tides (who released two 45s) and Tree. These groups combined to continue as Tree and J.D. joined Tree for a brief time. The group recorded a 3 song demo under the name J.D. Blackfoot. The group then won a recording deal from Mercury Records as a prize in a local band competition. Craig Fuller joined the group after some of the material for "The Ultimate Prophecy" had been written. The band then recorded "The Ultimate Prophecy" under the name J.D. Blackfoot for Mercury Records.

What else has J.D. Blackfoot done other than writing and recording music?

J.D. Blackfoot is originally from Columbus, Ohio. Prior to getting into the music business, he was an insurance agent.

Is J.D. Blackfoot married?

Yes, J.D. married Eileen Perry Blackfoot in 1996.

Does J.D. Blackfoot have any children?

J.D. has three children, Jeffrey, Keshena and Alayna.

Is there any relationship to J.D. Blackfoot and the group Blackfoot?

There is no official connection between J.D. Blackfoot and the group Blackfoot which is led by Ricky Medlocke. However, the band Blackfoot did record at a record company, SISAPA Records, that J.D. Blackfoot ran for a period of time. J.D. and Ricky are also friends.

What made him change his name to J.D. Blackfoot?

A dream in 1968 motivated him to change his name. According to J.D. - "One night in 1968, I dreamed that I was sitting on a pinto horse on a very steep hillside under a pine tree. I could feel the pine branches sticking me in the neck while, down below me, Custer was getting wiped out." This dream not only motivated him to change his name, but also was the inspiration for "The Song of Crazy Horse."

Was the album "The Ultimate Prophecy" the first album by J.D. Blackfoot?

Yes. It was recorded on Mercury Records and released in 1970.

What is the meaning of the series of five songs on Side 2 which make up "The Ultimate Prophecy"?

The lyrics to the songs represent a philosophy about life and death.

How did "The Ultimate Prophecy" become so popular?

A radio station in St Louis, Missouri (KSHE) is really responsible for the popularity of the album. When the album was first released in 1970, it did not sell particularly well. The music was, perhaps, ahead of its time.

In 1972, a disk jockey (named Ron Stevens) in St. Louis, Missouri found a copy of this album in a cutout record bin at a Woolworth's store for $1.49 and bought it. His main reason for buying the record was the interesting looking album cover which was of a man wearing a bowler hat and a white dove with its wings spread covering the man's face. The title of the album was also intriguing. The next day, the DJ played the song "The Ultimate Prophecy" on the air and the phones at the radio station lit up. People went nuts wanting to know the name of this album, who recorded it and where they could find a copy.

A short while later, a record store in St. Louis, Missouri (Music Village) then "found" about 400 copies of the album in a warehouse and put them on sale for $3.99. Yes, $3.99. What a deal, considering copies today sell for $50 and up. Needless to say, copies of the album sold out FAST. Legend has it that these were the last remaining sealed copies of the album in the United States.

Why is the album "The Ultimate Prophecy" so rare?

Approximately 75,000 copies were released in the United States. Since the album did not sell well initially, it quickly went out of print. The album was also released in 22 countries. The album cover was completely different in England and Holland and import versions containing this cover are even more rare and collectable than the original U.S. version.

What is the first side of the album "The Song of Crazy Horse" about?

"The Song of Crazy Horse" is a tribute to Chief Crazy Horse and his tribe.

When was "The Song of Crazy Horse" written?

The opening lines to "The Song of Crazy Horse" were written in 1968. J.D. Blackfoot had a dream where he was watching a battle between Custer and a tribe of Indians. After awakening early in the morning, he wrote the introduction to the song. He finished writing the remainder of the song three years later in 1971. This same dream also inspired him to legally change his name to J.D. Blackfoot in 1970.

Why was the album "The Song of Crazy Horse" recorded in New Zealand?

After recording and releasing "The Ultimate Prophecy", he experienced some problems with his record company and he decided to take a break from recording for awhile. His wife was a native of New Zealand and suggested they go there. While there, J.D. assembled a band and recorded "The Song of Crazy Horse". This album won the New Zealand Album of the Year Award for 1974.

The original vinyl version of "The Song of Crazy Horse" contained two songs on Side 1 - "The Song of Crazy Horse" and "Ride Away". The CD version contains both of these songs with no pause between them and the song "Ride Away" is not listed separately. Why the difference?

"The Song of Crazy Horse" was originally recorded and intended to be one long song of approximately 18 minutes and 35 seconds in length. However, when the album was released on vinyl, the record company, Fantasy, inserted a pause at approximately 14 minutes and 30 seconds into the song. The remainder of the song, approximately 4 minutes in length, was then labeled as "Ride Away". The intent of the record company was to create a shorter song which would receive more airplay and possibly be released as a single. However, the song "Ride Away" was not released as a single. When J.D. Blackfoot re-released "The Song of Crazy Horse" on compact disk, he restored the song to its original version and length.

The CD "Tokala" is called the sequel to "The Song of Crazy Horse". What is Tokala about?

Tokala means grey fox. It is the story of a young Indian boy who does not know the old traditions of his tribe. The young boy then goes to an old medicine man in order to learn the old traditions of the tribe.

What is the most memorable concert for J.D. Blackfoot?

According to J.D., the most memorable concert was in July 1982 in St. Louis, Missouri at the Kiel Opera House. On this night, J.D. Blackfoot and his band recorded the "Live in St. Louis" double album. Another concert, held a year later in St. Louis at the American Theater was also special to J.D. This was an acoustic concert with no backing band. J.D. performed many of his songs alone with an acoustic guitar. This was the first time J.D. did an entirely solo acoustic concert.

What else has J.D. Blackfoot been doing other than making albums and touring?

J.D. Blackfoot has run a recording studio and run several record companies - SISAPA Records, Bison Records and TOKALA Records. SISAPA Records had several well known artists signed to it for awhile. These included: Blackfoot (led by Ricky Medlocke), Crazy Horse (Neil Young's backing band), The Marshall Tucker Band and Paul Cotton (formerly of Poco).

How can I contact J.D. Blackfoot?

You can contact J.D. at the following address:

Artist's Index:

The Song Of Crazy Horse

You took his land and you ate his corn
On his grave your land was born

You took his pride and you fed him dirt
You wished him winter without a shirt
And you called this Red Man "Savage"

After you crushed him you helped him up
To let him drink from an empty cup

You gave him the Navy without the fleet
And made him lick your hands and kiss your feet
And you named this mad dog "Savage"

Well I found a book the other day
So I looked up Red and White to see what it'd say

One was a savage the other unlearned
Like a look in the mirror the tables were turned
For history has named you "Savage"

In the year of '65
When I was very young
We watched the dust clouds to the South
We knew that you had come
We saw you build your chain of forts
Along the Bozeman Road
But Red Cloud had his allies counted
Long before it snowed

And someday Great White Father you will know my name

In December of '66
You met me face to face
I decoyed your Captain Fetterman
And we never left a trace
Into our sacred homelands
Your bluecoat soldiers came
But we just taught you a heap big lesson
In the Battle of a Hundred Slain

And someday Great White Father you will know my name

In the June of '76
Our Nation joined its hands
We made our camps on the Little Big Horn
Not knowing of your plans
You sent your long-haired Custer
With the 7th Cavalry
To hunt and kill my children
For wanting to be free

And I think it's time Great White Father that you knew my name

It's Crazy Horse, it's Crazy Horse
And I wish you were here to see
'Cause I got Yellow Hair cornered at the Big Horn
And I'm about to set him free

Ride to the village to get my Oglalas'
The Sans Arc and the Minneconjous'
Get Sitting Bull with his band of Hunkpapas'
The Brules' and Blackfoots too

Ridin' home from battle came the Cheyenne ponies
With white blood drippin' from their feet
Their riders were lookin' and shoutin' up to Heaven
Here's to Chivington at Sand Creek

Hey there Mister Wagonmaster what do you have inside
Hidden underneath of that buffalo hide
Could it be you brought to me some food from the man back East
So my starving children could have a feast

Hey mother come look and see
what the master done brought to me
It's alcohol, tobacco and guns
Alcohol, tobacco and guns

Now I have seen the eagle soaring beautiful and free
I don't want no man to make less of me
Do you take me for a fool or as a little child
And do you really wonder what's made me wild

Hey paleface you better run
Because my men been havin' lots of fun
On your alcohol, tobacco, and guns
Alcohol, tobacco and guns

I have waited patiently for you to pay your rent
But as yet I haven't seen that first red cent
I don't think that there's much chance of me evicting you
But watch out for the day that you get Sioux'd

A hundred years have seen the setting sun
But his sad country still is run
On his alcohol, tobacco, and guns
Alcohol, tobacco, and guns

A hundred years have seen the setting sun
But his sad country still is run
On his alcohol, tobacco, and guns
Alcohol, tobacco, and guns

Now you try to trick me
And lock me up in jail
Where would a stupid savage
Find the bondsman or the bail

I turn to run for I am scared
I want so to be free
I feel the ice-cold bayonet
As it sinks deep inside of me

But someday Great White Father you'll remember me

Sioux warriors teach your children
The white man's evil tongue
Make them know the name of Crazy Horse
And the battles he has won

So they will know the truth
When it's knowledge that they crave
Let them sing of the Land of the Free
And the Home of the Brave

And of the Great White Father that dug my grave

Brown rivers once were blue
Now the fish float upside-down
Ancestral burial grounds
That's where you've built your towns

The smokestacks from your factories
They pollute my skies
You slaughtered all my buffalo
And you left me here to die

And all of this you have done in the name of God

Crazy Horse he was laid to rest
On a creek called Wounded Knee
But there is more buried in his grave
Than the wisest men could see

I have dreamed the vision of the horse that dances wild
I have seen the land of the Great Beyond
I am one with this Earth as a little child
Let my eternal life shine on

(repeat)

Crazy Horse he was laid to rest
On a creek called Wounded Knee
But there is more buried in his grave
Than the wisest men could see

(repeat twice)

Milkweed illusion casts its die
And the horse that dances starts to fly
Rhythms of metamorphosis leave their stain
Memories of happiness kept in vain

The target tomorrow is one step beyond
For lilies of mercy lost on a pond
They cry out for freedom to the lighthouse above
They are angels of victory, peace and love

Visions of odin dark and oblique
Mind over matter which all men seek
A vague understanding with no recourse
And a fond remembrance .... of Crazy Horse

Just ride away
And travel right out through space and time
Try and find a way
Of leaving the illusion behind

And in this sleep your mind will be awakened
To the calling of a dream that lies within
You're just a child who has but to remember
That in yourself you just found your best friend

So ride away
And let your mind go through its metamorphosis
And try and find a way
To bring your sunken love back to the surface

Sail on silver clouds straight through the fire
Like a lily pad adrift on a windless sea
Clinging to the breast of Mother Nature
Together sailing beautiful and free

Ride away

It's said that Crazy Horse had the power to dream himself into the real world
And leave the illusion behind

So ride away
And don't recall the things that are best forgotten
And try and find a way
Of picking from the barrel the one that's rotten

The key to peace is sitting on your shoulders
So knock upon the door and you walk on in
You're just a child who has but to remember
That in yourself you just found your best friend

So ride away
Ride away
(repeat twice)

Crazy Horse he was laid to rest
On a creek called Wounded Knee

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The Ultimate Prophecy

This is The Ultimate Prophecy!

Lain out on the dawn of creation
The King hath named it ground
And He hath given to the Earth people,
To sit and look profound
But they will be known as love creatures,
Born to live on sound, sound, sound, sound...

As the air doth fill your lungs
And you know your life has just begun,
You open your eyes and behold the mighty sun
So let me live and be what I must be.
And let me love this beauty that I see
For in time I will grow
To seek the truth I needed to know.
I was born of a God of love and let love be the seed I sow.
And let me live and be what I must be.
And let me love this beauty that I see.
Grass was made to be green.
And beauty meant to be seen.
Let me live and love the things that I see today.
For from a darkness in my mind,
I fear a limit has been placed on the time,
That I have left remaining to be one with this earth alive.
In my fear I must realize,
In the temple for the sun there be a man of wise,
Who will teach me of the Ultimate Prophecy before he dies.
So let me live and be what I must be.
And let me love this beauty that I see
Life was so beautiful in the beginning
I'm alive

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