I’ll tell you of a man
He was a half-breed too
He knew the woods and roamed them
He was an outcast true
The people they all run him off
He never came around
And when it came to hiding
He sure could not be found
They called him Johnny Half-Breed
And they made it mighty clear
They called him Johnny Half-Breed
Half-breed’s ain’t welcome here
Mongrels ain’t invited
And no curs do we allow
So listen Johnny Half-Breed
Get out and get out now
The city that we speak of
Was named for Galilee
Within a forest ocean
A mighty sea of trees
All around in the forest
Half-breed Johnny rambled round
He knew all about the eagle
And where the honey could be found
Not a white man nor an Indian
No parents and no land
The trees they were his teachers
And the animals his clan
He could converse with the otter
And he held forth with the bear
They said he talked to fishes
And to birds when they were there
They called him Johnny Half-Breed
And they made it mighty clear
They called him Johnny Half-Breed
Half-breed’s ain’t welcome here
Mongrels ain’t invited
And no curs do we allow
So listen Johnny Half-Breed
Get out and get out now
Now in the town we speak of
The New Mayor had a child
A girl of six or seven
And not uncommon wild
Often she would wander
And then return to home
Til once a flyin squirrel
Tempted her to roam
She followed half a mile or more
Until she lost the track
Panic hit her suddenly
She knew of no way back
The forest turned and twisted
All about her everyway
And all her steps were wrong ones
When she got lost that day
They called him Johnny Half-Breed
And they made it mighty clear
They called him Johnny Half-Breed
Half-breed’s ain’t welcome here
Mongrels ain’t invited
And no curs do we allow
So listen Johnny Half-Breed
Get out and get out now
When she turned up missin
A mighty search was called
They feared that she was murdered
And worried she was mauled
They tramped the woods for miles around
And helicopters flew
And when all that was finished
Nothings all they knew
Someone mentioned Johnny
And someone was laughed down
Someone spoke of wood craft
And some said that forest clown
Some said, “Why he is just a bum
A dirty lost half-breed”
But Johnny was their one hope
And they sent for him with speed
They called him Johnny Half-Breed
And they made it mighty clear
They called him Johnny Half-Breed
Half-breed’s ain’t welcome here
Mongrels ain’t invited
And no curs do we allow
So listen Johnny Half-Breed
Get out and get out now
Johnny started searchin
Until he tracked the child
Carried her in his half-breed arms
Out of the forest wild
He was hero for a day
They asked him to remain
They said they’d learned their lesson
That all people are the same
Johnny said, “You take your handshakes
Your sidewalks and your town
Ask for me by the whippoorwill
He’ll say where I’ll be found
I prefer to talk with wildcats
And to hear the wild goose moan
I’m headed back to wilderness
The forest is my home”
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Peter La Farge Lyrics – Johnny Half-Breed