The teachers do their rounds
And they are mostly kind, you know.
But the language ain’t the same.
They cut my hair and changed my name.
In isolation, the words above don’t even begin to tell you just how potent is Diana Jones’ song, Pony.
You need to hear its author deliver it.
In this 2012 version she first explains the context:
There is an even better version on Diana Jones’ excellent current album, Live in Concert, which does have an Australian distributor.
Pony is one of two utterly uncanny songs in the persona of an indigenous person who was “stolen” – removed, as a young child, from parents, place, language and culture.
In “The Land of The Free” this was still happening within living memory…as it also was “next door”, in Canada…and in my country, Australia.
Diana Jones’ song is informed by her ancestry (and she was also raised by people who were not her blood relatives), but Pony is not autobiographical.
The other great “stolen children” song is autobiographical…and Australian: