Song Meaning
The lyrics paint a stark contrast between a vibrant, natural past and a mechanized present. We open with the image of "flower-fed buffaloes" in "the days of long ago," a scene of natural abundance where even the wild prairie flowers are described as "tossing, blooming, perfumed." This idyllic, almost sensory-rich vision of nature is immediately juxtaposed with the intrusion of industrialization, where "locomotives sing" and "wheels and wheels and wheels spin by." The spring, though "still sweet," is fundamentally altered, its natural landscape "swept away by wheat," a symbol of cultivated, less wild growth.
The central tension lies in this displacement and loss. The buffaloes, once powerful and present, are gone, having "left us long ago." Their absence is marked by a lack of their characteristic sounds and actions: "They gore no more, they bellow no more." This silence signifies not just the end of the buffalo's reign but also the quietude of the indigenous peoples, the "Blackfeet lying low" and the "Pawnee lying low." The repetition of "lying low" suggests a forced suppression or disappearance, mirroring the fate of the buffaloes.
The craft of the lyrics hinges on this powerful, almost elegiac contrast. The initial, lush description of the natural world serves to amplify the sense of what has been lost. The relentless "wheels and wheels and wheels" create a sonic and visual image of unstoppable, impersonal progress that crushes the older, organic order. The phrase "flower-fed buffaloes" itself is a beautiful, evocative image that encapsulates the specific, natural diet and existence of these animals, making their disappearance feel all the more poignant.
This writing is effective because it uses concrete imagery to convey a profound sense of historical change and ecological loss. The lyrics don't just state that things have changed; they show it through the vanishing buffaloes and the encroaching "locomotives." The quiet finality of the buffaloes' absence and the subdued state of the "Blackfeet" and "Pawnee" leave the listener with a lingering feeling of melancholy for a world that has been irrevocably altered by the relentless march of industry.
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