The Code of Handsome Lake Writer

(Robbie Robertson)

These are the people of the longhouse
These are the people that you tried to break These are the people of the pines
Who follow the code of Handsome Lake
He drank your poison, swallowed your fire
And lay with fever four long years
He received a vision so inspired
Three messengers with painted faces appeared On the Allegheny River at a place called Burnt House The code was shared for the very first time
By a Seneca chief, they call Handsome Lake With a wounded heart and a sober mind These are the people of the longhouse
These are the people that you tried to break These are the people of the pines
Who follow the code of Handsome Lake
We are the people of the longhouse
We are the people that you couldn’t break
We are the people of the sacred pipe
Who follow the code of Handsome Lake
When the Dark Moon has come to live in your soul Get in touch with your creator, you are not alone

These are the words that he had spoken two hundred years ago And today they still ring true, like they’re carved in stone

When Native life was hurled into the pit by way of the cannon, rum, and greed Oh a great fire was burned, to let the smoke rise

And show the Six Nations the code was still alive
Way down deep in the bush We Oh hi ne oh he oh we oh we we Way down deep in the bush We Oh hi ne oh he oh we oh we we Way down deep in the bush We Oh hi ne oh he oh we oh we we These are the people of the longhouse
These are the people that you tried to break
These are the people of the pines
Who follow the code of Handsome Lake
We are the people of the longhouse
We are the people that you couldn’t break
We are the people of the sacred pipe
Who follow the code of Handsome Lake
We Oh hi ne oh he oh we oh we we
We Oh hi ne oh he oh we oh we we
These are the people of the longhouse
These are the people that you tried to break
These are the people of the pines
Who follow the code of Handsome Lake
We are the people of the longhouse
We are the ones that you tried to break

We are the people of the sacred pipe Who follow the code of Handsome Lake We Oh hi ne oh he oh we oh we we We Oh hi ne oh he oh we oh we we