Story Behind The Song

A true phenomenon of nature, unexplained still, that has been seen as long as people have existed in this area. Indian spirits, soldier spirits, etc. are mentioned in legends as the cause, but the lights are real and do move slowly on the Brown Mountain area near Asheville NC. They are spooky and somewhat disturbing. The ' Indian pipes' evoke the musical motif suggestive of Indian music and carry a slightly ominous tone. Songwriter learned of the lights from family who had witnessed them. The flowing and haunting melody blends with the evocative words to capture the listener's imagination. One can almost see the moutains at sunset in the blue smokey haze of the Great Smokey mountains...

Song Description

Mentions the time of year when the lights occur, where, what they were claimed to be, and how long they have been there.

Lyrics

'Way on back in the Smokey Mountains...
where North Carolina meets Tennessee,
there's somethin' strange moving on the mountain,
old as the forest and the Cherokee.

For a thousand years they've been there movin'
like an Indian torch in the summer night
gliding slow through the mountain passes
like a Cherokee brave in the pale moonlight



Chorus:
Sometimes in the evening of an Indian summer,
In the sunset shadows of a silent night
you'll feel the heartbeat of a Cherokee drummer
no explanation for the Brown Mountain Lights...