{Son, don't go near the Indians
Please stay away
Son, don't go near the Indians
Please do what I say}

Since I was just a little boy
I liked to roam the hills
And to hear wild stories about the Indians
Was my biggest thrill

I'd shout and yell and holler like heck
I wore moccasins on my feet
And I'd make believe I was under a teepee
Every time I went to sleep

My hair was jet black and I was twenty-one
Lots of pretty girls around
But the paleface maidens didn't thrill me none
Around my Cochise County hometown

{Son, don't go near the Indians
Please stay away
Son, don't go near the Indians
Please do what I say}

One day I went to the reservation
And there by a shallow creek 
Was a beautiful Indian a-fetchin' water
And I just had to speak

She smiled at me then quickly left
But the next day she returned
And it wasn't very long till I told her how
The love in my heart burned

{Son, don't go near the Indians
Please stay away
Son, don't go near the Indians
Please do what I say}

I told my daddy I'd found a girl
Who meant the world to me
And tomorrow I'd ask the Indian chief
For the hand of NovaLee

Dad's trembling lips spoke softly
As he told me of my life
Twas then he said I could never take
This maiden for my wife

Son, the white man and Indianss were fighting when you were born
And a brave called Yellow Sun scalped my little boy
So I stole you to get even for what he'd done
Though you're a full-blooded Indian, son
I love you as much as my own little feller that's dead
And, son, NovaLee is your sister
And that's why I've always said

{Son, don't go near the Indians
Please stay away
Son, don't go near the Indians
Please do what I say}