Kaw-Liga (song)

Original sheet music cover

**"Kaw-Liga"** is a song written by Hank Williams and Fred Rose. Likely composed in 1951, it was recorded on September 23rd 1952 during Williams' final studio session. It was released posthumously as a single in January 1953 on MGM Records, and it stayed at No. 1 on the *Billboard* Country chart for 14 weeks. It has since been recorded by a number of artists, including Charley Pride, Loretta Lynn and Roy Orbison.

The Residents covered the song in 1986 for their album *Stars & Hank Forever!*, the second and final volume of their American Composers Series. The Residents' version (which prominently interpolates the rhythm section of Michael Jackson's 1983 hit "Billie Jean") was released as a single in June 1986, and became a minor dance hit for the group. It was also one of their earliest songs to receive a number of remixes; the remixed versions were compiled as an album, *Poor Kaw-Liga's Pain*, in 1994.

## History

"Kaw-Liga" is one of just a handful of songs that Hank Williams wrote with Fred Rose, who produced Williams' records and published his songs through his company Acuff-Rose. Rose often "doctored" the songs Williams composed, making suggestions and revisions. More than any other song, "Kaw-Liga" bears evidence of the guiding hand of Rose, who moulded it into a song unlike anything Williams had recorded up to that point.

The song tells the story of a wooden Indian, Kaw-Liga, who falls in love with an "Indian maid over in the antique store" but does not tell her so, being "too stubborn to ever show a sign, because his heart was made of knotty pine". The Indian maid waits for Kaw-Liga to signal his affection for her, but he either refuses or is physically/emotionally unable (interpretations vary) to talk. Because of his stubbornness, Kaw-Liga's love continues to be unrequited; the song ends with the Indian maid being bought and taken away from the antique store by a buyer, leaving Kaw-Liga alone.

Some interpret Kaw-Liga as a stoical Native American stereotype, but the subject of masculine pride and emotional hardness is a popular one in country music, and the then common wooden "dime-store Indian" (a popular means of advertising that a store sold tobacco) was a perfect symbol of an aversion to emotional expression.

The song features big-band drummer Farris Coursey, Tommy Jackson on fiddle, Don Helms on steel guitar, Chet Atkins on lead guitar, Jack Shook on rhythm guitar, and Floyd "Lightnin'" Chance on bass. It begins in a minor key, which modulates into a major key on the chorus, and fades out at the end, the only Williams song to do so.

A demo version of Williams singing "Kaw-Liga" with just his guitar, likely recorded in 1951, also exists. On the recording, Williams misplays a chord and can be heard muttering "shit" before starting the song again.

## Lyrics

### Hank Williams version

```
Kaw-Liga was a wooden Indian standing by the door
He fell in love with an Indian maid over in the antique store
Kaw-Liga just stood there and never let it show
So she could never answer "yes" or "no"

```

```
He always wore his Sunday feathers and held a tomahawk
The maiden wore her beads and braids and hoped someday he'd talk
Kaw-Liga, too stubborn to ever show a sign
Because his heart is made of knotty pine

```

```
Poor old Kaw-Liga, he never got a kiss
Poor old Kaw-Liga, he don't know what he missed
Is it any wonder, that his face is red?
Kaw-Liga, that poor old wooden head
Kaw-Liga was a lonely Indian, never went nowhere
His heart was set on the Indian maiden with the coal black hair
Kaw-Liga just stood there and never let it show
So she could never answer "yes" or "no"

```

```
And then one day, a wealthy customer bought the Indian maid
And took her, oh, so far away but old Kaw-Liga stayed
Kaw-Liga just stands there as lonely as can be
And wishes he was still an old pine tree

```

```
Poor old Kaw-Liga, he never got a kiss
Poor old Kaw-Liga, he don't know what he missed
Is it any wonder, that his face is red?
Kaw-Liga, that poor old wooden head

```

## List of releases

* "Kaw-Liga" (1986)
* *Stars & Hank Forever!* (1986)
* "Kaw-Liga (Dancemix)" (1986)
* *Line - Der Sampler 13* (1986)
* *Master Mix Vol. 2* (1987)
* *Hot Tracks: Series 6, Issue 4* (1987)
* *Summer '87* (1987)
* "Kaw-Liga (Dancemix)" CD reissue (1988)
* *Balearic Beats* (1988)
* *Boudisque Compilation* (1988)
* "Kaw-Liga (Housey Mix)" (1989)
* *Turn Up The Bass* (1989)
* *Poor Kaw-Liga's Pain* (1994)
* *In Memoriam Torso* (1994)
* *Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses* 4 CD edition (1997)
* *Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses* 2 CD edition (1997)
* *Twenty-Five Years of Eyeball Excellence* (1998)
* *RMX* (2006)
* *The Original Sound Of Ibiza* (2007)
* *Cover Versions Series 1* (2009)
* *The 13th Anniversary Show - Live in the USA* Klanggalerie CD reissue (2015)
* *80 Aching Orphans* (2017)

### List of versions

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Clementina Street studio recording, March 1986 (single edit, 3:18)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Clementina Street studio recording, March 1986 (album version, 4:53) Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name ":1" defined multiple times with different content
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Clementina Street studio remix, September 1986 ("Prairie Mix", 9:28)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Clementina Street studio remix, September 1986 ("Horror Mix", 2:06)
5. ↑ Clementina Street studio remix, 1986-1987 (*Hot Tracks* remix, 6:00)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Moody Boys studio remix, 1988 ("Housey Mix", 5:18)
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 The Moody Boys studio remix, 1988 ("Stripped Mix", 4:15)
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 The Moody Boys studio remix, 1988 ("Nightmare Mix II", 5:05)
9. ↑ Studio recording, 1993 ("Poor Kaw-Liga's Pain", 5:30)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 The 13th Anniversary Show live recording, Europe, October 1986 (2:39)
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Studio remix, 2006 (3:33) Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name ":11" defined multiple times with different content

## See also

* "Kaw-Liga" (single)
* *Poor Kaw-Liga's Pain*

## External links and references

* "Kaw-Liga" at Wikipedia
* "Kaw-Liga" at Genius