# Phrase from "Cherokee Boogie," hard to make out

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrase-from-cherokee-boogie-hard-to-make-out/794520>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 24, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrase-from-cherokee-boogie-hard-to-make-out/794520 "2017-08-24T04:22:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrase-from-cherokee-boogie-hard-to-make-out/794520/1 "2017-08-24T04:22:26Z")

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I’d like to know what Moon Mullican is singing here, since he co-wrote the song. **“His tom-tom beats ???”** Sounds like “oh (or ol’) chief (or cheat?) McCloud” to me, but that doesn’t make sense. It’s right at 1:40 [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUF0UBVdFI0).

Hank Williams sings “Chief Blue Cloud,” which neither makes sense nor is what Mullican is singing. Johnny Horton changed it to the logical “so big and proud.” I know others have come up with something, but none of the ones I’ve seen are what Moon is singing. Can anyone figure it out?

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**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrase-from-cherokee-boogie-hard-to-make-out/794520/2 "2017-08-24T14:30:37Z")

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Sounds like “tom-tom beats” but I think you’re asking about next words or the whole line of verse. Maybe “chieftan”?

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrase-from-cherokee-boogie-hard-to-make-out/794520/3 "2017-08-24T15:06:09Z")

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> [@jerez](#):
>
> Sounds like “tom-tom beats” but I think you’re asking about next words or the whole line of verse. Maybe “chieftan”?

You’re right, sorry if I wasn’t clear about that.

I can plainly hear “tom-tom beats” but the next phrase, which I represented with the row of question marks, is what I can’t make sense of. I can sort out the syllables to some degree, but I can’t see how they form words that logically fit the song.

The entire rest of the (English parts of the) song is easy to parse and makes narrative sense.

ETA: While “chieftan” may (or may not) be part of it, I’m also looking for the word that rhymes with (or is?) “loud.”