In the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 the week of October 6, 1973, is a throwback weekend selection that has not aged well. The song is ‘Half-Breed,’ Cher’s second of four career #1 hits, and it’s about as cringeworthy as its title suggests.
To be fair, the lyrics paint a sympathetic portrait of a woman with a white father and Cherokee mother, decrying the racism that mixed-race children face from both sides. But should a pop song about this topic have been written and performed by people without a drop of Native American blood?
Adding to the ick factor is Cher’s decision to pose for the single’s cover, and perform in its video (below), wearing a “sexy Indian” costume atop a horse. I don’t think any Cherokees were on hand to vouch for the authenticity of the look.
I suppose it’s no shock that a country that waited until 2020 to stop calling a professional football team the Redskins would send ‘Half-Breed’ to #1. At least there were good intentions behind the song, no matter how misguided.
My father married a pure Cherokee
My mother’s people were ashamed of me
The Indians said that I was white by law
The white man always called me “Indian Squaw”
[Chorus]
Half-breed, that’s all I ever heard
Half-breed, how I learned to hate the word
Half-breed, ‘she’s no good,’ they warned
Both sides were against me since the day I was born
[Verse 2]
We never settled, went from town to town
When you’re not welcome you don’t hang around
The other children always laughed at me
“Give her a feather, she’s a Cherokee”
[Chorus]
Half-breed, that’s all I ever heard
Half-breed, how I learned to hate the word
Half-breed, ‘she’s no good,’ they warned
Both sides were against me since the day I was born
[Verse 3]
We weren’t accepted and I felt ashamed
Nineteen, I left them, tell me who’s to blame?
My life since then has been from man to man
But I can’t run away from what I am
[Chorus]
Half-breed, that’s all I ever heard
Half-breed, how I learned to hate the word
Half-breed, ‘she’s no good,’ they warned
Both sides were against me since the day I was born
[Chorus]
Half-breed, that’s all I ever heard
Half-breed, how I learned to hate the word
Half-breed, ‘she’s no good,’ they warned
Both sides were against me since the day I was born
Meet Me In Montauk 
Well, controversy aside, Cher looks lovely on that horse.🤪
My Cherokee ancestors must be turning in their graves 😜
I remember this song. It’s an embarrassing cultural relic (isn’t Cher Armenian-American?) The horse is very well-behaved, however, and i like the way that Cher keeps time with her right foot…