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Buffy Sainte-Marie
Buffy Sainte-Marie: An Authorized Biography | Andrea Warner
13 posts | 5 read | 4 to read
A powerful, intimate look at the life of a beloved folk icon and activist. Folk hero. Songwriter icon. Living legend. Buffy Sainte-Marie is all of these things and more. In this, Sainte-Marie's first and only authorized biography, music critic Andrea Warner draws from more than sixty hours of exclusive interviews to offer a powerful, intimate look at the life of the beloved artist and everything that she has accomplished in her seventy-seven years (and counting). Since her groundbreaking debut, 1964's It's My Way!, the Cree singer-songwriter has been a trailblazer and a tireless advocate for Indigenous rights and freedoms, an innovative artist, and a disruptor of the status quo. Establishing herself among the ranks of folk greats such as Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, she has released more than twenty albums, survived being blacklisted by two U.S. presidents, and received countless accolades, including the only Academy Award ever to be won by a First Nations artist. But this biography does more than celebrate Sainte-Marie's unparalleled talent as a songwriter and entertainer; packed with insight and knowledge, it offers an unflinchingly honest, heartbreakingly real portrait of the woman herself, including the challenges she experienced on the periphery of showbiz, her healing from the trauma of childhood and intimate partner violence, her commitment to activism, and her leadership in the protest movement.
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review
Lindy
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Pickpick

Buffy‘s life story is amazing & I also loved peeking into the alchemy that underpins her musical artistry. Her lyrics come from her heart and address social injustices with such power that her music was blacklisted by the US government (Lyndon Johnson & Nixon eras). The #audiobook is narrated by the author, full of passion for her topic, with short interludes read by Buffy herself. Intro by Joni Mitchell. #Indigenous

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Lindy
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Buffy Sainte Marie was on the cast of Sesame Street from 1975-1981. In her biography, she says it was her idea to breastfeed her son on camera (briefly) and to answer Big Bird‘s questions about it; Big Bird representing the natural curiosity of kids.

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Lindy
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At one point in this biography I began a sentence with the words “Tearing down,” & in the editing process Buffy crossed them out & provided this alternative: “Creating, in spite of and beyond.” That simple reframing blew my mind. I actually felt a seismic shift in my brain. My own language has a tendency to be rooted in destruction. […] while her language is rooted in possibility, a desire to grow, explore & persuade.
-from the Afterword

JazzFeathers Love it 💙 3y
Lindy @JazzFeathers I attended a live literary festival event when this book came out and Warner and Sainte-Marie were together on stage. Their strong rapport was obvious. 😊 3y
42 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Lindy
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I have two main prayers: one is “thanks!” and the other is “wow!”

Lindy @kspenmoll Yes! I wouldn‘t be surprised if Buffy has read that book. 3y
35 likes2 comments
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Lindy
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candority Beautiful! 3y
Lindy @candority Thanks! It‘s finished now. 😊 3y
Cathythoughts Wow 💕 3y
48 likes3 comments
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Lindy
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The song wasn‘t a hit for the songwriter herself, but it was for Bobby Darin, the Four Pennies, Neil Diamond, Andy Williams and, most significantly, Elvis Presley. Cher, Barbara Streisand, Roberta Flack, Françoise Hardy, Bette Davis & many others also put their spin on it.

Lindy Note: Buffy had learned her lesson after signing away rights to her song Universal Soldier for one dollar, early in her career. She refused repeated attempts by Presley‘s manager to allow him a cut from the song royalty payments for Until It‘s Time for You to Go. (edited) 3y
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DieAReader
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Pickpick

#CrushTheRush #Recommendsday

5⭐️

Gonna leave this here in case anyone is interested.😁

https://youtu.be/DYB1qz4_hgw

mollyrotondo Thank you for posting this! This is a great book that I can get my mom for Christmas. She loves Buffy St Marie! Excellent! 3y
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick I don't think I've heard of her. I'll have to check out her music. 3y
30 likes2 comments
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xicanti
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I‘m listening to Buffy Sainte-Marie while I draft longhand in my adorable little Spider-Man notebook. Turns out, I DO like her music as much as I like her! Hurray!

Pen update: I still haven‘t drummed up the courage to see how much it‘ll cost to repair my beloved Waterman Carene. In the meantime, I‘ve got a $3 Zebra fountain pen. It writes pretty well, but it‘s totally disposable so I don‘t think I‘d buy another.

SleepyDragon Lovely color ink, though. 4y
xicanti @SleepyDragon they did have wonderful colour options. I also loved the red and purple pens. 4y
32 likes2 comments
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xicanti
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Pickpick

This isn‘t just a biography—it‘s also a Sainte-Marie-focused history of 20th century folk music and Indigenous activism in North America. I gulped it down quick as I could and now feel a lot of love for Sainte-Marie, who I‘m ashamed to admit is one of the weird gaps in my musical knowledge. (I got the book because I like Andrea Warner‘s writing.) You can bet I aim to correct that good and soon. I hope I like the music as much as the woman herself.

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Lindy
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This was such a fantastic concert! I must get around to reading her biography sometime soon. #Canadian #Indigenous #icon

merelybookish Wow! She's still performing! 5y
Lindy @merelybookish Yes! She‘s 78 and still a firecracker. 😁 5y
51 likes2 comments
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Lindy
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…waiting to hear Buffy Sainte-Marie. 🎶🎵❤️

SW-T She‘s awesome! Enjoy 😊 5y
Lindy @SW-T The show was fantastic! 5y
Cathythoughts Exciting 5y
44 likes3 comments
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academiconbreak
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Pickpick

Buffy is so inspiring--her songs were so powerful she was blacklisted by two American presidents, and was ahead of her time, time and again. The journalistic prose is just a little stiff and I only wish Warner had taken the personal tone of the last chapter into the whole book. She describes a negotiation between her deconstructive tendency and Buffy's eye for possibility--that frame between indigenous women could have provided a revealing lens.

gradcat Great review! I remember with much fondness the music of Buffy Sainte-Marie...thanks for the post! 5y
academiconbreak @gradcat You should check out her new albums! I think she just keeps getting better and better. Power in the Blood is my fave. 5y
gradcat Will do! I didn‘t even realize she was still recording...doh! 5y
13 likes3 comments
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Lindy
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Buffy Sainte-Marie, onstage with Andrea Warner at #VWF2018: “Songs like Universal Soldier, I treat them like I‘m writing for a college professor who doesn‘t like me and I want to get an A++.”
(Buffy also mentioned her fake tiger fur jacket has been in her closet since the 70s.) #IndigenousIcon

brilliantglow I love Buffy Sainte-Marie. That must've been a great experience 5y
Lindy @brilliantglow Yes, it was great! Buffy and Andrea have such a friendly rapport. 5y
brilliantglow I must admit, I'm jealous lol 5y
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Lindy @brilliantglow They have two more stops on the book tour: NYC and Toronto. https://greystonebooks.com/blogs/events/buffy-sainte-marie-book-tour 5y
brilliantglow I wish! Unfortunately I have to work both days 5y
49 likes6 comments