"Savages" is a group song and the seventh song of Disney's 1995 animated feature, Pocahontas, performed by both the Indians and settlers as they prepare for war.
Lyrics
<poem> Ratcliffe: What can you expect from filthy little heathens? Here's what you get when races are diverse! (Soundtrack version: "Their whole disgusting race is like a curse!")
Their skin's a hellish red. They're only good when dead! They're vermin, as I said, and worse!
English Settlers: They're savages! Savages!
Ratcliffe: Barely even human.
English Settlers: Savages! Savages!
Ratcliffe: Drive them from our shore! They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil. We must sound the drums of war!
English Settlers: They're savages! Savages! Dirty shrieking devils! (Soundtrack version: "Dirty redskin devils!")
Ratcliffe and English Settlers: Now we sound the drums of war!
Powhatan: This is what we feared. The paleface is a demon. The only thing they feel at all is greed.
Kekata: Beneath that milky hide, there's emptiness inside.
Native American Indians: I wonder if they even bleed. They're savages! Savages!
Powhatan and Native American Indians: Barely even human.
Native American Indians: Savages! Savages!
Powhatan: Killers at the core.
Kekata: They're different from us, which means they can't be trusted.
Powhatan: We must sound the drums of war.
Native American Indians: They're savages! Savages! First we deal with this one. Then we sound the drums of war.
English Settlers: Savages! Savages!
Ben: Let's go get a few, men! (Soundtrack version: "Let's go kill a few, men!")
Native American Indians: Savages! Savages!
Ratcliffe: Now it's up to you, men!
All: Savages! Savages! Barely even human!
Now we sound the drums of war!
Ratcliffe:
This will be the day.
(Let's go, men!)
Powhatan:
This will be the morning.
(Bring out the prisoner!)
Native American Indians:
We will see them dying in the dust.
Pocahontas:
I don't know what I can do.
Still, I know I've got to try.
Ratcliffe and English Settlers:
Now we make them pay.
Pocahontas:
Eagle, help my feet to fly.
Native American Indians:
Now without a warning.
Pocahontas:
Mountain, help my heart be great.
Native American Indians:
Now we leave 'em blood and bone and rust.
Pocahontas:
Spirits of the Earth and Sky...
English Settlers and Native American Indians:
It's them or us.
Pocahontas:
Please don't let it be too late...
English Settlers and Native American Indians:
They're just a bunch of filthy, stinking...
Native American:
Savages!
English Settlers:
Savages!
Native American Indians:
Demons!
English Settlers:
Devils!
Ratcliffe:
Kill them!
Native American Indians:
Savages!
English Settlers:
Savages!
Ratcliffe and English Settlers:
What are we waiting for?
Ratcliffe, English Settlers, and Native American Indians:
Destroy their evil race until there's not a trace left!
Pocahontas:
How loud are the drums of the war?
Ratcliffe, English Settlers, and Native American Indians:
We will sound the drums of war! Savages! Savages!
Now we sound the drums of war! Savages! Savages!
English Settlers and Native American Indians:
Now we see what comes of trying to be chums.
Now we sound the drums of...
Pocahontas:
Is this the death of all I love carried in the drumming of...
English Settlers and Native American Indians
War!
Gallery
Trivia
- This song is an allegory to racism: English settlers call the Natives "savages" while knowing little to nothing about them and being the true aggressors, Natives call English settlers "savages" for the same reasons.
- Savages is very similar to "The Mob Song" in Beauty and the Beast. The main villain exploits his men's fear of the unknown to get them on a pretended heroic fight, when actually they only want to satisfy themselves and their vices (Governor Ratcliffe's greed and Gaston's jealousy). In fact, both films star David Ogden Stiers.
- The film cuts out Pocahontas' first verse in the second part, instead beginning with Ratcliffe announcing "This will be the day."
- In the film, Ratcliffe say the verse: "Here's what you get when races are diverse!" However, in the soundtrack, he says "Their whole disgusting race is like a curse."
- Similarly, in the film, the settlers and Ratcliffe say "Dirty, shrieking devils." The soundtrack uses "Dirty redskin devils", possibly to be more racially sensitive.
