B-side "The Final Countdown" Format 7" single
12" single Label Epic | Released 1987 Genre Glam metal | |
Length 4:43 (Album Version)
3:59 (Edited Version) | ||
"Cherokee" is a 1987 single released by the Swedish band Europe. It was the fourth single released internationally from the album The Final Countdown, and was number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.
Contents
The song was written by vocalist Joey Tempest in 1985, and was in fact the last song written for the album. The video for "Cherokee" was filmed in September 1987, in Almería, Spain. It was filmed a half mile from where Sergio Leone shot the famous Clint Eastwood spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars. When filming the scene where the horses run through the valley, someone accidentally set some brush near the set on fire. The entire video crew, including band members, had to fight the fire by quickly digging a trench around the fire to stop it spreading. Historically, the video is very inaccurate. It showed the Cherokee as plains Indians, living in teepees on the desert. The Cherokee originally lived in the wooded, southern Appalachian Mountains. They were forcibly moved to the wooded, rolling hills of eastern Oklahoma. The Cherokee never used teepees.
On 30 July 2007, "Cherokee" and "The Final Countdown" were used in a preview for Superbad following Raw.
At the beginning of the song, drummer Ian Haugland says: "Nu ska vi spela!" which means "We're gonna play now" in Swedish.
Cover versions
"Cherokee" was sampled in the song "I Believe" by the French electropop duo Galleon.