This article is about the song associated with the American Indian Movement; for the single by The Cooper Temple Clause see A.I.M. (song)

The AIM Song is the name given to a Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 intertribal song. Although the song originally did not have a name, it gained its current alias through association with the American Indian Movement

American Indian Movement

The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...

.

Origins

The origins of the song itself are uncertain, and there are various theories attributing the song to various locations across North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and various points in history. For many tribes, the origins of the song have been legendized.

A popular theory is that it developed from a simple song hummed by a child at Crow Fair

Crow Fair

The Crow Fair was created in 1904 by an Indian government agent to bring the Crow Tribe of Indians into modern society. It welcomes all Native American tribes of the Great Plains to its festivities, functioning as a "giant family reunion under the Big Sky." Indeed, it is currently the largest...

. This is possible, because the vocables are not particularly complex, however the claim remains largely ungrounded.

A more likely theory is that it was developed between two early members of the American Indian Movement.

Edward Benton-Banai, from the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe Indians

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

The Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe are one of seven federally recognized Wisconsin bands of Ojibwa. The band is based at the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation, at in northwestern Wisconsin, which surrounds Lac Courte Oreilles...

, co-founded the movement in 1972, and is rumoured as the songwriter. The song could have been inspired by a traditional Ojibwe honoring song, known as the Airforce Song.

Severt Young Bear, an Oglala Lakota

Oglala Lakota

The Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people; along with the Nakota and Dakota, they make up the Great Sioux Nation. A majority of the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the eighth-largest Native American reservation in the...

 from Porcupine, South Dakota

Porcupine, South Dakota

Porcupine is a census-designated place in Shannon County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,062 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Porcupine is located at ....

, was also involved in AIM. As the lead singer of the Porcupine Singers, he made the song popular in the early 1970s. Although he admits he did not write it, collaboration between himself and Benton-Banai could have helped the song to develop.

Association with AIM

The song became popular around the time of the Wounded Knee incident

Wounded Knee Incident

The Wounded Knee incident began February 27, 1973 when about 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation...

 in 1970s South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

. It was sung at protests and recorded on the news, and thus gained its connotations with the American Indian Movement.

Because the song is pan-tribal, it was used by members of AIM, who belonged to various tribes and spoke different languages. As such the song is used to unite people with a common cause and to develop a feeling of morale or spirituality

Spirituality

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...

.

At an AIM convention at Cass Lake, Minnesota

Cass Lake, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 860 people, 331 households, and 192 families residing in the city. The population density was 753.2 people per square mile . There were 384 housing units at an average density of 336.3 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 30.12% White, 64.42%...

, they discussed whether the song should be adopted as an official AIM song.

Form

The song comprises non-lexical vocables (abstract sounds rather than semantic words). This involves the heavy use of vowels and semi-vowels, as consonants would bias the song towards a particular tribe (whose language uses those consonants). The song is intended as an intertribal, therefore it is deliberately not language-specific.

As is characteristic of a lot of Native American songs, the song involves vocal harmony

Harmony

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

. The men are backed up by around twice the number of women. The female vocal line becomes particularly prominent in this repeated motif

Motif (music)

In music, a motif or motive is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition....

:

The song is usually accompanied with a steady beat on a traditional man’s drum. It has also been heard with the accompaniment of a water drum

Water drum

Water drums are a category of membranophone characterized by the filling of the drum chamber with some amount of water to create a unique sound. Water drums are common in Native American music, and in some forms of African and Southeast Asian music....

, which suggests the song originated amongst the Plains tribes.

Uses

The song can be heard at protests and intertribal powwow

PowWow

PowWow is a wireless sensor network mote developed by the Cairn team of IRISA/INRIA. The platform is currently based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard radio transceiver and on an MSP430 microprocessor...

s. It has become particularly popular in the north-east

Northeastern United States

The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...

.

At powwows, the song is used to warm up and "open the drum". This could be in the form of a private prayer before a public performance.

Many recordings have been made of the song, most recently by Blackfire

Blackfire (band)

Blackfire is a Navajo traditionally-influenced, high-energy, politically-driven musical group composed of three siblings: two brothers and a sister...

, a Navajo

Navajo people

The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...

 punk-rock band.