Kaw-Liga is a country-music song written by Hank Williams and Fred Rose

Fred Rose (musician)

Fred Rose was an American Hall of Fame songwriter and music publishing executive.-Biography:Born in Evansville, Indiana, Fred Rose started playing piano and singing as a small boy. In his teens, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked in bars busking for tips, and finally vaudeville...

. Backed by the Drifting Cowboys

Drifting Cowboys

The Drifting Cowboys were the backing group for American music legend Hank Williams. The band went through several lineups during Williams's career, and surviving members of the group continue to tour and make public appearances to this day....

, Hank Williams recorded the song in Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 in September, 1952 and the single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 was released posthumously in January 1953 on the MGM Records

MGM Records

MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...

 label. It remained No. 1 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

 Country chart for 14 weeks and reached No. 23 on the pop charts. The flipside, "Your Cheatin' Heart

Your Cheatin' Heart

"Your Cheatin' Heart" is a song written and recorded by the American country music singer and songwriter Hank Williams in 1952, but released after his death in 1953.. It is often considered one of his greatest songs, and one of the great songs of country music...

, remained No. 1 on the country chart for 6 weeks.

Song

"Kaw-Liga" is a song about a wooden Indian, Kaw-Liga, who falls in love with an "Indian maid over in the antique store" but does not tell her so, being, as the lyrics say:

Too stubborn to ever show a sign,

Because his heart was made of knotty pine.

The Indian maid waits for Kaw-Liga to signal his affection for her, but he either refuses or is physically/emotionally unable (interpretations vary) to talk, ever the stoical 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...

 of the popular stereotype

Stereotype

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

.http://jaie.asu.edu/v17/V17S2whi.html Because of his stubbornness, Kaw-Liga's love continues to be unrequited, with Hank Williams

Hank Williams, Sr.

Hank Williams , born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as one of the most important country music artists of all time...

, the narrator/singer of the song lamenting,

Poor ol Kaw-liga, he never got a kiss,

Poor ol Kaw-liga, he don't know what he missed,

Is it any wonder that his face is red?

Kaw-liga, that poor ol' wooden head.

The song ends with the Indian maid being bought and taken away from the antique store by a buyer, leaving Kaw-Liga alone,

As lonely as can be,

And wishes he was still an ol' pine tree.

Cover versions

"Kaw-Liga" has been covered by artists such as Charley Pride

Charley Pride

Charley Frank Pride is an American country music singer. His smooth baritone voice was featured on thirty-nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His greatest success came in the early- to mid-1970s, when he became the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis...

, Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison

Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...

, Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins

Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...

, Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

, Boxcar Willie

Boxcar Willie

Boxcar Willie, born as Lecil Travis Martin was an American country music singer, who sang in the "old-time hobo" music style, complete with dirty face, overalls, and a floppy hat...

, Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

, Hank Williams Jr., Don McLean

Don McLean

Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...

, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys

Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys

Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys is a western swing/country boogie musical band from California.They began as rockabilly revivalists in the late 1980s, then dug deeper into the music which rockabilly came from: western swing and particularly the country boogie style of the late 1940s and early 1950s,...

 and Jayke Orvis & the Broken Band.

Hank owned a cabin in Kowaliga Bay on Lake Martin

Lake Martin

Lake Martin is located in Tallapoosa, Elmore, and Coosa counties in Alabama. It is a 44,000-acre lake with over 750 miles of wooded shoreline. An artificial reservoir, Lake Martin was formed by the construction of Martin Dam on the Tallapoosa River. The Martin Dam powerhouse is used to generate...

, Alabama. The home is now privately owned by Hank's daughter Jett Williams

Jett Williams

Jett Williams is an American country music performer.Jett is the daughter of country music icon Hank Williams, Sr. and Bobbie Jett, whose brief relationship with Hank Williams occurred between his two marriages. She is a posthumous child; her birth in Montgomery, Alabama occurred five days after...

 and is not open to the general public.

The avant-garde band The Residents

The Residents

The Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....

 recorded the song for their album Stars & Hank Forever: The American Composers Series

Stars & Hank Forever: The American Composers Series

Stars and Hank Forever was the second release in the American Composers Series by the avant garde band The Residents. The album was released in 1986. This particular release featured a side of Hank Williams songs and a medley of John Philip Sousa marches...

, replacing its original backing music with the bassline of Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

's Billie Jean

Billie Jean

"Billie Jean" is a dance-pop/R&B song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was written, composed, and co-produced by Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones from the singer's sixth album, Thriller . Originally disliked by Jones, the track was almost removed from the album after he and...

. This was more than likely a reference to Williams' wife, who was named Billie Jean.