The Ballad of Ira Hayes lyrics

[Intro]

Ira Hayes

Ira Hayes

[Chorus]

Call him drunken Ira Hayes

He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinking Indian

Nor the Marine that went to war

[Verse 1]

Gather round me people there's a story I would tell

About a brave young Indian you should remember well

From the land of the Pima Indian

A proud and noble band

Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land

Down the ditches for a thousand years

The water grew Ira's peoples' crops

Until the white man stole the water rights

And the sparkling water stopped

Now Ira's folks were hungry

And their land grew crops of weeds

When war came, Ira volunteered

And forgot the white man's greed

[Chorus]

Call him drunken Ira Hayes

He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinking Indian

Nor the Marine that went to war

[Bridge]

There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill

Two hundred and fifty men

But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again

[Verse 2]

And when the fight was over

And when Old Glory raised

Among the men who held it high

Was the Indian, Ira Hayes

[Chorus]

Call him drunken Ira Hayes

He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinking Indian

Nor the Marine that went to war

[Bridge]

Ira returned a hero

Celebrated through the land

He was wined and speeched and honored

Everybody shook his hand

[Verse 3]

But he was just a Pima Indian

No water, no home, no chance

At home nobody cared what Ira'd done

And when the Indians dance

[Chorus]

Call him drunken Ira Hayes

He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinking Indian

Nor the Marine that went to war

[Verse 4]

Then Ira started drinking hard

Jail was often his home

They'd let him raise the flag and lower it

Like you'd throw a dog a bone!

He died drunk one morning

Alone in the land he fought to save

Two inches of water in a lonely ditch

Was a grave for Ira Hayes

[Chorus]

Call him drunken Ira Hayes

He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinking Indian

Nor the Marine that went to war

[Verse 5]

Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes

But his land is just as dry

And his ghost is lying thirsty

In the ditch where Ira died

• Artist:Kris Kristofferson
• Album:Look Again to the Wind: Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears Revisited