Johnny Cash The Ballad of Ira Hayes (by Peter LaFarge) A D Ira Hayes Ira Hayes A CHORUS: Call him drunken Ira Hayes D he won't answer anymore E not the whiskey drinkin' Indian A nor the Marine that went to war A D Gather round me people thereFs a story I would tell E A 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 till the white man stole the water rights and the sparklin water stopped Now IraFs folks were hungry and their land grew crops of weeds When war came, Ira volunteered and forgot the white man's greed CHORUS There they battled up Iwo JimaFs hill, Two hundred and fifty men but only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again and when the fight was over and when Old Glory raised among the men who held it high was the Indian, Ira Hayes CHORUS Ira returned a hero celebrated through the land he was wined and speeched and honored; everybody shook his hand but he was just a Pima Indian--no water, no crops, no chance at home nobody cared what Ira'd done and when did the Indians dance CHORUS Then Ira started drinkin' 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 mornin' alone in the land he fought to save two inches of water in a lonely ditch was a grave for Ira Hayes CHORUS Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes but his land is just as dry and his ghost is lyin' thirsty in the ditch where Ira died