Music World
 
Find Artists:
 
 
 
Russian versionSwitch to Russian 
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash


Background information
Birth name J. R. Cash
Born February 26, 1932
Born place Kingsland, Arkansas, U.S.
Died September 12, 2003
Death place Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Genre(s) Country
Rock'n'Roll
Folk
Gospel
Blues
Americana
Years active 1955—2003
Label(s) Columbia Records
Mercury Records
Legacy Recordings
American Recordings
Sun Records
Associated acts The Highwaymen
The Jordanaires
The Tennessee Three
June Carter Cash
The Statler Brothers
The Carter Family
The Oak Ridge Boys
Area Code 615
Website Website



Music World  →  Lyrics  →  J  →  Johnny Cash  →  Lyrics  →  The Ballad Of Ira Hayes

Johnny Cash Lyrics

"The Ballad Of Ira Hayes" lyrics



Ira Hayes,
Ira Hayes

CHORUS:
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

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
'Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin' 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 drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

There they battled up Iwo Jima's 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:
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

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:
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

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:
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin' thirsty

blog comments powered by Disqus




© 2011 Music World. All rights reserved.