The Ballad Of Ira Hayes (Cash Johnny)

A D Ira Hayes, Ira Hayes A R: 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 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 2. 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 R: Call him drunken Ira Hayes... 3. 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 R: Call him drunken Ira Hayes... 4. 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 R: Call him drunken Ira Hayes... 5. 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 R: Call him drunken Ira Hayes... 6. 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