The Ballad of Ira Hayes

Ira Hayes

Ira Hayes

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 wanna 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 a thousand years

The water grew Ira's peoples' crops

Till the white man store 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

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 hill

Two hundred and fifty men

But only twenty-seven lived

To walk back down again

And when the fight was over

And old glory raised

Among the men who held it high

Was the Indian, Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes

He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian

Nor the marine that went to war

Ira Hayes 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 home, no chance

At home no one cared what Ira'd done

And when did the Indians dance?

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 early one mornin'

Alone in a land he'd fought to save

Two inches of water in a lonely ditch

Was a grave for Ira Hayes

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

In the ditch where Ira died