Johnny Cash - The Ballad of Ira Hayes: chords

     A          D
Ira Hayes, Ira Hayes.

Chorus:
           A
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
Gather 'round me, people.
            D
There's a story I would tell
E                           A
'bout a brave young Indian you
should remember well,
                                 D
from the land of the Pima Indians,
A proud and nobel band,
E                                A
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

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

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 home, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when the Indians dance

Chorus

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

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