Ira Hayes,
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Ira Hayes
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CHORUS:
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Call him drunken Ira Hayes
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He won't answer anymore
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Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
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Nor the Marine that went to war
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Gather round me people there's a story I would tell
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About a brave young Indian you should remember well
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From the land of the Pima Indian
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A proud and noble band
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Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
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Down the ditches for a thousand years
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The water grew Ira's peoples' crops
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'Till the white man stole the water rights
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And the sparklin' water stopped
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Now Ira's folks were hungry
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And their land grew crops of weeds
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When war came, Ira volunteered
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And forgot the white man's greed
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CHORUS:
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Call him drunken Ira Hayes
|
He won't answer anymore
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Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
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Nor the Marine that went to war
|
|
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There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill,
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Two hundred and fifty men
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But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again
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And when the fight was over
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And when Old Glory raised
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Among the men who held it high
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Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
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CHORUS:
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Call him drunken Ira Hayes
|
He won't answer anymore
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Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
|
Nor the Marine that went to war
|
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Ira returned a hero
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Celebrated through the land
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He was wined and speeched and honored; Everybody shook his hand
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But he was just a Pima Indian
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No water, no crops, no chance
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At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
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And when did the Indians dance
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CHORUS:
|
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
|
He won't answer anymore
|
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
|
Nor the Marine that went to war
|
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Then Ira started drinkin' hard;
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Jail was often his home
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They'd let him raise the flag and lower it
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like you'd throw a dog a bone!
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He died drunk one mornin'
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Alone in the land he fought to save
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Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
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Was a grave for Ira Hayes
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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
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But his land is just as dry
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And his ghost is lyin' thirsty
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In the ditch where Ira died
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-----------------
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Ballad of Ira Hayes
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| Johnny Cash |
