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