Lyrics to The Ballad Of Ira Hayes

This version of The Ballad Of Ira Hayes was released by Bob Dylan in 1973.

Our About Bob Dylan page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The Ballad Of Ira Hayes from 1973 as well as all of the other lyrics from Bob Dylan that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Bob Dylan or about the 1970s in general.

Gather round you people and a story I will tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the tribe of Pima Indians, a proud and a peaceful band
They farmed the Phoenix Valley in Arizona land
Down their ditches for a thousand years the sparkling water rushed
Till their white man stole their water rights and the running water hushed
Now Ira’s folks were hungry and their farms wene crops of weeds
But when war came he volunteers and forgot, the white man’s greed
Call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war
Yes, call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war.

They started up Iwo Jima Hill, 250 men
But only 27 lived to walk back down that hill again
And when the fight was over and the old glory raised
One of the men who held it high was the Indian Ira Hayes
Call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war
Call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war.

Now Ira returned a hero, celebrated throughout the land
He was wined and speeched and honored, everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian, no money crops, no chance
And at home nobody cared what Ira had done and the wind did the Indian’s dance
Call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war
Call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war.

And Ira started drinking hard, jail was often his home
They let him raise the flag there and lower it like you’d throw a dog a bone
He died drunk early one morning, alone in the land he had fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch was the grave for Ira Hayes
Call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war
Yes, call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war.

Yes, call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, but his land is still as dry
And his ghost is lying thirsty in the ditch where Ira died
Call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war
Yes, call him, Drunken Ira Hayes, he won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian or the marine who went to war.

About Lyrics and The Ballad Of Ira Hayes by Bob Dylan

When you decide to study the lyrics to The Ballad Of Ira Hayes, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1973 song by Bob Dylan. Some of the lyrics to The Ballad Of Ira Hayes have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Bob Dylan and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to The Ballad Of Ira Hayes if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to The Ballad Of Ira Hayes" means the words set to the music of The Ballad Of Ira Hayes, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bob Dylan. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to The Ballad Of Ira Hayes and the lyrics to The Ballad Of Ira Hayes are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bob Dylan who came here looking just for the lyrics to The Ballad Of Ira Hayes, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.