Why Was This Johnny Cash Song Banned from TV for Years?
Among the many legendary songs by Johnny Cash, “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” stands out as one of the most controversial and courageous. It’s not just a ballad — it’s a political statement, and for years, it was banned or ignored by major TV stations across America.
The song tells the story of Ira Hayes, a Native American Marine who helped raise the American flag at Iwo Jima during World War II. Instead of being honored, he returned home to poverty, alcoholism, and isolation, eventually dying a tragic death.
Many TV stations refused to air Cash’s performance of the song, labeling it as “anti-American” or “too political.” But Cash, in a bold move, paid out of his own pocket to air the performance on television, asserting that “every soldier’s story deserves to be heard — even if it makes people uncomfortable.”
“The Ballad of Ira Hayes” is more than a song. It is a cry for justice, a voice for the forgotten, and a powerful chapter in Johnny Cash’s legacy of fearless truth-telling.
Ira Hayes Ira Hayes Call him drunken Ira Hayes He won’t answer anymore Not the whiskey drinking Indian Or the marine that went to war
Gather ’round me people There’s a story I would tell ‘Bout 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 waters grew Ira’s peoples’ crops ‘Til the white man stole their 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 drinking Indian Or 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 drinking Indian Or 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 nobody cared what Ira’d done And when did the Indians dance
Call him drunken Ira Hayes He won’t answer anymore Not the whiskey drinking Indian Or the marine that went to war
Then Ira started drinking hard Jail was often his home They let him raise the flag and lower it Like you’d throw a dog a bone He died drunk early one morning Alone in the land he fought to save Two inches of water and a lonely ditch Was a grave for Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes He won’t answer anymore Not the whiskey drinking Indian Or the marine that went to war
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
