Written by Peter La Farge and made famous by Johnny Cash, it tells the true story of a Pima Marine who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima.
The words
A Native American war hero comes home to neglect and drink, and dies forgotten by the country that praised him.
The song tells the life of Ira Hayes, a Pima man from Arizona who fought in the Pacific and was photographed raising the flag at Iwo Jima. Celebrated as a hero, he returns to a reservation stripped of its water and a nation that soon loses interest in him, and he dies alone. It unfolds as a sombre narrative ballad with a bitter refrain. Dylan's outtake, released on the 1973 album, is plain and slow, letting the story carry it.
Words by Peter La Farge
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗Listen and watch
The words
A Native American war hero comes home to neglect and drink, and dies forgotten by the country that praised him.
The song tells the life of Ira Hayes, a Pima man from Arizona who fought in the Pacific and was photographed raising the flag at Iwo Jima. Celebrated as a hero, he returns to a reservation stripped of its water and a nation that soon loses interest in him, and he dies alone. It unfolds as a sombre narrative ballad with a bitter refrain. Dylan's outtake, released on the 1973 album, is plain and slow, letting the story carry it.
Words by Peter La Farge
Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗Connections
On the map
In threads
The same year · 1973
Read onWikipedia ↗MusicBrainz ↗