Key: C major•
Verse 1
Ryan was an old sage chief.
F
C
He wore a regal hat. I found him in a gas station
Am
G
painted on one of those giveaway glasses.
Indians of
Hunting horse, sequoia, dull knife,
G
F
I don't have them all yet.
G
C
As I drive across this wild ground
F
G
I thought of those gas station drinking
glasses and a chief called
Bacon
Am
A
E
Ryan.
Chief
F
E
Seattle stared into the yellow eyes of
the mission padre and then spit
on the ground and said your religion was
written on tablets of stone by the iron
of our ancestors in the
dreams of our old men given to them in
the solemn hours of the night by the
great spirit.
Our religion is in the visions
of our leaders and it is written
in the hearts of our people.
The mission father wrote off to preach the
Ten
Commandments to those who had
stopped listening with their hearts.
Come gather round me, people,
Am
F#m
B
a story I will tell
About a brave young
From the land of the
Pima
Phoenix
Valley down in
Down their ditches for a thousand years
A
E
the water grew our people's crops
E
B
E
s and the rippling waters stopped.
Now
Ira's folks was hungry,
A
D
A
F#m
but their land grew crops of weeds
A
B
But when war came,
Ira volunteered,
Call him
Junkin'
Ira
A
E
B
Hayes, he won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin'
Indian, or the
They battled up
Iwo
Jima
A
F#m
B
Hill, 119 men, but only 27
Am
A
And when the smoke had cleared and old glory raised,
the
Indian
Ira
E
Hayes.
Ira
Hayes returned a hero
speeched and honored
But he was just a
Pima
Indian
A
D
A
D
No water, no home, no chance
A
B
Yeah, back home no one cared what
Ira done
Hell, when do the
Call him
Drunken
Ira
Hayes
Am
A
E
F#m
He won't answer anymore
A
B
Not the whiskey -drinkin'
Indian
The
Then
A
F#m
A
was often his home
E
B
E
there like you'd throw a dog a bone
He died drunk one
A
F#m
A
land he'd fought to save
B
E
Two inches of water in a
B
E
B
lonely ditch was a grave for
Ira
E
Hayes
Call him
Drunken
Ira
Am
A
Hayes, he won't answer anymore
Indian, but the
Call him
Drunken
Ira
F#m
A
B
Not the whiskey drinking
Indian, but the
Yeah, call him drunken
Ira
Hayes
E
F#m
B
An d his ghost is lying thirsty
In the ditch where
How did you like the song?
You need to log in to leave a rating.
TunerE A D G B E
ChordsC F Am G A...
C
F
Am
G
A
E
F#m
B
D
Capo: No capo
Transpose: 0
0
More songs by Tom Russell
Discover chords for more songs to play
Popular chords globally
Most played chords & tabs across all users
