1964 Top Ten: The Ballad of Ira Hayes (#9)

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The first of four songs in the top ten from the world of country music shows up today. Sorry, that’s all I listened to back then. But at least it’s “the Man in Black,” and most people seem to tolerate him. So Linda? Probably not, but maybe. And here’s today’s song that’s now 60 years old. #9: The Ballad of Ira Hayes - Johnny Cash True story. Ira Hayes (1923-1955) was a Marine hero and one of the men photographed in the famous “raising the flag on Iwo Jima” picture (which the Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington DC replicates). And yes, “he died drunk, early one morning, alone in the land he fought to save”: the day after his 32nd birthday, no less. Johnny Cash sang about people in prison and country fans loved that. However, when it came to a true story about a war hero, the DJs and country music industry turned a brutally cold shoulder. According to Picky Wedia, one country music magazine asked Cash to leave the Country Music Association, claiming, “You and your crowd are just too intelligent to associate with plain country folks, country artists, and country DJs.” (Probably a reference to protest/folk singers like Pete Seeger and the young newcomer Bob Dylan.) That didn’t set well with Cash. He was from Arkansas, a state with a lot of footsteps on the infamous Trail of Tears. He saw no reason for a genre steeped in telling true stories (such as his future in-laws the Carter Family’s “The Cyclone of Rye Cove” or even Cash’s own song “Remember the Alamo”) to suddenly get cold feet. So he promoted the record himself, and he took out a full-page ad in the industry publication Billboard to call everyone to task for thinking there was something “too highfalutin” about the subject matter. Of course, Cash won the battle. This became a top ten hit. And, while Cash had been wearing black since the 50s simply to match outfits with the other members of the Tennessee Two (later Tennessee Three), he later penned the song “Man in Black” to tie his clothing to social protest. Here’s to Johnny Cash, and a salute to Ira Hayes…and all the other veterans who suffered the same fate. The Ballad of Ira Hayes Written by Peter LaFarge Recorded by Johnny Cash From Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian, 1964 They charged up Iwo Jima hill: