Ira Hayesアイラ・ヘイズ

TITLE: Ira Hayes（アイラ・ヘイズ）
AUTHOR: Peter La Farge（ピーター・ラ・ファージ）
PERFORMER: Peter La Farge（ピーター・ラ・ファージ）

毎年8月6日、9日、15日といえば、日本人にとっては避けては通れない、忘れてはいけない日にちです。

今でいうアリゾナで生きていたピマ族のインディアンも、第二次世界大戦に行かざるを得ない状況になります。そんな一人が、この曲の主人公アイラ・ヘイズ(Ira Hayes: 1923-1955)です。

硫黄島の激戦を生き残り、摺鉢山に星条旗を掲げた兵隊の一人がアイラ・ヘイズです。「用」が済めば、ふつうのインディアン、アルコール依存症になって、32歳の命を終えます。

戦争で誰が得をするのでしょうか。答えは分かりませんが、得をする人がいるのは事実だ、と思わなければ納得ができません。

the Marine: ザ・マリーン、海兵隊員
Indian: インディアン、アメリカ原住民
the Pima Indian: ザ・ピマ・インディアン、ピマ族のインディアン
Phoenix: フィーニクス、アリゾナ州にあるフェニックス
Arizona: アリゾナ、アメリカ合衆国アリゾナ州
Iwo Jima: イーウォウジーマ、硫黄島
Old Glory: オールド・グローリー、星条旗

Ira Hayes, Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Gather ‘round me people and the story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the tribe of the Pima Indian, the proud and peaceful band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land

Down the ditches for a thousand years
That sparklin’ water rushed
Till the white man stole the water rights
And the runnin’ water hushed

Now Ira’s folks were hungry
And their farm grew crops of weeds
But when war came he volunteered
And forgot the white man’s greed

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Well they started 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 drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Ira Hayes returned a hero
Celebrated through this land
He was wined and speeched and honored
Everybody shook his hand

But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira’d done
And when do the Indians dance

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Then Ira started drinkin’ hard
Jail often was his home
They let him raise the flag and lower it
As you’d throw a dog a bone

He died drunk early one mornin’
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won’t answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin’ Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is still as dry
And his ghost is lyin’ thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died

アイラ・ヘイズ、アイラ・ヘイズ