Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian

Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian is a concept album and twentieth album released by singer Johnny Cash in 1964 on Columbia Records. It is one of several Americana records by Cash; as its title implies, the tracks on the album focus exclusively on the history of and problems facing Native Americans in the United States. Cash had been convinced that his ancestry included members of the Cherokee tribe, and this partly served as inspiration for recording Bitter Tears, but later on as he began researching his ancestry, he actually had no Cherokee ancestry, but Scottish, English, and Scots-Irish ancestry. Throughout the album, Cash concentrates on the harsh and unfair treatment of the indigenous peoples of North America. The album was included on the Bear Family Records box set Come Along and Ride This Train.

The songs were written in part by Cash himself and in part by Peter La Farge, with the final track credited to Cash and Johnny Horton. The first song, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow", by La Farge, concerns the loss of Seneca nation land in Pennsylvania due to the construction of the Kinzua Dam in the early 1960s. Cash rerecorded it decades later and released it on Unearthed with the lyrics altered to describe his relationship with and devotion to June Carter Cash; the track itself was a duet with the latter, making what ended up being one of her final recorded duets with her husband. The one single from Bitter Tears that was released was "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", which reached No. 3 on the Country charts; the song tells the story of Ira Hayes, a young Marine of Pima descent who participated in the flag raising on Iwo Jima and became an instant celebrity, only to die drunk and in poverty on the Gila River Reservation where he was born.

Bitter Tears (disambiguation)

Bitter Tears is a 1964 album by Johnny Cash.

Bitter Tears may also refer to:

See also

Bitter Tears (song)

"Bitter Tears" was a single by INXS, the third Australian and fourth UK single taken from their album X. It peaked at #30 on the UK Singles Chart improving on the disappointing performance of the previous single, "By My Side". The single was released to coincide with the band headlining the SummerXS concert at Wembley Stadium in July 1991, as documented in the Live Baby Live DVD.

The song was written by Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence as part of the sessions for the X album.

B-sides

The B-sides are a live version of "Faith In Each Other" from the X album, "The Other Side", written and performed by guitarist & saxophonist Kirk Pengilly and "Soothe Me" written and performed by guitarist & keyboard player Andrew Farriss.

Track listing