Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian

Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian is a 1964 concept album, the twentieth album released by singer Johnny Cash on Columbia Records.

Bitter Tears and one single were successful, the album rising to No. 2 and "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. But this required effort. Though the song started out quickly on the Billboard chart, seven weeks later the song was floundering in the mid-teens. According to later accounts, by stressing the Native American theme, Cash had entered contemporary controversial social issues and upheaval of the period. He encountered resistance to this work.