This morning I listened to an interview of Kenneth Bowser on the CBC Radio, discussing his new documentary "There But for Fortune" on the life of Phil Ochs. He was a hero of mine in the 1960's. The year he said he died politically was 1968, a momentous year of protest, the year of assassinations: Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy and it was the year of the Chicago riot. The tragic events of that year affected Ochs deeply and personally.
Kenneth Bowser said the thing about Phil Ochs is that he was prescient and that's what led me to write this diary. I started to recall his songs in light of the news we are hearing today of people rising up all around the world .
Phil Ochs said "Every headline is a song.". He had started out studying journalism. He fused his love of politics with his love of music and gave us a legacy that is especially relevant right now.
I'll start with the ending, a statement into the Congressional Record by Bella Abzug, (D-NY) on April 29, 1976 commemorating Phil Ochs, his life and his work. He was 35 years old when he died. He was living at the time with his sister Sonia (Sonny) who was hoping to bring him back to good health. He hung himself in the bathroom of her home in Far Rockaway, New York, April 9, 1976.
Congresswoman Bella Abzug, (Democrat from New York,) an outspoken anti-war activist who had appeared at the 1975 "War is Over" read into the record:
Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, a young folksinger whose music personified the protest mood of the 1960's took his own life. Phil Ochs - whose original compositions were compelling moral statements against war in Southeast Asia - apparently felt that he had run out of words.
While his tragic action was undoubtedly motivated by terrible personal despair, his death is a political as well as an artistic tragedy. I believe it is indicative of the despair many of the activists of the 1960's are experiencing as they perceive a government which continues the distortion of national priorities that is exemplified in the military budget we have before us.
To bring the military expenditure up to date with Harper's Index:
Estimated percentage change since 2000 in the U.S. defense budget, not including the wars in Iaq and Afghanistan: 80.
Phil Ochs poetic pronouncements were part of a larger effort to galvanize his generation into taking action to prevent war, racism and poverty. He left us a legacy of important songs that continue to be relevant in 1976 - even though "the war is over."
Just one year ago - during this week of the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam - Phil recruited entertainers to appear at the "War is Over" celebration in Central Park, at which I spoke.
It seems particularly appropriate that this week we should commemorate the contriutions of this extraordinary young man.
Phil Ochs predicting the long long war in Afghanistan?
We Seek No Wider War
We're teaching people freedom for which they are yearning
While were dragging them down to the path of never returning
But we'll condescend to talk while the cities are burning
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
(from the album Farewells And Fantasies.)
When in 1969 Ochs testified for the defense at the trial of the Chicago Seven (those leaders who were arrested during the Chicago riot)he read out the lyrics of his song "I Ain't Marching Anymore." On the way out of the court, he sang this song for the press.
Ochs mocking Liberals who are not far left enough for him. "Love Me, I'm a Liberal"
Reviewer Joe Pietaro advises that as we "peer into the broken life of Phil Ochs" look past that image to "his promise of a new day." "And hell, if this is not enough to inspire you to attend thenext rally for social change, then the music cannot miss."
Songs
Discography
Chords of Fame
They'll rob you of your innocence
They will put you up for sale
The more that you will find success
The more that you will fail
I been around, I've had my share
And I really can't complain
But I wonder who I left behind
The other side of fame.
So play the chords of love, my friend
Play the chords of pain
If you want to keep your song,
Don't, don't, don't, don't play the chords of fame
Remember Phil Ochs? What are your favorite songs?