Phil Ochs has been my inspiration since I started playing music in my teens. He is someone who cares and imparts his thoughts beautifully through his music! Peace always
A man with incredible talent. A friend just put me on his music recently and he immediately became my favorite artist. I'm blown away by how few know his name, his music needs to be revived.
The songs I like most have little to do with Phil's protest songs. All of the talk on this site makes little mention of the greatest of his lyrics and melodies that mean everything to me. I apologize to all the irrational Leftists under the spell of good ideology that can't be executed without great upheaval and ends up with an unfairness found only in the far Right. Too bad songs about moderation don't sell and have very few supporters. So I am many miles short of a Leftist and Rightest, and I suppose Phil's Leftist wasn't as stupid crazy as today; not that I don't appreciate their ideas but they can be executed well. Name a country that does. Cap-Soc is the way in the right measure. I listen and never concern myself much with his politics. I just love his sensitivity, melodies, and lyrics (Ringing of Revolution and Flower Lady and Changes). I seem to be one of his biggest fans who doesn't have a strong ideology because there are no easy answers. Fools are content with thinking they have the answers. You should always question how your ideology can lead to ignorance and unfairness and then temper it to be more fair.
ua-cam.com/video/20O8xrv3F7g/v-deo.html Tape from California. Rating 10 Jazzy cool psychedelic sound. ua-cam.com/video/TMMUcLCjnT8/v-deo.html Flower Lady rate 10. exponential poignancy. ua-cam.com/video/m4MAF1o1AMs/v-deo.html rate 9. Men Behind the Guns . lyrics not written by Ochs. The men below who fight the foe oh the men behind the guns! ua-cam.com/video/JUpE3hEXpL4/v-deo.html Changes. love this morbidity. 10 ua-cam.com/video/sxDD9CV-XJ4/v-deo.html When I'm Gone. Sweet beautiful song rate 10 ua-cam.com/video/_0BeEHXjXIM/v-deo.html there but for fortune .rate 10 ua-cam.com/video/lfkhBGWkQrs/v-deo.html Cross my Heart. Moving, strings and orchestration make the song. rate 9.5 ua-cam.com/video/XZCr3VYZEi8/v-deo.html Celia. rate 9. A fascist prisoner sings a song to his lady. Corny by gut-wrenching. When will i lie beside my Celia 'neath the tree oh when will Celia come to me? ua-cam.com/video/CB4xpqNSYpk/v-deo.html The Marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo. Genius Lyrics. Few songs approach this kind of picturesque lyrics such as "And the crabs are crazy, they scuttle back and forth/ The sand is burning. And the fish take flight and scatter from the sight their courses turning. Later on: But the soldiers make a bid, giving candy to the kids/Their teeth are gleaming/ The marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo" Ringing of Revolution has great lyrics. Think of the monumental Charles Dicken's "great expectations". lyrics that were written in 15 mins? ua-cam.com/video/Tis4xaoddWA/v-deo.html Lyrics should be studied in school so we don't have to read the laborious Dickens' book. ua-cam.com/video/gnDLe8BCEFw/v-deo.html Half a century High. Eerie playful and soars and pours into Phil's unconsciousness. 9.5 ua-cam.com/video/H-Pd7azytEk/v-deo.html That was the President. Best tribute song to Kennedy. 9 Here's a memory to share, here's a memory to fade. ua-cam.com/video/K49_39VTshI/v-deo.html Another Age. Catchy. 9 ua-cam.com/video/SsX8m_dLUA4/v-deo.html Pretty Smart on my Part. catchy. 8.5 ua-cam.com/video/VQBLBvi67fw/v-deo.html I kill therefore I am. country twang sounds good. 8 catchy too. ua-cam.com/video/t3OiLBRh9X8/v-deo.html Too many Marytrs. Topical folk song 9
In '68 some of us lucky troops in Vietnam listened to a Phil Ochs record we bought at the PX called, "The Pleasures of the Harbor." The Army allowed its sale in Army PXs since it wasn't as blatantly anti-war as his previous recordings, but ...pleasures was more a work of art and my gateway to his earlier protest songs. I love his stance and music; I'd never heard of Phil Ochs until then and haven't forgotten him since. I read his biography. He was a great American. I still have "...pleasures." And it's still a pleasure to listen to it under the influence of the same herb I smoked back then, when I joyously listened to it for the first time in an Army tent - we thought Phil was pretty great. I remember that year that there were many troops in Nam who put down their guns in unprecedented numbers and said I ain't marchin any more. Between 1965-1973 over 500,000 American troops deserted their duty stations from US bases around the world(Soldiers in Revolt, David Cortright). That many American troops refused to march.' I ain't marchin anymore' was a softly spoken mantra around anti-war troops in Nam - when I was there about 50% of us were against the war. I turned while I was there and finished out my service honorably, but I could write a book about all the troops who deserted, defected, the thousands who went to the embassies to seek political asylum.
Hey Toby....I just noticed you have the same first name as me. So nice to read your commentary....and hear again about all those troops who defected. I wish even more would do so now. I wonder if Phil was aware of how his songs affected the troops? Hope so. His end of life is a very tragic one.
@@martykunte “a patriotic song i wrote when i was a kid, when i thought there was some hope in this country i don’t usually sing it, only when something promising happens and right now that is the fall of the federal government” - phil in lansing, michigan 1973 before performing power and glory. he rarely even performed the song because it wasnt time for that song with the amount of injustice, sadly today all of his protest songs still apply to the U.S.
I met Phil in Darwin Australia, back in 74. He played for an Aboriginal cause that I was involved in. He also stayed in my house and after leaving forgot his very hefty diary. I and my friends read a few pages which mentioned me and girlfriend -as he complained about the noise we made when making love! He also talked about meeting Joan Fonda and that she had hurt her foot while in North Vietnam. i took his diary back with me to Vancouver and was going to find out where he lived in the US and send it back - walked off the airport bus the first thing i saw was his name in lights at a local hall. I went in. there he was being interviewed by Screw magazine. I waited then gave him his book - he kind of thanked me and that was the end of the conversation. wish I had read more of his dairy!
Thank you for sharing this "D.N."...I was introduced to this man at his death...the station played all of his works and I was totally taken by what he had to say and how he said it. It would later be a big motivation for me to write my own folks/action songs meant to make a difference in the world. God Bless 'im. Two men came out of Greenwich Village and only one could hold the fame...what a shame, indeed!
Even though this is a few years old it is still news worthy of keeping the ideals of Phil Ochs alive and sharing with younger generations in the age of con-artist and narcissist Donald Trump.
Only 985 views. Where are the troubadors and balladiers of this generation? They wouldn't get in the door of Warner/Electra or any of the other record companies. Rock & Roll died at Woodstock when the recording business wanted to see just how popular the Rock at that time was, and it went downhill from there. Too bad. We need musicians like Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Buffie Saint Marie, to name a few now more than ever.
"Every American community you have varying shades of political opinion....one of the shadiest of these is the Liberals. Ten degrees to the left of center in good times...ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally." (6:40) I always thought Phil Ochs was a Liberal. I was wrong. He was just a political songwriter who covered the sides that needed to be brought to everyone's attention. Not being a Liberal doesn't mean Phil was a conservative. It does mean he may have been moderate. It doesn't matter. I liked Phil, liked his music, and I miss his personality. A sad story about a good-looking guy who just wanted to make a difference with his music. Ochs may have been closer to the likes of Woody Guthrie than Dylan thought he was.
The guy was a socialist. We socialists aren't too fond of liberal politics, and look on liberals with suspicion as they tend to side with the right wing against the left routinely, and reinforce the unjust status quo. They're closer to us in terms of some social issues - at least some of them - but are otherwise pretty center-to-right wing to us. I think Phil is a very good ambassador for socialism, he makes our criticisms and problems with the system and injustice so clear and easy to understand and agree with. And his songs are timeless, they could be released today and would still make sense. Great man, strong, honest and courageous, and clearly an emotionally intelligent and compassionate person.
He was neither liberal nor conservative. I think he identified as socialist if not outright communist. Strong stance on workers' rights, anarchist leanings / free speech advocate, and totally against the military industrial complex. That pitted him against both liberals and conservatives. Liberals basically being a little less right of center to those of us who are true leftists.
@@SurrealisticSlumbers - Your statement has merit. Many would say Ochs was liberal because of that song he recorded "Love Me I'm a Liberal." But I understand what you mean, Lynx.
He was holding his movement to the mark. If you believe in something, you want it to succeed. That something won't succeed if you don't call out the dead weight who like the label but don't care enough to avoid marring the movement with hypocrisy or those who would warp it into something negative. I think George Orwell was similar.
How dare you make a judgement that is not only pedestrian but potentially hurtful to Mr. Ochs’ family members not to mention the singer-songwriter’s ironically successful legacy?
![Phil Ochs • Interview (Folk Music/Activism) • 1971 [Reelin' In The Years Archive]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/m-P7ByOLo_o/mqdefault.jpg)
Phil Ochs has been my inspiration since I started playing music in my teens.
He is someone who cares and imparts his thoughts beautifully through his music!
Peace always
A man with incredible talent. A friend just put me on his music recently and he immediately became my favorite artist. I'm blown away by how few know his name, his music needs to be revived.
Especially now, with someone like Trump in the WH. Phil would be livid.
Phil was at nearly every demonstration I went to in he 60’s. I loved the guy.
The songs I like most have little to do with Phil's protest songs. All of the talk on this site makes little mention of the greatest of his lyrics and melodies that mean everything to me. I apologize to all the irrational Leftists under the spell of good ideology that can't be executed without great upheaval and ends up with an unfairness found only in the far Right. Too bad songs about moderation don't sell and have very few supporters.
So I am many miles short of a Leftist and Rightest, and I suppose Phil's Leftist wasn't as stupid crazy as today; not that I don't appreciate their ideas but they can be executed well. Name a country that does. Cap-Soc is the way in the right measure.
I listen and never concern myself much with his politics. I just love his sensitivity, melodies, and lyrics (Ringing of Revolution and Flower Lady and Changes). I seem to be one of his biggest fans who doesn't have a strong ideology because there are no easy answers. Fools are content with thinking they have the answers. You should always question how your ideology can lead to ignorance and unfairness and then temper it to be more fair.
ua-cam.com/video/20O8xrv3F7g/v-deo.html Tape from California. Rating 10 Jazzy cool psychedelic sound.
ua-cam.com/video/TMMUcLCjnT8/v-deo.html Flower Lady rate 10. exponential poignancy.
ua-cam.com/video/m4MAF1o1AMs/v-deo.html rate 9. Men Behind the Guns . lyrics not written by Ochs. The men below who fight the foe oh the men behind the guns!
ua-cam.com/video/JUpE3hEXpL4/v-deo.html Changes. love this morbidity. 10
ua-cam.com/video/sxDD9CV-XJ4/v-deo.html When I'm Gone. Sweet beautiful song rate 10
ua-cam.com/video/_0BeEHXjXIM/v-deo.html there but for fortune .rate 10
ua-cam.com/video/lfkhBGWkQrs/v-deo.html Cross my Heart. Moving, strings and orchestration make the song. rate 9.5
ua-cam.com/video/XZCr3VYZEi8/v-deo.html Celia. rate 9. A fascist prisoner sings a song to his lady. Corny by gut-wrenching. When will i lie beside my Celia 'neath the tree oh when will Celia come to me?
ua-cam.com/video/CB4xpqNSYpk/v-deo.html The Marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo. Genius Lyrics. Few songs approach this kind of picturesque lyrics such as "And the crabs are crazy, they scuttle back and forth/ The sand is burning. And the fish take flight and scatter from the sight their courses turning. Later on: But the soldiers make a bid, giving candy to the kids/Their teeth are gleaming/ The marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo"
Ringing of Revolution has great lyrics. Think of the monumental Charles Dicken's "great expectations". lyrics that were written in 15 mins? ua-cam.com/video/Tis4xaoddWA/v-deo.html Lyrics should be studied in school so we don't have to read the laborious Dickens' book.
ua-cam.com/video/gnDLe8BCEFw/v-deo.html Half a century High. Eerie playful and soars and pours into Phil's unconsciousness. 9.5
ua-cam.com/video/H-Pd7azytEk/v-deo.html That was the President. Best tribute song to Kennedy. 9 Here's a memory to share, here's a memory to fade.
ua-cam.com/video/K49_39VTshI/v-deo.html Another Age. Catchy. 9
ua-cam.com/video/SsX8m_dLUA4/v-deo.html Pretty Smart on my Part. catchy. 8.5
ua-cam.com/video/VQBLBvi67fw/v-deo.html I kill therefore I am. country twang sounds good. 8 catchy too.
ua-cam.com/video/t3OiLBRh9X8/v-deo.html Too many Marytrs. Topical folk song 9
In '68 some of us lucky troops in Vietnam listened to a Phil Ochs record we bought at the PX called, "The Pleasures of the Harbor." The Army allowed its sale in Army PXs since it wasn't as blatantly anti-war as his previous recordings, but ...pleasures was more a work of art and my gateway to his earlier protest songs. I love his stance and music; I'd never heard of Phil Ochs until then and haven't forgotten him since. I read his biography. He was a great American. I still have "...pleasures." And it's still a pleasure to listen to it under the influence of the same herb I smoked back then, when I joyously listened to it for the first time in an Army tent - we thought Phil was pretty great. I remember that year that there were many troops in Nam who put down their guns in unprecedented numbers and said I ain't marchin any more. Between 1965-1973 over 500,000 American troops deserted their duty stations from US bases around the world(Soldiers in Revolt, David Cortright). That many American troops refused to march.' I ain't marchin anymore' was a softly spoken mantra around anti-war troops in Nam - when I was there about 50% of us were against the war. I turned while I was there and finished out my service honorably, but I could write a book about all the troops who deserted, defected, the thousands who went to the embassies to seek political asylum.
+Toby Blake just picked up that LP! This guy was way ahead of his time and well need today!
Hey Toby....I just noticed you have the same first name as me. So nice to read your commentary....and hear again about all those troops who defected. I wish even more would do so now. I wonder if Phil was aware of how his songs affected the troops? Hope so. His end of life is a very tragic one.
The saddest thing about Phil Ochs is that so many people who hear his name and see stories like this will never know how much he loved this country.
fek2000 he was a true patriot notice they don’t list songs like power and glory
Or how much we loved him
@@martykunte a true patriot who sung of the wrongdoings occuring in his beloved country
@@fuas710 amen
@@martykunte “a patriotic song i wrote when i was a kid, when i thought there was some hope in this country i don’t usually sing it, only when something promising happens and right now that is the fall of the federal government” - phil in lansing, michigan 1973 before performing power and glory. he rarely even performed the song because it wasnt time for that song with the amount of injustice, sadly today all of his protest songs still apply to the U.S.
I met Phil in Darwin Australia, back in 74. He played for an Aboriginal cause that I was involved in. He also stayed in my house and after leaving forgot his very hefty diary. I and my friends read a few pages which mentioned me and girlfriend -as he complained about the noise we made when making love! He also talked about meeting Joan Fonda and that she had hurt her foot while in North Vietnam. i took his diary back with me to Vancouver and was going to find out where he lived in the US and send it back - walked off the airport bus the first thing i saw was his name in lights at a local hall. I went in. there he was being interviewed by Screw magazine. I waited then gave him his book - he kind of thanked me and that was the end of the conversation. wish I had read more of his dairy!
Wow! What a story! Amazing you took such efforts to return it. 👏
@@eemoogee160 Thank you ! I wish I had read more of the content ! Sad ending for him unfortunately.
Thank you for sharing this "D.N."...I was introduced to this man at his death...the station played all of his works and I was totally taken by what he had to say and how he said it. It would later be a big motivation for me to write my own folks/action songs meant to make a difference in the world. God Bless 'im. Two men came out of Greenwich Village and only one could hold the fame...what a shame, indeed!
I knew him towards the end. Sadness.
Thank you for bring to light a activist folk singer under appreciated.
Still influential more than 40 years after his death, quite a legacy!
great man,great folk singer ,the most real protest singer.
A great man. We need him now!
He is my favourite folk singer..
it's reassuring to remember there are Americans as Phil Ochs !
They call them Military Graveyards, but I call them poor Teenagers Graveyards ! GBY
Even though this is a few years old it is still news worthy of keeping the ideals of Phil Ochs alive and sharing with younger generations in the age of con-artist and narcissist Donald Trump.
Only 985 views. Where are the troubadors and balladiers of this generation? They wouldn't get in the door of Warner/Electra or any of the other record companies. Rock & Roll died at Woodstock when the recording business wanted to see just how popular the Rock at that time was, and it went downhill from there. Too bad. We need musicians like Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Buffie Saint Marie, to name a few now more than ever.
And Malvina Reynolds, (Little Boxes, What Have They Done to the Rain?...)...
But we've still got Dylan, miraculously. He outlived them all, still writes brilliant songs, and is still on that road.
An Ole Soul-- Gone too soon--
Genius.
God, this was a brilliant film. I can't wait for the DVD.
We needed someone like Phil Ochs when George W. Bush was president.
RIP Phil
HE WAS THE GREATEST THE HECk WITH DYLAN AND ALL THE OTHERS!!!❤️❤️💋💕
People not understanding the satire of “love me I’m a liberal” is very painful
That Malcolm X line tho....Wooooh
wish it was out in uk, ive dedictaed a song to pihl, appropriately called 'phil ochs!' on another page..by tony kilkelly.
He was truely a reincarnation of Woody Guthrie.
arc of my life yes he was
Woody was Woody. Phil was quite himself. ..
Someone who was there.
"Every American community you have varying shades of political opinion....one of the shadiest of these is the Liberals. Ten degrees to the left of center in good times...ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally." (6:40) I always thought Phil Ochs was a Liberal. I was wrong. He was just a political songwriter who covered the sides that needed to be brought to everyone's attention. Not being a Liberal doesn't mean Phil was a conservative. It does mean he may have been moderate. It doesn't matter. I liked Phil, liked his music, and I miss his personality. A sad story about a good-looking guy who just wanted to make a difference with his music. Ochs may have been closer to the likes of Woody Guthrie than Dylan thought he was.
The guy was a socialist. We socialists aren't too fond of liberal politics, and look on liberals with suspicion as they tend to side with the right wing against the left routinely, and reinforce the unjust status quo. They're closer to us in terms of some social issues - at least some of them - but are otherwise pretty center-to-right wing to us. I think Phil is a very good ambassador for socialism, he makes our criticisms and problems with the system and injustice so clear and easy to understand and agree with. And his songs are timeless, they could be released today and would still make sense. Great man, strong, honest and courageous, and clearly an emotionally intelligent and compassionate person.
He was neither liberal nor conservative. I think he identified as socialist if not outright communist. Strong stance on workers' rights, anarchist leanings / free speech advocate, and totally against the military industrial complex. That pitted him against both liberals and conservatives. Liberals basically being a little less right of center to those of us who are true leftists.
@@SurrealisticSlumbers - Your statement has merit.
Many would say Ochs was liberal because of that song he recorded "Love Me I'm a Liberal."
But I understand what you mean, Lynx.
@@lastrada52 yeah I seriously doubt he was talking about himself when he wrote that song.
He was holding his movement to the mark. If you believe in something, you want it to succeed. That something won't succeed if you don't call out the dead weight who like the label but don't care enough to avoid marring the movement with hypocrisy or those who would warp it into something negative. I think George Orwell was similar.
But you do still have social rebel's! Watch>>"Appalachia Rising-Occupy"
Don't play the chords of Fame. Watch his memorial concert, which has his peers singing his songs.
@philoza1000 Plenty of DVD players will play American region DVDs, you might wanna try it in your computer instead.
As a New Lefty I've always felt that WE are the real conservatives, fighting for America's original ideals.
I'm a huge fan of Phil Ochs but please, do you really think that is you just believe something it comes true?
Dude was nuts.
How dare you make a judgement that is not only pedestrian but potentially hurtful to Mr. Ochs’ family members not to mention the singer-songwriter’s ironically successful legacy?
Always better to be so-called “nuts” or “eccentric” than utterly blank, blank-man.