Library

Phil Ochs

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Gale Musician Profiles:

Phil Ochs

Top
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Musicians

Singer, songwriter, activist

Phil Ochs was a man of apparent ironies and contradictions. To many, he was radically un-American; his left-wing politics inspired death threats and an F.B.I, file 410 pages long. Yet, he was a patriot, a man who John Poses of Spin described as "the uncompromising patriot, the rebel with causes," who loved the U.S. and was determined to see that it live up to the ideals upon which it was founded. He admired John F. Kennedy and quintessentially American actor John Wayne, but also Fidel Castro and Latin American revolutionary leader Che Guevara. Throughout the sixties he feared his dedication to left-wing politics would get him killed; but in the end, it was he who killed himself.

Ochs was arguably the greatest of the sixties protest singer-songwriters. Leon Wieseltier of the Washingtonian stated that "it was he who was the most brilliant and serious and moving and funny singer of the ‘60s, the movement’s most intelligent contribution to American popular music." At root an activist and journalist, he lived by the words of union organizer and songwriter Joe Hill, who said "a pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and is repeated over and over." According to Wieseltier, Ochs. "was never, in his criticism of the United States, uninformed or unsophisticated." He studied papers and journals and was committed to communicating what he learned, and righting the injustices he saw. In the words of Spin’s Poses, he was "an astute, acerbic journalist who knew rhythmically and lyrically how to couch his sarcastic wit in meter." Nonetheless, Ochs was not simply a singing journalist; he was capable of writing beautiful, lyrical songs, combining, in Rolling Stone’s words "a poet’s soul with the gutsy bravado and knife-point writing of a seasoned press hound." British folk musician and political activist Billy Bragg has said, "America has yet to produce another songwriter like him."

Discovered Folk Music in College
Ochs’s upbringing in New York and Ohio was rocky. His doctor father suffered from manic depression. In and out of hospitals, Jacob Ochs was unable to maintain a medical practice. Ochs was a particularly dreamy child who often appeared to be in another world; his favorite escape was the movies. As a teenager he attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia—an unusual place for a future leader of an antiwar movement. In The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country and Western Music, Ochs’s brother, Michael, told Irwin Stambler that Phil "probably decided to go [to Staunton] because of the way the movies portrayed military schools and an identification with John Wayne." During high school Ochs took up the clarinet and his teachers

discovered he was an exceptional musician. It wasn’t until he attended Ohio State University, however, that he became interested in folk music and started writing songs. Ochs’s roommate, Jim Glover, who introduced him to folk music, taught him to play guitar, and actually gave him his first guitar after losing a bet on the Kennedy-Nixon election of 1960.

It was also as a student that Ochs became interested in journalism. According to Rolling Stone, after two years in college he was jailed in Florida for vagrancy; the experience motivated him to become a writer. Upon his return to Ohio State, he started publishing a radical newspaper and soon found himself in line for the editorship of the school’s publication, The Lantern. School authorities eventually blocked him from taking that post, however, probably the result of his statement that communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro was the greatest figure in the Western Hemisphere in the twentieth century. Michael Ochs told Stambler that disappointment over this rejection prompted Ochs to quit school a few months before graduation.

Instead of obtaining his degree, Ochs formed a duo with roommate Glover and began playing bars in Cleveland. In 1961 he moved to New York City, landing in the middle of the thriving Greenwich Village folk scene. He began writing protest songs in the company of some of folk music’s greats—Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, and Dave Van Ronk. Ochs and Dylan shared a close but volatile personal and professional relationship in the early 1960s. Clearly, Dylan was the star of the folk scene, but most agree that Ochs ran a close second. Ochs began to draw widespread attention when he performed in Rhode Island at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963. Elektra records signed him, and in 1964 released his debut album, All the News That’s Fit to Sing, its title reflecting Ochs’s brand of journalism. When it was re-released in 1987, Sing Out! magazine called the album "clearly one of the most important debuts of the ‘folk boom’" and Rolling Stone described it as "a manifesto of social urgency; Ochs sounds the alarm in a strident clarion voice with acidic humor, noble rage and at times, priestly tenderness." Ochs followed All the News with I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore, which introduced on vinyl some of his most popular songs, including "Here’s to the State of Mississippi," "Draft Dodger Rag," and the title cut—the anthem of the period, according to the Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. This second album, according to Rolling Stone "firmly established Ochs as the leading protest singer/songwriter." By this time Dylan had moved away from protest music and had begun to alienate many in folk circles; Sing Out! proclaimed that the crown had been passed to Ochs.

Ochs’s third album, Phil Ochs in Concert, put him on the Billboard charts; Joan Baez’s recording of one of its songs, "There But for Fortune," was also a hit. As Ochs’s talent began to mature, he added some personal subjects to his songs. "Musically," read the liner notes to The War is Over, "this entailed a greater emphasis on melody and arrangement. Lyrically, it meant that Ochs was striving for something deeper than making a point."

Dedicated to Antiwar Movement
During this time, and throughout the sixties, Ochs was deeply involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement. He played rallies, often for free, and expressed his objections to the combat in Southeast Asia at folk festivals across North America. His outspoken politics across the board won him more than a handful of enemies; he alienated much of the South with civil-rights songs like "Talking Birmingham Jam," and "Here’s to the State of Mississippi." Because of his views, according to Melody Maker, Ochs was banned from performing on television or radio in the United States for several years. Ironically, the folksinger was even attacked by one of his heroes, John Wayne. As recalled by Spin’s Poses, Wayne told Playboy that he made his film The Green Berets "to counteract the lies that Phil Ochs and Joan Baez were spreading." Nonetheless, Ochs considered this the high point of his career: John Wayne actually knew who he was!

As radical as Ochs was, he was not blind to the problems and hypocrisy of the Left. Many of the songs he wrote in the late sixties—"Love Me, I’m a Liberal," "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends, and "Flower Lady"—chide and even indict many of those in his own camp. As that decade wore on, Ochs became increasingly disillusioned with American society. His popularity began to wane. Michael Ochs and Billy Bragg cite the tumultuous Democratic National Convention, held in Chicago in 1968, as the primary catalyst of Ochs’s decline. "Something inside Phil died in Chicago in 1968. He’d witnessed the country he loved devouring its own children and realized that the U.S.A. was no place for heroes," wrote Bragg in the liner notes to Ochs’s record There & Now: Live in Vancouver, 1968. Ochs’s optimism began to fail and his recordings reflected a growing bitterness. He recorded his last studio album in 1970. As the times changed, Ochs had trouble adapting; his friend David Blue told Rolling Stone that "Phil was totally a child of the Sixties. He was a political animal and that political energy was his only source. When that started to go, he started to wither."

The 1970s were hard on Ochs; his creativity began to dry up and he turned to alcohol. In 1970 he recorded a performance at New York’s Carnegie hall that is remembered for a bomb scare and a jeering audience shouting "Phil Ochs is dead." Ochs told Tom Nolan in Rolling Stone that he thought it was great. "You can hear the whole audience thing, at first they’re booing me, then I win them over and they come around, at the end they’re cheering." His record label—by this time A&M—however, was not so pleased. At first it would not release the album, and then did so only in Canada, and not until 1974.

Lost Confidence in Talent
As musicians turned introspective in the seventies, Ochs was not able to follow suit; he lost confidence and inspiration. His brother told Poses that Ochs "never developed his personal stuff. He always thought of the greater good and never thought about himself. Frankly, he never grew emotionally; he wasn’t equipped to deal with the me generation. It wasn’t part of his psyche." Ochs stopped writing and sank deeper into drinking and depression, producing one single in the seventies, a rewrite of "Here’s to the State of Mississippi" entitled "Here’s to the State of Richard Nixon." Still, Ochs did not lose his dedication to the causes of freedom and justice. He wrote for the Los Angeles Free Press and organized benefit concerts. He also tried to take his message to different parts of the world, touring Chile, Australia, and Africa. In Kenya tragedy struck: Ochs was mugged and almost strangled to death. His vocal chords were damaged beyond repair. Already unable to write, he was then barely able to sing.

In 1975 Ochs appeared at a rally in New York’s Central Park that celebrated the end of the Vietnam War. He performed "The War Is Over." To Chet Flippo of Rolling Stone, it was clear that Ochs’s career was also over: "Reality had finally caught up with his ten-year-old song and it was pathetically clear that antiwar songs and singers were relics from the past. Ochs went downhill fast after that." Suffering, as his father had, from manic depression, he continued drinking and drifting, staying with friends in cheap hotels and even on the street. He started calling himself John Butler Train, and according to Flippo, as Train was charged with assaulting a woman friend and arrested for drunkenness. Ochs eventually went to stay with his sister in Far Rockaway, New York. It was there that he hanged himself, on April 9, 1976. Three months later, a sell-out crowd of 4,500 filled Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum in New York City for a six-and-a-half-hour tribute concert in Ochs’s memory.

Fortunately for younger generations, Ochs’s music did not die with him. He has continued to influence musicians, especially folk singers. The folk music renaissance of the late 1980s brought a resurgence in his popularity; a handful of record companies re-released some of Ochs’s albums and produced new compilations. In reference to the new releases, Sing Out!’s Mark Moss affirmed that "much of the material, though over two decades old, speaks just as loudly and truly as when it was first recorded." The Washingtonian’s Wieseltier agreed: "These songs sound strong today because they had the strength of the particular. Nothing gauzy here, nothing pompous, nothing metaphysical, nothing for the ages, nothing general. Only a natural bard with a devotion to the affairs of the day, a poet of political details."

Selected discography

Singles
"The Bells," Elektra, 1964.

"The Power and the Glory," Elektra, 1964.
"Draft Dodger Rag," Elektra, 1965.
"Here’s to the State of Mississippi," Elektra, 1965.
"I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore," Elektra, 1965.
"In the Heat of the Summer," Elektra, 1965.
"There But for Fortune," Elektra, 1965.
"Canons of Christianity," Elektra, 1966.
"The Ringing of Revolution," Elektra, 1966.
"Santo Domingo," Elektra, 1966.
"Crucifixion," A&M, 1967.
"Miranda," A&M, 1967.
"The Party," A&M, 1967.
"Outside of a Small Circle of Friends," A&M, 1967.
"Joe Hill," A&M, 1968.
"The War Is Over," A&M, 1968.
"When in Rome," A&M, 1968.
"My Life," A&M, 1969.
"Where Were You in Chicago," A&M, 1969.
"Here’s to the State of Richard Nixon," A&M, 1974.

Albums
All the News That’s Fit to Sing, Elektra, 1964.
I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore (includes "Draft Dodger Rag," "Talking Birmingham Jam," and "Here’s to the State of Mississippi"), Elektra, 1964.
Phil Ochs in Concert (includes "There But for Fortune" and "Love Me, I’m a Liberal"), Elektra, 1966.
Pleasures of the Harbor (includes "Flower Lady" and "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends"), A&M, 1967.
Tape From California (includes "The War Is Over"), A&M, 1968.
Rehearsals for Retirement, A&M, 1969.
Greatest Hits, A&M, 1970.
Gunfight in Carnegie Hall, A&M, 1971.
Chords of Fame, A&M, 1976.
A Toast to Those Who Are Gone, (songs recorded before 1964), Rhino, 1986.
The War is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs, A&M, 1988.
The Broadside Tapes I, Smithsonian Folkways, 1989.
There But for Fortune, Elektra, 1989.
There & Now: Live in Vancouver, 1968, Rhino, 1990.

Sources
Books
Eliot, Marc, Death of a Rebel, Anchor Press, 1979.
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, edited by Donald Clarke, Viking, 1989.
Stambler, Irwin, and Grelun Landon, The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country and Western Music, St. Martin’s Press, 1983.

Periodicals
Crawdaddy, July 1976.
Melody Maker, April 17, 1976.
Rolling Stone, May 27, 1971; May 20, 1976; July 15, 1976; March 12, 1987.
Sing Out!, Spring 1976; Spring 1987.
Spin, April 1991.
Washingtonian, July 1989.
Other sources include album liner notes to The War is Over and There & Now: Live in Vancouver, 1968.
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:

Phil Ochs

Top
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists
  • Genres: Folk

Biography

Phil Ochs is a figure both glorious and tragic who haunts the history of the 1960s folk revival and its aftermath. A topical singer and songwriter in the manner of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie from the previous generation, he was forever in the shadow of Bob Dylan in terms of the recognition for his music; but unlike Dylan -- who, in retrospect, seemed to approach his work with overpowering facility and talent, but only occasional moments of definable dedication to the causes seemingly behind the songs -- Ochs truly believed in and embraced those causes, which may have been his tragedy.

In contrast to Dylan, who was an enigmatic media star from 1964 onward -- teasing and even daring the press and public to try and define him -- Ochs embraced the role of ideological outlaw, authoring songs that often stretched (and sometimes ripped) the envelope of acceptable popular political discourse, as well as extending the range and language of folk style music's poetry into new and gloriously rich territory. And what made it even more effective was that he did it with a voice that was so seemingly earnest and unassuming in its appeal. He may never have written anything as widely known as "Blowing in the Wind," "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall," or "Mr. Tambourine Man," but he angered people across the country (and in Mississippi, for other reasons) with "Here's to the State of Mississippi"; roused those who heard them with "The Power and the Glory" (a worthy successor to Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land") and "I'm Not Marching Anymore"; and moved many thousands to a fresh round of tears about President Kennedy with "Crucifixion." And for all of his outlaw reputation -- which began coalescing around him as early as 1965 in some "respectable," establishment circles -- his work ended up infiltrating high school classrooms through the songs "The Highwayman" and "The Bells," the latter an extraordinarily early intersection between folk song and art song. Eventually he too would follow Dylan into electric music and more personal, abstract, and romantic compositions. But Ochs had something extra, even in those years: street cred, among the people who cared -- where Dylan, due to his own calculation and the repercussions of various personal situations, spent much of the late '60s as an enigmatic recluse, respected for his identity and his songs but rather unknowable and totally remote as a presence, Ochs was in Chicago for the 1968 Democratic National Convention, when thousands of young citizens (supported by a few brave politicians) took to the streets to scream "Enough!" about the Vietnam War, and were brutally suppressed by the police under orders from the city's mayor; he even ended up as a witness at the subsequent conspiracy trial of the seven alleged conspirators behind the demonstration. And no matter how far his style advanced, and how complex his songwriting became, he never abandoned this kind of involvement with issues. Apart from American involvement in the Vietnam War, which dragged on into the mid-'70s, he saw many of the causes that he cared about move toward some measure of fulfillment as the 1970s dawned; but personal problems, including clinical depression and alcoholism, left him drained, psychologically and musically. By the middle of the decade he found there was nothing left inside, and he finally died by his own hand in 1976. It was only after his tragic tailspin and eventual death that he was properly appreciated as one of the most sincere and humane songwriters of his day, whether detailing political atrocities or more poetic concerns.

Ochs was a self-coined "singing journalist" when he began performing in New York in the early '60s. But if he was a singing journalist, he was the embodiment -- maybe the model -- for the practitioner of what became known as "new journalism" later in the decade, in-your-face "reporting" through his songs. He was born in Texas, the son of Jacob Ochs, a New York-born doctor of very modest means, and the former Gertrude Phin, whom the elder Ochs had met while studying medicine at Edinburgh University in Scotland. Owing to the ravages of the Great Depression and Jack Ochs' sometimes erratic behavior, Phil Ochs was born into an already chaotic home, a situation exacerbated by the outbreak of the Second World War and Jack Ochs being drafted into the U.S. Army medical corps.

Family life was no more stable after the end of the war -- between his father's treatment for mental illness (diagnosed as manic depression) and the failure of his practice in New York, there was relatively little peace. Ochs grew up in Queens, NY, the upstate town of Perrysburg, and in Columbus, OH. In those days, his sensibilities were surprisingly mainstream -- raised in the 1940s and 1950s, he was an admirer of John Wayne and World War II hero-turned-actor Audie Murphy (as well as James Dean), and as a boy seemed to accept a lot of the notions that Wayne and Murphy stood for. He was also a passionate movie buff, long before home video and 1,000-channel cable systems made that easy -- he loved books telling heroic, romantic tales, and as a teenager, he already implicitly understood dramatic storytelling and story arcs, and the imagery that went with it in words, all of which would enter into his later career in music. But in 1956, he had other goals in mind -- that year, Ochs chose to attend Staunton Military Academy in Virginia. He lived the life of a cadet successfully for two years before entering Ohio State University in 1958. Music had already begun to attract him, and he'd developed an interest in country music, which later helped provide his introduction to folk music. It was while at Ohio State that he decided to become a writer, and also first became attuned to the work of beat poets such as Allen Ginsberg and authors such as Jack Kerouac. At around the same time, his college roommate, Jim Glover, introduced him to the songs of Woody Guthrie, Lee Hays, and Pete Seeger, and the leftist protest tradition that they represented -- Glover, who, with his future girlfriend Jean Ray would form the duo Jim & Jean, would remain associated with Ochs professionally and personally for years to come.

By the end of the 1950s, the transformation was complete -- Phil Ochs, the admirer of John Wayne and Audie Murphy (the most decorated American soldier of the whole Second World War), was leading protests on campus against mandatory ROTC training. Ochs moved from Ohio to New York in the early '60s and was soon a prolific writer of the topical, left-leaning protest songs then in vogue. His initial recording efforts, heard on compilations for Broadside, Folkways, and Vanguard (which recorded him at the Newport Folk Festival), were rather dry and instantly dated, though they did show considerable passion and earnestness, and more facility with language and music than a lot of what else was flowing out of the underground of the folk boom. By the time made his Elektra Records debut in 1964 with All the News That's Fit to Sing (the title a stinging pun on The New York Times's front-page legend, "All The News That's Fit to Print"), Ochs was finding his own voice -- narrow in range but more melodic than Dylan (if not as lyrically innovative), its strident accusations tempered by a warm delivery and underlying compassion. With second guitar by Danny Kalb (later of the Blues Project), his first album was highlighted by "Power and the Glory" and "Bound for Glory," as well as an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bells."

His follow-up, I Ain't Marching Anymore (1965), showed him playing far better, completely on his own this time, and writing bolder songs. That album gave the antiwar movement two rallying calls with the title track and "Draft Dodger Rag," along with a moving civil rights piece, "Here's to the State of Mississippi." And with "The Highwayman," adapted from Alfred Noyes' poem, he not only showed new range to his composing skills but delivered a song that would allow his work -- for all of the controversy surrounding his politics and topical songs -- to enter a generation of high school classrooms. Indeed, "The Highwayman" became for Ochs, on a much smaller scale, what "Puff the Magic Dragon" was for Peter, Paul & Mary, a key to the door of mainstream America, getting his music heard and his name mentioned in classes at schools that would never have allowed him to perform for their students. Meanwhile, the folk audience embraced him as the most promising singer/composer to emerge since Bob Dylan's 1962 debut -- he wasn't as bold and piercing in his use of language, or song structure, as Dylan, but his words, sung in a voice that might've belonged to the boy next door, if you will, in middle America, had a quiet anger, outrage, and irony that drove home their message as surely as Dylan's rough-hewn, raspy declarations.

Ochs addressed all manner of antiwar, civil rights, labor, and social justice issues on his Elektra albums, the best of which was In Concert (1966). The latter -- which, ironically enough, barely had any actual live recording on it, due to the failure of his voice on the night of the recorded performance -- captured him at an extraordinary moment, still doing topical songs but approaching them with a level of musical and lyrical sophistication that is still startling to hear 40 years later. Ochs' social criticism was deepening in acuity, as heard on "Canons of Christianity," "Cops of the World," and the satirical "Love Me, I'm a Liberal." But he also began to move into non-political subjects with equal or greater effect, as on "There But for Fortune" and "Changes," his most famous love song.

In Concert was Ochs' final acoustic album, and also marked the end of his relationship with Elektra Records. The years 1965-1966 had been difficult for him, as the musical landscape under his feet shifted drastically. The birth of the sound identified as "folk-rock," as embodied by bands such as the Byrds and Bob Dylan's use of an electric band on his newest album, had ripped the heart out of the burgeoning folk music boom -- the younger, more casual listeners, after some resistance, had been lured away, leaving the audience for folk music a shadow of what it had been in 1963-1964. Additionally, Ochs had discovered the notion -- as had Simon & Garfunkel before him -- of the studio as an "instrument," and had begun to think of his songs in terms beyond the boundaries of a couple of guitars and one or two microphones. He also knew that he wasn't going to get that kind of support at Elektra Records, which had only just started moving out of folk music and into rock music.

He'd already moved into electric rock with a fine (though flop) single-only version of "I Ain't Marching Anymore." In 1967, he broke from his acoustic folk troubadour image with a vengeance, leaving Elektra for A&M Records and moving to Los Angeles, where he recorded the album that would completely redefine his sound and image: Pleasures of the Harbor. There were a lot of sounds new to his music -- and to music in a popular vein -- on the album, which also contained an extraordinary array of compositions, at least two of which, "The Crucifixion" (later more familiar without the article in its title) and the title track, stand at the head of any list of the finest works of his career. There was also an obvious and catchy single to be pulled from the album -- a first for Ochs, in terms of its promise -- called "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends," a devastating social apathy parody that was as catchy and memorable as it was savage in its humor. But the single proved a chart disaster, its references to smoking marijuana and its topical japing of the government bringing down threats from the FCC and other official quarters that prevented its being played by most radio stations anywhere in the United States. Instead, it became a kind of underground joke and rallying anthem, akin to Country Joe & the Fish's "Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag."

There was no denying the beauty of Pleasures of the Harbor, or the power of the songs on it -- it was as fine a body of songs as Ochs (or most anyone else coming out of the folk music world) would ever assemble in one place, and even people who were skeptical of Ochs' talent or voice, or his shift away from obvious protest music, conceded that there was something profoundly substantial there, in Ochs and the album. But it wasn't perfect, by any means -- in its ambitious arrangements and accompaniments, it was over-produced in many spots, the orchestrations occasionally overpowering Ochs' somewhat limited singing voice as well as the lyrics and the underlying melody. And even the lighter baroque rock sound utilized on most of the album seemed too precious in places where it wasn't needed. Additionally, Ochs seemed to be overreaching or straining for highbrow poetry in other spots. The L.A. session production sometimes enhanced his musical settings, but the more elaborate and pretentious arrangements worked against the material just as often.

Ochs' life and career from 1967 through 1970 was mostly a series of bold personal and musical moves, juxtaposed with bitter disappointments and heartbreaking disillusionment. Ochs hadn't forsaken his political commitments, appearing at the violence-riddled 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Tape from California, released that year, was a more modestly produced album than its predecessor that did better by its songs. It also brought back the activist Ochs in full force, after the poetic digressions of Pleasures of the Harbor -- "White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land" (a song sadly just as relevant, thanks to George W. Bush, in the 21st century as it was in the 1960s), "Joe Hill," and "The War Is Over" were as much the old Phil Ochs as the new; "White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land" has an almost cinematic quality to its narrative and detail, so much so that it plays like a film in the mind of the listener; he'd evolved from a singing journalist into a musical essayist and singing screenwriter. Another, more direct carryover from his acoustic period was "Half a Century High," which he'd played as far back as Newport in 1966 -- it was shorter here and a little less complex, and it made use of one studio trick in the opening line that probably wasn't necessary, but it was almost as fine a moment as the title track, an autobiographical narrative that was also the best piece of original rock & roll he ever wrote. But the debacle of the Chicago convention and its aftermath, in which the antiwar movement splintered between the moderates and the radicals, and the country turned to Richard Nixon -- a pro-war candidate -- as its next president, taxed Ochs' beliefs to the breaking point. By 1969's Rehearsals for Retirement, some weariness and disenchantment with idealism was beginning to seep into both his compositions and his singing. Despite some transcendent moments, the album -- which, in light of later events, seemed most ominous, with a tombstone for Ochs on the cover -- was neglected by his listenership, and deleted very fast. The problems became more acute with 1970's facetiously titled Greatest Hits, when the standard of his material began to drop noticeably -- though even that album has it glowing, searing moments, steeped in sadness as some of them are: "Chords of Fame" (which was later covered magnificently by Melanie), "Jim Dean of Indiana," and the ominous "No More Songs," the latter virtually a self-penned eulogy.

Although it wasn't foreseen at the time, Greatest Hits was his last studio album. Ochs did remain active, recording a live LP (initially released only in Canada) that excited controversy with its strange mix of original songs and unexpected covers of old rock & roll tunes by Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, performed in a gold lamé suit. His notion at the time, perhaps a product of his disillusionment with folk-style music or its more heavily produced successor to move the masses, was to a rock star personality with topical music -- to "turn Elvis Presley into Che Guevara," as he put it. The '50s revival act was received poorly by an audience accustomed to a folkie troubadour, but that was among the least of Ochs' obstacles. His well of original compositions had run dry, and he was developing severe alcohol and psychological problems. In a mysterious mugging incident in Africa, his voice was permanently damaged.

Ochs did record a couple of flop singles in the early '70s, but by the middle of the decade he was largely inactive, and afflicted with serious depression. The military coup in Chile -- planned and financed by the Nixon administration -- against the popularly elected government of communist president Salvador Allende broke his heart and crushed his soul, and not even Nixon's resignation as President of the United States in 1974 could restore him. He did play a few shows -- one benefit for the U.S. Senate candidacy of former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (the one member of Lyndon Johnson's cabinet to oppose the Vietnam War) in 1974 has been released unofficially, as a bootleg, and shows him still capable of moving a crowd -- but Ochs was mostly in a downward spiral across those last years. And he was part of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue for a short time, and reportedly was filmed doing four songs for the movie Renaldo and Clara that were never used in the finished film. In early 1976, he hanged himself at his sister's home in Far Rockaway, Queens, in New York City. Sad to say, the song lyric notwithstanding, he never got a half-a-century old, but he was more than a half-a-century wise; and a lot of fans who only knew him by his songs -- and there were a lot more at the end than he probably knew -- still miss him.

In the decades since -- after a period of obscurity in the late '70s, in which the only mourners were his serious fans -- Ochs' songs and reputation have only grown, and with surprisingly little help from the mass media. Greatest Hits sneaked out as a budget LP reissue in the early '80s and then disappeared again (want to bet that some clown at A&M thought it was a greatest-hits album?); and at the outset of the CD era A&M released a pathetic-sounding Best of Phil Ochs that definitely didn't live up to its title, in content or any other way. Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs under the late Herb Belkin gave Gunfight at Carnegie Hall, the live album that A&M only put out in Canada, its first official U.S. release ever, on CD in the late '80s. And Vanguard Records in the 1990s released Live at Newport, a compilation of Ochs' appearances at the Newport Folk Festival, which included the early all-acoustic performing versions of four songs from his later career. There was a low-budget biographical film, Chords of Fame, directed by Michael Korelenko and starring Bill Burnett, released in 1984 on a very limited basis, the highlight of which was an a cappella group performance of "Crucifixion" that frequently reduced audiences to tears. And in the mid-'80s, Sean Penn expressed an interest in portraying Ochs on screen, a goal that was never fulfilled and which he has -- as of 2007 -- aged past ever achieving. Much more important were A Toast to Those Who Are Gone and There and Now: Live in Vancouver 1968, two previously unknown recordings, one studio and one live, that surfaced from Rhino Records during the 1980s and filled major gaps in Ochs' history and output; the live disc, especially, is essential listening. There was also a multi-artist tribute album, in the form of the double-CD set What That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil Ochs. And in 1996, Rhino issued a triple-CD career retrospective, Farewells & Fantasies -- it was as impressive a set as any of its kind, and contained extensive archival material that had never been heard commercially. Meanwhile, at almost the same time, Universal Music compiled his A&M Records output on a superb double-CD set, American Troubadour, released only in Europe (and, like Farewells & Fantasies, also out of print by 2005). Rather than the music business -- apart from Ochs' younger brother Michael Ochs, a now-legendary archivist and producer -- its really been the fans who have kept Ochs' memory alive and spread the word about his music, with help from college radio and a few alternative stations, and some intrepid souls at Collector's Choice and Hannibal Records who have kept many of the original records in print. ~ Richie Unterberger & Bruce Eder, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Phil Ochs

Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Phil Ochs

Phil Ochs in concert, May 25, 1973 in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Background information
Born (1940-12-19)December 19, 1940
El Paso, Texas
Died April 9, 1976(1976-04-09) (aged 35)
Far Rockaway, New York City
Genres Folk, protest music, folk rock
Occupations Singer-songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals, piano
Years active 1962–1976
Labels Elektra, A&M

Philip David Ochs (play /ˈoʊks/; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer) and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and distinctive voice. He wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and released eight albums in his lifetime.

Ochs performed at many political events, including anti-Vietnam War and civil rights rallies, student events, and organized labor events over the course of his career, in addition to many concert appearances at such venues as New York City's Town Hall and Carnegie Hall. Politically, Ochs described himself as a "left social democrat" who became an "early revolutionary" after the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago led to a police riot, which had a profound effect on his state of mind.[1]

After years of prolific writing in the 1960s, Ochs's mental stability declined in the 1970s. He eventually succumbed to a number of problems including bipolar disorder and alcoholism, and took his own life in 1976.

Some of Ochs's major influences were Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Bob Gibson, Faron Young, Merle Haggard, John Wayne, and John F. Kennedy. His best-known songs include "I Ain't Marching Anymore", "Changes", "Crucifixion", "Draft Dodger Rag", "Love Me, I'm a Liberal", "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", "Power and the Glory", "There but for Fortune", and "The War Is Over".

Contents

Biography

Early years

Phil Ochs was born in El Paso, Texas, to Jacob ("Jack") Ochs, a physician who was born in New York in 1910,[2] and Gertrude Phin Ochs, who was born in Scotland.[3] His parents met and married in Edinburgh where Jack was attending medical school.[4] After their marriage, they moved to the United States. Jack, drafted into the army, was sent overseas at the end of World War II, where he treated soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge. His war experiences affected his mental health and he received an honorable medical discharge in November 1945.[5] On his return, Jack, who suffered from bipolar disorder and depression, worked at a series of hospitals around the country, unable to establish a successful medical practice.[4] As a result, the Ochs family moved frequently: to Far Rockaway, New York, when Ochs was a teenager; then to Perrysburg in upstate New York, where he first studied music; and then to Columbus, Ohio.[6]

Ochs grew up with an older sister, Sonia (known as Sonny), and a younger brother, Michael.[7] The Ochs family was middle class and Jewish, but not religious.[8] His father was distant from his wife and children, and was hospitalized for depression.[9] He died in 1963 from a cerebral hemorrhage.[10]

As a teenager, Ochs was recognized as a talented clarinet player; in an evaluation, one music instructor wrote: "You have exceptional musical feeling and the ability to transfer it on your instrument is abundant."[11] His musical skills allowed him to play clarinet with the orchestra at the Capital University Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where he rose to the status of principal soloist before he was 16. Although Ochs played classical music, he soon became interested in other sounds he heard on the radio, such as early rock icons Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley and country music artists including Faron Young, Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Sr., and Johnny Cash.[12]

Ochs also spent a lot of time at the movies. He especially liked big screen heroes such as John Wayne and Audie Murphy.[13] Later on, he developed an interest in movie rebels, including Marlon Brando and James Dean.[14]

From 1956 to 1958, Ochs was a student at the Staunton Military Academy in rural Virginia, and when he graduated he returned to Columbus and enrolled in the Ohio State University.[15] Unhappy after his first semester, he took a leave of absence and went to Florida. While in Miami, the 18-year-old Ochs was jailed for two weeks for sleeping on a park bench, an incident he would later recall:

"Somewhere during the course of those fifteen days I decided to become a writer. My primary thought was journalism ... so in a flash I decided—I'll be a writer and a major in journalism."[16]

Bob Gibson was a major influence on Ochs's writing.

Ochs returned to Ohio State to study journalism and developed an interest in politics, with a particular interest in the Cuban Revolution of 1959. At Ohio State he met Jim Glover, a fellow student who was a devotee of folk music. Glover introduced Ochs to the music of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and The Weavers. Glover taught Ochs how to play guitar, and they debated politics.[13] Ochs began writing newspaper articles, often on radical themes. When the student paper refused to publish some of his more radical articles, he started his own underground newspaper called The Word. His two main interests, politics and music, soon merged, and Ochs began writing topical political songs. Ochs and Glover formed a duet called "The Singing Socialists",[17] later renamed "The Sundowners", but the duo broke up before their first professional performance and Glover went to New York City to become a folksinger.[18]

Ochs's parents and brother had moved from Columbus to Cleveland, and Ochs started to spend more time there, performing professionally at a local folk club called Farragher's Back Room. He was the opening act for a number of musicians in the summer of 1961, including the Smothers Brothers.[19] Ochs met Bob Gibson that summer as well, and according to Dave Van Ronk, Gibson became "the seminal influence" on Ochs's writing.[20] Ochs continued at Ohio State into his senior year, but was bitterly disappointed at not being appointed editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, and dropped out in his last semester without graduating. He left for New York, as Glover had, to become a folksinger.[21]

1962–1966

“ In the early 1960s, there was a folk music rebirth in this country with the likes of Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. Although his fame was probably limited, Ochs became an integral part of that crowd. His songs "Draft Dodger Rag" and "I Ain't Marching Anymore" became a rallying cry for the peace movement much the way that Dylan's did. ”

— San Francisco Chronicle [22]

Ochs arrived in New York City in 1962 and began performing in numerous small folk nightclubs, eventually becoming an integral part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene.[23] He emerged as an unpolished but passionate vocalist who wrote pointed songs about current events: war, civil rights, labor struggles and other topics. While others described his music as "protest songs", Ochs preferred the term "topical songs".[24]

Ochs described himself as a "singing journalist",[25] saying he built his songs from stories he read in Newsweek.[26] By the summer of 1963 he was sufficiently well known in folk circles to be invited to sing at the Newport Folk Festival, where he performed "Too Many Martyrs" (co-written with Bob Gibson), "Talking Birmingham Jam", and "Power and the Glory"—his patriotic Guthrie-esque anthem that brought the audience to its feet. Other performers at the 1963 folk festival included Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Tom Paxton.[27] Ochs's return appearance at Newport in 1964, when he performed "Draft Dodger Rag" and other songs, was widely praised.[28] But he was not invited to appear in 1965, the festival when Dylan infamously performed "Maggie's Farm" with an electric guitar. Although many in the folk world decried Dylan's choice, Ochs was amused, and admired Dylan's courage in defying the folk establishment.[29][30]

Ochs in the early 1960s playing his Gibson J-45.

During 1963, Ochs performed at New York's Carnegie Hall and Town Hall in hootenannies.[31] He made his first solo appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1966.[32] Throughout his career, Ochs would perform at a wide range of venues, including civil rights rallies, anti-war demonstrations, and concert halls.[33]

Ochs contributed many songs and articles to the influential Broadside Magazine.[34][35] He recorded his first three albums for Elektra Records: All the News That's Fit to Sing (1964), I Ain't Marching Anymore (1965), and Phil Ochs in Concert (1966).[36] Critics wrote that each album was better than its predecessors, and fans seemed to agree; record sales increased with each new release.[37]

On these records, Ochs was accompanied only by an acoustic guitar. The albums contain many of Ochs's topical songs, such as "Too Many Martyrs", "I Ain't Marching Anymore", and "Draft Dodger Rag"; and some musical reinterpretation of older poetry, such as "The Highwayman" (poem by Alfred Noyes) and "The Bells" (poem by Edgar Allan Poe). Phil Ochs in Concert includes some more introspective songs, such as "Changes" and "When I'm Gone".[38][39]

During the early period of his career, Ochs and Bob Dylan had a friendly rivalry. Dylan said of Ochs, "I just can't keep up with Phil. And he just keeps getting better and better and better".[40] On another occasion, when Ochs criticized one of Dylan's songs, Dylan threw him out of his limousine, saying, "You're not a folksinger. You're a journalist".[41]

In 1962, Ochs married Alice Skinner, who was pregnant with their daughter Meegan, in a City Hall ceremony with Jim Glover as best man and Jean Ray as bridesmaid, and witnessed by Dylan's sometime girlfriend, Suze Rotolo.[42][43] Phil and Alice separated in 1965, but they never divorced.[44][45]

Like many people of his generation, Ochs deeply admired President John F. Kennedy, even though he disagreed with the president on issues such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the growing involvement of the United States in the Vietnamese civil war. When Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, Ochs wept. He told his wife that he thought he was going to die that night. It was the only time she ever saw Ochs cry.[46][47]

Ochs's managers during this part of his career were Albert Grossman (who also managed Dylan and Peter, Paul, and Mary) followed by Arthur Gorson.[48] Gorson had close ties with such groups as Americans For Democratic Action, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and Students for a Democratic Society.[49]

Ochs was writing songs at an amazing pace. Some of the songs he wrote during this period were held back and recorded on his later albums.[50]

1967–1969

In 1967, Ochs—now managed by his brother Michael—left Elektra for A&M Records and moved to California.[51] He recorded four studio albums for A&M: Pleasures of the Harbor (1967), Tape from California (1968), Rehearsals for Retirement (1969), and the ironically titled Greatest Hits (1970) (which actually consisted of all new material).[52] For his A&M albums, Ochs moved away from simply-produced solo acoustic guitar performances and experimented with ensemble and even orchestral instrumentation, "baroque-folk",[53] in the hopes of producing a pop-folk hybrid that would be a hit.[54]

Critic Robert Christgau, writing in Esquire of Pleasures of the Harbor in May 1968, did not consider this new direction a good turn. While describing Ochs as "unquestionably a nice guy", he went on to say, "too bad his voice shows an effective range of about half an octave [and] his guitar playing would not suffer much if his right hand were webbed." "Pleasures of the Harbor", Christgau continued, "epitomizes the decadence that has infected pop since Sgt. Pepper. [The] gaudy musical settings ... inspire nostalgia for the three-chord strum."[55] With an ironic sense of humor, Ochs included Christgau's "webbed hand" comment in his 1968 songbook The War is Over on a page titled "The Critics Raved", opposite a full-page picture of Ochs standing in a large metal garbage can.[56] Despite his sense of humor, Ochs was unhappy that his work was not receiving the critical acclaim and popular success he had hoped for.[57] Still, Ochs would joke on the back cover of Greatest Hits that there were 50 Phil Ochs fans ("50 fans can't be wrong!"), a sarcastic reference to an Elvis Presley album that bragged of 50 million Elvis fans.[58]

None of Ochs's songs became hits, although "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" received a good deal of airplay. It reached #119 on Billboard's national "Hot Prospect" listing before being pulled from some radio stations because of its lyrics, which sarcastically suggested that "smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer".[59] It was the closest Ochs ever came to the Top 40. Joan Baez, however, did have a Top Ten hit in the U.K. in August 1965, reaching #8 with her cover of Ochs's song "There but for Fortune",[60] which was also nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Folk Recording".[61] In the U.S. it peaked at #50 on the Billboard charts[62]—a good showing, but not a hit.[63]

Although he was trying new things musically, Ochs did not abandon his protest roots. He was profoundly concerned with the escalation of the Vietnam War, performing tirelessly at anti-war rallies across the country. In 1967 he organized two rallies to declare that "The War Is Over"—"Is everybody sick of this stinking war? In that case, friends, do what I and thousands of other Americans have done—declare the war over."[64]—one in Los Angeles in June, the other in New York in November.[65] He continued to write and record anti-war songs, such as "The War Is Over" and "White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land". Other topical songs of this period include "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", inspired by the murder of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death outside of her New York City apartment building while dozens of her neighbors reportedly ignored her cries for help, and "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed", about the despair he felt in the aftermath of the Chicago 1968 Democratic National Convention police riot.[66]

Ochs was writing more personal songs as well, such as "Crucifixion", in which he compared the deaths of Jesus Christ and President John F. Kennedy as part of a "cycle of sacrifice" in which people build up heroes and then celebrate their destruction; "Chords of Fame", a warning against the dangers and corruption of fame; "Pleasures of the Harbor", a lyrical portrait of a lonely sailor seeking human connection far from home; and "Boy in Ohio", a plaintive look back at Ochs's childhood in Columbus.[67][68]

A lifelong movie fan, Ochs worked the narratives of justice and rebellion that he had seen in films into his music, describing some of his songs as "cinematic".[69] He was disappointed and bitter when his onetime hero John Wayne embraced the Vietnam War with what Ochs saw as the blind patriotism of Wayne's 1968 film, The Green Berets:

[H]ere we have John Wayne, who was a major artistic and psychological figure on the American scene, ... who at one point used to make movies of soldiers who had a certain validity, ... a certain sense of honor [about] what the soldier was doing.... Even if it was a cavalry movie doing a historically dishonorable thing to the Indians, even as there was a feeling of what it meant to be a man, what it meant to have some sense of duty.... Now today we have the same actor making his new war movie in a war so hopelessly corrupt that, without seeing the movie, I'm sure it is perfectly safe to say that it will be an almost technically-robot-view of soldiery, just by definition of how the whole country has deteriorated. And I think it would make a very interesting double feature to show a good old Wayne movie like, say, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon with The Green Berets. Because that would make a very striking comment on what has happened to America in general.[70]

Ochs was involved in the creation of the Youth International Party, known as the Yippies, along with Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Stew Albert, and Paul Krassner.[71] At the same time, Ochs actively supported Eugene McCarthy's more mainstream bid for the 1968 Democratic nomination for President, a position at odds with the more radical Yippie point of view.[72][73] Still, Ochs helped plan the Yippies' "Festival of Life" which was to take place at the 1968 Democratic National Convention along with demonstrations by other anti-war groups including the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam.[74] Despite warnings that there might be trouble, Ochs went to Chicago both as a guest of the McCarthy campaign and to participate in the demonstrations. He performed in Lincoln Park, Grant Park, and at the Chicago Coliseum, witnessed the violence perpetrated by the Chicago police against the protesters, and was himself arrested at one point.[75][76]

The cover of Ochs's 1969 album, Rehearsals for Retirement

The events of 1968—the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the police riot in Chicago, and the election of Richard Nixon—left Ochs feeling disillusioned and depressed.[77] The cover of his 1969 album Rehearsals for Retirement eerily portrays a tombstone with the words:

PHIL OCHS
(AMERICAN)
BORN: EL PASO, TEXAS, 1940
DIED: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 1968[78]

Ochs testified for the defense at the trial of the Chicago Seven in December 1969. His testimony included his recitation of the lyrics to his song "I Ain't Marching Anymore". On his way out of the courthouse, Ochs sang the song for the press corps; to Ochs's amusement, his singing was broadcast that evening by Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News.[79]

1970

After the riot in Chicago and the subsequent trial, Ochs changed direction again. The events of 1968 convinced him that the average American wasn't listening to topical songs or responding to Yippie tactics. Ochs thought that by playing the sort of music that had moved him as a teenager he could speak more directly to the American public.[80]

Ochs sought to be "part Elvis Presley ...
... and part Che Guevara".

Ochs turned to his musical roots in country music and early rock and roll.[81] He decided he needed to be "part Elvis Presley and part Che Guevara",[82] so he commissioned a gold lamé suit from Elvis Presley's costumer Nudie Cohn.[83] Ochs wore the gold suit on the cover of his 1970 album, Greatest Hits, which consisted of new songs largely in rock and country styles.[67][81]

Ochs went on tour wearing the gold suit, backed by a rock band, singing his own material along with medleys of songs by Buddy Holly, Elvis, and Merle Haggard. His fans didn't know how to respond. This new Phil Ochs drew a hostile reaction from his audience. Ochs's March 27, 1970, concerts at Carnegie Hall were the most successful, and by the end of that night's second show Ochs had won over many in the crowd. It was recorded and released as Gunfight at Carnegie Hall.[84]

During this period, Ochs was taking drugs to get through performances. He had been taking Valium for years to help control his nerves, and he was also drinking heavily.[85] Pianist Lincoln Mayorga said of that period, "He was physically abusing himself very badly on that tour. He was drinking a lot of wine and taking uppers. The wine was pulling him one way and the uppers were pulling him another way, and he was kind of a mess. There were so many pharmaceuticals around—so many pills. I'd never seen anything like that."[86] Ochs tried to cut back on the pills, but alcohol remained his drug of choice for the rest of his life.[87][88]

Depressed by his lack of widespread appreciation and suffering from writer's block, Ochs didn't record any further albums.[89] He slipped deeper into depression and alcoholism.[87][88] His personal problems notwithstanding, Ochs performed at the inaugural benefit for Greenpeace on October 16, 1970, at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, BC. A recording of his performance, along with performances by Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, was released by Greenpeace in 2009.

1971–1975

In August 1971, Phil went to Chile, where Salvador Allende, a Marxist, had been democratically elected in the 1970 election. There he met Chilean folksinger Víctor Jara, an Allende supporter, and the two became friends. In October, Ochs left Chile to visit Argentina. Later that month, after singing at a political rally in Uruguay, he and his American traveling companion David Ifshin were arrested and detained overnight. When the two returned to Argentina, they were arrested as they got off the airplane. After a brief stay in an Argentinian prison, Ochs and Ifshin were sent to Bolivia via a commercial airliner where authorities were to detain them. Ifshin had previously been warned by Argentine leftist friends that when authorities sent dissidents to Bolivia, they would disappear forever. When the airliner arrived in Bolivia, the American captain of the Braniff International Airways aircraft allowed Ochs and Ifshin to stay on the aircraft and barred Bolivian authorities from entering. The aircraft then flew to Peru where the two disembarked and they were not detained. Fearful that Peruvian authorities might arrest him, Ochs returned to the United States a few days later.[90]

Ochs was having difficulties writing new songs during this period, but he had occasional breakthroughs. He updated his sarcastic song "Here's to the State of Mississippi" as "Here's to the State of Richard Nixon", with cutting lines such as "the speeches of the Spiro are the ravings of a clown", a reference to Nixon's vitriolic vice president, Spiro Agnew—sung as "the speeches of the President are the ravings of a clown" after Agnew's resignation.[91][92][93]

Ochs was personally invited by John Lennon to sing at a large benefit at the University of Michigan in December 1971 on behalf of John Sinclair, an activist poet who had been arrested on minor drug charges and given a severe sentence. Ochs performed at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally along with Stevie Wonder, Allen Ginsberg, David Peel, Abbie Hoffman and many others. The rally culminated with Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were making their first public performance in the United States since the breakup of The Beatles.[94]

Although the 1968 election had left him deeply disillusioned, Ochs continued to work for the election campaigns of anti-war candidates, such as George McGovern's unsuccessful Presidential bid in 1972.[95]

In 1972, Ochs was asked to write the theme song for the film Kansas City Bomber. The task proved difficult, as Ochs struggled to overcome his writer's block. Although his song wasn't used in the soundtrack, it was released as a single.[96]

Ochs decided to travel. In mid-1972, he went to Australia and New Zealand.[97] He traveled to Africa in 1973, where he visited Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa. One night, Ochs was attacked and strangled by robbers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which damaged his vocal cords, causing a loss of the top three notes in his vocal range.[98] The attack also exacerbated his growing mental problems, and he became increasingly paranoid. Ochs believed the attack may have been arranged by government agents—perhaps the CIA. Still, he continued his trip, even recording a single in Kenya, "Bwatue".[99]

On September 11, 1973, the Allende government of Chile was overthrown in a coup d'état. Allende died during the bombing of the presidential palace, and Jara was publicly tortured and killed. When Ochs heard about the manner in which his friend had been killed, he was outraged. He decided to organize a benefit concert to bring to public attention the situation in Chile and raise funds for the people of Chile. The concert, "An Evening with Salvador Allende", included films of Allende; singers such as Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and Bob Dylan; and political activists such as former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Dylan had agreed to perform at the last minute when he heard that the concert had sold so few tickets that it was in danger of being canceled. Once his participation was announced, the event quickly sold out.[100]

After the Chile benefit, Ochs and Dylan discussed the possibility of a joint concert tour, playing small nightclubs. Nothing came of the Dylan-Ochs plans, but the idea eventually evolved into Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue.[101]

The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975.[102] Ochs planned a final "War Is Over" rally, which was held in New York's Central Park on May 11. More than 100,000 people came to hear Ochs, joined by Harry Belafonte, Odetta, Pete Seeger and others. Ochs and Joan Baez sang a duet of "There but for Fortune" and he closed with his song "The War Is Over"—finally a true declaration that the war was over.[103]

Decline and death

Ochs's drinking became more and more of a problem, and his behavior became increasingly erratic. He frightened his friends both with his drunken rants about the FBI and CIA, and about his claiming to want to have Elvis's manager Colonel Tom Parker or Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders manage his career.[104]

In mid-1975, Ochs took on the identity of John Butler Train. He told people that Train had murdered Ochs, and that he, John Butler Train, had replaced him. Train was convinced that someone was trying to kill him, so he carried a weapon at all times: a hammer, a knife, or a lead pipe.[105]

Ochs's friends tried to help him. His brother Michael attempted to have him committed to a psychiatric hospital. Friends pleaded with him to get help voluntarily. They feared for his safety, because he was getting into fights with bar patrons. Unable to pay his rent, he began living on the streets.[106]

After several months, the Train persona faded and Ochs returned, but his talk of suicide disturbed his friends and family. They hoped it was a passing phase, but Ochs was determined.[107] One of his biographers explains Ochs's motivation:

By Phil's thinking, he had died a long time ago: he had died politically in Chicago in 1968 in the violence of the Democratic National Convention; he had died professionally in Africa a few years later, when he had been strangled and felt that he could no longer sing; he had died spiritually when Chile had been overthrown and his friend Victor Jara had been brutally murdered; and, finally, he had died psychologically at the hands of John Train.[108]

In January 1976, Ochs moved to Far Rockaway, New York, to live with his sister Sonny. He was lethargic; his only activities were watching television and playing cards with his nephews. Ochs saw a psychiatrist, who diagnosed his bipolar disorder. He was prescribed medication, and he told his sister he was taking it.[109] On April 9, 1976, Ochs hanged himself.[110]

Years after his death, it was revealed that the FBI had a file of nearly 500 pages on Ochs.[111] Much of the information in those files relates to his association with counterculture figures, protest organizers, musicians, and other people described by the FBI as "subversive".[112] The FBI was often sloppy in collecting information on Ochs: his name was frequently misspelled "Oakes" in their files, and they continued to consider him "potentially dangerous"[113] after his death.[112]

Congresswoman Bella Abzug (Democrat from New York), an outspoken anti-war activist herself who had appeared at the 1975 "War is Over" rally, entered this statement into the Congressional Record on April 29, 1976:

Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, a young folksinger whose music personified the protest mood of the 1960s 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 1960s 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.

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 War—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 contributions of this extraordinary young man.[114]

Robert Christgau, who had been so critical of Pleasures of the Harbor and Ochs's guitar skills eight years earlier, wrote warmly of Ochs in his obituary in the Village Voice—an irony that Ochs might have enjoyed. "I came around to liking Phil Ochs' music, guitar included," Christgau wrote. "My affection [for Ochs] no doubt prejudiced me, so it is worth [noting] that many observers who care more for folk music than I do remember both his compositions and his vibrato tenor as close to the peak of the genre."[115]

Legacy

More than thirty years after his death, Ochs's songs remain relevant. Ochs continues to influence singers and fans worldwide, many of whom never saw him perform live. There are mailing lists and online discussion groups dedicated to Ochs and his music;[116][117] websites that have music samples, photographs, and other links;[118][119] and articles and books continue to be written and published about him.[120]

His sister Sonny Ochs (Tanzman) runs a series of "Phil Ochs Song Nights" with a rotating group of performers who keep Ochs's music and legacy alive by singing his songs in cities across the U.S.[121] Michael Ochs is a photographic archivist of 20th century music and entertainment personalities.[122] Meegan Lee Ochs worked with Michael to produce a box set of Ochs's music titled Farewells & Fantasies, the title of which was taken from Ochs's sign-off on the "postcard" on the back of Tape from California: "Farewells & Fantasies, Folks, P. Ochs".[123][124] Meegan has a son named Caidan, Ochs's grandchild.[125] Alice Skinner Ochs was a photographer;[126] she died in November 2010.[127]

In February 2009, the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance gave the 2009 Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Award to Phil Ochs.[128]

Covers and updates

Ochs's songs have been covered by scores of performers, including Eric Andersen, Peter Asher, Joan Baez, Bastro, Cilla Black, Black 47, Billy Bragg, Eugene Chadbourne, Cher, Gene Clark, Judy Collins, Henry Cow, Allison Crowe, John Denver,[121] Kevin Devine, Ani DiFranco, disappear fear, Mark Eitzel, Marianne Faithfull, Julie Felix, Diamanda Galás, Dick Gaughan, Ronnie Gilbert,[121] Thea Gilmore, John Wesley Harding, Carolyn Hester, Pat Humphries, Jason & the Scorchers,[129] Jim and Jean, Jeannie Lewis,[130] Gordon Lightfoot,[121] Christy Moore,[131] Ray Naylor, Harry Nilsson, Will Oldham, Brian Ritchie, David Rovics, Melanie Safka, Pete Seeger, The Shrubs, Squirrel Bait, Crispian St. Peters, Teenage Fanclub, Tempest, They Might Be Giants, Dave Van Ronk, Eddie Vedder, and The Weakerthans.[132] Wyclef Jean performed "Here's to the State of Mississippi" in the 2009 documentary Soundtrack for a Revolution.[133]

In 1998, Sliced Bread Records released What's That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil Ochs, a two CD set of 28 covers by artists that includes Eric Andersen, Billy Bragg, John Gorka, Nanci Griffith, Arlo Guthrie, Pat Humphries, Magpie, Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk, Sammy Walker, Peter Yarrow, and others.[134] The liner notes indicate that all record company profits from the sale of the set were to be divided between the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California and Sing Out! magazine.[135]

Wood Records released an indie rock/experimental rock tribute album titled Poison Ochs: A Tribute to Phil Ochs in 2003.[136]

In 2005, Kind Of Like Spitting released an album, Learn: The Songs of Phil Ochs, consisting of covers of nine songs written by Ochs, to pay tribute to his music and raise awareness of the artist, whom they felt had been overlooked.[137][138]

Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon, on their album Prairie Home Invasion, recorded a version of "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" with lyrics updated to the Clinton era.[139] Evan Greer, part of the Riot-Folk collective, later updated the song for the George W. Bush era.[140] Ryan Harvey, also part of Riot-Folk, remade "Cops Of The World" with updated lyrics.[141] The Clash used some of the lyrics to "United Fruit" in their song "Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)", which appeared on their 1980 album Sandinista!.[142] During their performance on VH1 Storytellers, Pearl Jam covered "Here's to the State of Mississippi" with updated lyrics to include Jerry Falwell, Dick Cheney, John Roberts, Alberto Gonzales, and George W. Bush.[143] In 2002, with the agreement of Ochs's sister Sonny, Richard Thompson added an extra verse to "I Ain't Marching Anymore" to reflect recent American foreign policy.[144] Jefferson Starship recorded "I Ain't Marching Anymore" with additional lyrics by band member Cathy Richardson for their 2008 release Jefferson's Tree of Liberty.[145]

Tributes

On learning of Ochs's death, Tom Paxton wrote a touching song titled "Phil", which he recorded for his 1978 album Heroes.[146] Ochs is also the subject of "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night", by Billy Bragg, from his 1990 album The Internationale.[147] "Thin Wild Mercury," by Peter Cooper and Todd Snider, is about Ochs's infamous clash with Dylan and getting thrown out of Dylan's limo.[148] Ochs is mentioned in the Dar Williams song "All My Heroes Are Dead", the Will Oldham song "Gezundheit", the Chumbawamba song "Love Me", and the They Might Be Giants song "The Day".[149] The Josh Joplin Group recorded a tribute to Ochs on their album Useful Music.[150] Schooner Fare recorded "Don't Stop To Rest (Song for Phil Ochs)" on their 1981 album Closer to the Wind.[146] Latin Quarter memorialized him in the song "Phil Ochs" on their album Long Pig (1993).[151]

John Wesley Harding recorded a song titled "Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue and Me", the title a reference to the Ochs song "Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Me".[152] Singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith wrote a song about Phil entitled "Radio Fragile". English folk/punk songwriter Al Baker recorded a song about Ochs entitled "All The News That's Fit To Sing", a reference to the title of Ochs's first album.[149] Cajun musician Vic Sadot wrote a song about Ochs entitled "Broadside Balladeer".[153] Singer-songwriter Jen Cass's "Standing In Your Memory", and Harry Chapin's "The Parade's Still Passing By" are tributes to Ochs. Leslie Fish recorded "Chickasaw Mountain", which is dedicated to Ochs, on her 1986 album of that name.[149] The punk band Squirrel Bait cited Ochs as a major creative influence in the liner notes of their 1986 album Skag Heaven, and cover his "Tape From California".[154] A Greek folk record, Dimitris Panagopoulos' Unstable Equilibrium (1987), was dedicated to the memory of Phil Ochs.[146] On the 2005 Kind Of Like Spitting album In the Red, songwriter Ben Barnett included his song "Sheriff Ochs", which was inspired by reading a biography of Ochs.[155] On April 9, 2009, Jim Glover performed a tribute to Ochs at Mother's Musical Bakery in Sarasota, Florida.[156]

A one hour musical commentary on the life and times of Phil Ochs called “No More Songs: Phil Ochs and the Sixties” was performed at the National Folk Festival held in the Australian capital, Canberra, on April 18, 2003. The show was written by Anthony Ashbolt who also narrated it. The performers, A Small Circle of Friends, were Tom Bridges, Deanne Dale, Jeannie Lewis and Maurie Mulheron. The performance received a standing ovation. Jeannie Lewis had been the opening act for Phil when he had toured Australia in 1972.

Popular culture

Among Ochs's many admirers were the short story writer Breece D'J Pancake[157] and actor Sean Penn.[158] Meegan Lee Ochs, who worked as Sean Penn's personal assistant from 1983 to 1985,[159] wrote in her Foreword to Farewells & Fantasies that she and Penn discussed "over many years" the possibility of making a movie about her father;[160] the plan has not yet come to fruition, although Penn expressed an interest in the project as recently as February 2009.[161] Author Jim Carroll's autobiography, The Basketball Diaries (1978), was dedicated in memory of Phil Ochs.[162] On the cover of The Go-Betweens' The Lost Album, Grant McLennan wore a shirt with the words "Get outta the car, Ochs", a reference to the limousine incident involving Ochs and Dylan.[163] The 1994 film Spanking the Monkey makes reference to Ochs and his suicide.[164] Ochs is mentioned in the Stephen King novels The Tommyknockers[165] and Hearts in Atlantis.[166]

Films

Michael Korolenko directed the 1984 biopic Chords of Fame, which featured Bill Burnett as Ochs. The film included interviews with people who had known Ochs, including Yippies Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, manager Harold Leventhal, and Mike Porco, the owner of Gerde's Folk City. Chords of Fame also included performances of Ochs songs by folk musicians who knew him, including Bob Gibson, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk, and Eric Andersen.[167]

Filmmaker Ken Bowser directed the documentary film Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune, which premiered at the 2010 Woodstock Film Festival in Woodstock, New York.[168][169][170] Its theatrical run began on January 5, 2011, at the IFC Theater in Greenwich Village, New York City, opening in cities around the US and Canada thereafter.[171] The film features extensive archival footage of Ochs and many pivotal events from the 1960s civil rights and peace movements, as well as interviews with friends, family and colleagues who knew Ochs through music and politics.[172][173] The PBS American Masters series opened its 2012 season with the film.[174]

Professional affiliations

  • The music publishing company Ochs formed with Arthur Gorson, Barricade Music, was an ASCAP company.[177]

Discography

Main article: Phil Ochs discography

Studio albums and live recordings

Compilations and other albums

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Schumacher, p. 201.
  2. ^ Schumacher, p. 13.
  3. ^ Schumacher, pp. 11–12.
  4. ^ a b Brend, p. 100.
  5. ^ Schumacher, p. 17.
  6. ^ Schumacher, pp. 20, 23–24.
  7. ^ Schumacher, pp. 15–16
  8. ^ Eliot (1989), p. 12.
  9. ^ Schumacher, pp. 16–17, 21.
  10. ^ Schumacher, p. 57.
  11. ^ Schumacher, p. 24.
  12. ^ Schumacher, pp. 24–27.
  13. ^ a b Kornfeld, Michael (16 January 2011). "Sonny Ochs Reflects on Her Brother Phil and a New Film About Him". Acoustic Music Scene. http://www.acousticmusicscene.com/2011/01/16/sonny-ochs-reflects-on-her-brother-phil-and-a-new-film-about-him/. Retrieved 18 January 2011. 
  14. ^ Eliot (1989), pp. 5, 8, 13.
  15. ^ Schumacher, pp. 26–28.
  16. ^ Doggett, P. (2001). All the News That's Fit to Sing/I Ain't Marching Anymore (CD reissue). Elektra. 
  17. ^ Houghton, Mick; Allan Jones (March 2011). "The Power and the Glory". Uncut.  Page 60.
  18. ^ Schumacher, pp. 33–41.
  19. ^ Schumacher, pp. 41–42.
  20. ^ Schumacher, p. 43.
  21. ^ Schumacher, pp. 44–45.
  22. ^ 'Phil Ochs' Review: A Voice Made for Marching by Leba Hertz, San Francisco Chronicle, March 18, 2011
  23. ^ Schumacher, p. 53.
  24. ^ Brend, pp. 101–102.
  25. ^ Buckley, Peter (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to More Than 1200 Artists and Bands (3 ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 742. ISBN 978-1-85828-457-6. 
  26. ^ Schumacher, p. 54.
  27. ^ Schumacher, pp. 59–63.
  28. ^ Schumacher, p. 84.
  29. ^ Schumacher, pp. 98, 101–104.
  30. ^ Ochs, Phil (August 12, 1967). "It Ain't Me, Babe". The Village Voice. 
  31. ^ Schumacher, p. 67.
  32. ^ Schumacher, pp. 112–115.
  33. ^ Cohen (1999), pp. 12–15.
  34. ^ Schumacher, pp. 54–55.
  35. ^ Smithsonian Folkways recordings
  36. ^ Cohen (1999), pp. 189–191.
  37. ^ Schumacher, pp. 91–92, 117.
  38. ^ Eliot (1989), pp. 77, 86–89, 99–103.
  39. ^ Schumacher, pp. 76–77, 90–91, 116–117.
  40. ^ Dallas, Karl (November 27, 1965). "Dylan Said It—'I Can't Keep Up With Phil'". Melody Maker: p. 10. 
  41. ^ Schumacher, p. 106.
  42. ^ Rotolo, Suze (2008). A freewheelin' time: a memoir of Greenwich Village in the sixties. New York: Broadway Books. p. 249. ISBN 0-7679-2687-0. 
  43. ^ Eliot (1979), pp. 61-63.
  44. ^ Schumacher, pp. 58, 67, 92.
  45. ^ Eliot (1989), p. 148.
  46. ^ Schumacher, p. 68.
  47. ^ Schumacher, pp. 68–69.
  48. ^ Eliot (1989), p. 64, 94.
  49. ^ Eliot (1989), pp. 66–67.
  50. ^ Schumacher, pp. 118, 149.
  51. ^ Schumacher, pp. 129–130, 134.
  52. ^ Cohen (1999), pp. 191–193.
  53. ^ Brend, p. 106.
  54. ^ Eliot (1989), pp. 131–133.
  55. ^ Christgau, Robert (May 1968). "Dylan-Beatles-Stones-Donovan-Who, Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield, John Fred, California". Esquire. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-aow/column3.php. Retrieved January 24, 2009. 
  56. ^ Ochs (1968), p. 44.
  57. ^ Schumacher, p. 166.
  58. ^ Schumacher, p. 226.
  59. ^ Eliot (1989), pp. 136–137.
  60. ^ Warner, Jay (2008). Notable Moments of Women in Music. Milwaukee, Wisc.: Hal Leonard. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-4234-2951-7. 
  61. ^ Taylor, Timothy Dean (1997). Global Pop: World Music, World Markets. New York: Routledge. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-415-91872-5. 
  62. ^ "Billboard singles". Billboard. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p1917. Retrieved February 3, 2009. 
  63. ^ Schumacher, p. 95.
  64. ^ Ochs, Phil (November 23, 1967). "Have You Heard? The War is Over!". The Village Voice. ; reprinted in Ochs (1968), p. 92; excerpted in Schumacher, p. 171.
  65. ^ Schumacher, pp. 139–148, 170–173.
  66. ^ Schumacher, pp. 149, 208.
  67. ^ a b Eliot (1989), p. 193.
  68. ^ Schumacher, pp. 110, 160, 214–215, 223–224.
  69. ^ For example, in the spoken introduction to "Ringing of Revolution" on Phil Ochs in Concert.
  70. ^ Cunningham, Sis; Gordon Friesen (1968). "Interview with Phil Ochs". Broadside Magazine (91). ; quoted in Schumacher, p. 178.
  71. ^ Eliot (1989), p. 140.
  72. ^ Schumacher, p. 182–184.
  73. ^ Despite their disagreements, the Yippies used several Ochs songs in their media, in particular the anti-war "I Ain't Marching Anymore". For example, see this Yippie-produced documentary.
  74. ^ Brend, pp. 106–107.
  75. ^ Schumacher, pp. 194–196.
  76. ^ See also the documentary film Conventions: The Land Around Us at Google Videos (Adobe Flash video).
  77. ^ Schumacher, p. 204.
  78. ^ Schumacher, p. 211.
  79. ^ Eliot (1989), pp. 175–188.
  80. ^ Schumacher, pp. 222–223.
  81. ^ a b Schumacher, p. 224.
  82. ^ Schumacher, p. 227.
  83. ^ Brend, p. 108.
  84. ^ Schumacher, pp. 227–233.
  85. ^ Schumacher, pp. 216–217, 233.
  86. ^ Schumacher, p. 233.
  87. ^ a b Eliot (1989), pp. 207, 213, 236.
  88. ^ a b Schumacher, pp. 260, 265, 275, 301–302, 310–311.
  89. ^ Schumacher, pp. 226, 235, 255.
  90. ^ Schumacher, pp. 239–253.
  91. ^ Schumacher, p. 255.
  92. ^ Eliot, p. 216.
  93. ^ The "Spiro" lyrics can be heard in this clip from the 1971 "Free John Sinclair" rally. The "President" lyrics can be heard in the 1974 single release.
  94. ^ Schumacher, pp. 256–259.
  95. ^ Schumacher, pp. 262–263.
  96. ^ Schumacher, pp. 263–264, 269, 271.
  97. ^ Schumacher, pp. 264–271.
  98. ^ "Phil Ochs Biography". SonnyOchs.com. http://www.sonnyochs.com/philbio.html. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  99. ^ Schumacher, pp. 279–285.
  100. ^ Schumacher, pp. 287–297.
  101. ^ Schumacher, pp. 298–299.
  102. ^ Schomp, Virginia (2002). The Vietnam War. Tarrytown, N.Y.: Benchmark Books. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-7614-1099-7. http://books.google.com/?id=LmwPV6wGkCoC&pg=PA78. 
  103. ^ Schumacher, pp. 304–306.
  104. ^ Schumacher, pp. 310–311.
  105. ^ Schumacher, pp. 312–318
  106. ^ Schumacher, pp. 327–333.
  107. ^ Schumacher, pp. 339–341.
  108. ^ Schumacher, p. 341.
  109. ^ After Ochs's death, his sister found he had been lying about taking his medication. Schumacher, p. 349.
  110. ^ Schumacher, pp. 344–352.
  111. ^ Blair, p. 4.
  112. ^ a b Eliot (1989), pp. 301–308.
  113. ^ Schumacher, p. 355.
  114. ^ Abzug, Bella (April 29, 1976). Congressional Record 122 (10). , quoted in Schumacher, pp. 354–355.
  115. ^ Christgau, Robert (April 19, 1976). "Phil Ochs 1940-1976". The Village Voice. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/ochs-76.php. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  116. ^ "Phil Ochs Mailing List". http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/maillist.html. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  117. ^ "Phil Ochs Yahoo! Group". http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/phil-ochs/. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  118. ^ "Phil Ochs on MySpace". http://www.myspace.com/philochs. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  119. ^ "No More Songs". http://www.nomoresongs.com/. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  120. ^ Examples include Marlatt, Jayne Stewart (1985). There but for Fortune: A Critical Analysis of the Protest Rhetoric of Phil Ochs. California State University, Sacramento. , Niemi, Robert (Winter 1993). "JFK as Jesus: The Politics of Myth in Phil Ochs' 'Crucifixion'". Journal of American Culture: 35–40. , "Tribute to Phil Ochs". Big Bridge 9. http://www.bigbridge.org/issue9/ochstitlepage.htm. Retrieved January 28, 2009. , and Poet, J. (18 August 2010). "Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde vs. Ochs’ Pleasures of the Harbor". Crawdaddy Magazine. http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2010/08/18/dylans-blonde-on-blonde-vs-ochs-pleasures-of-the-harbor/#comment-32558. Retrieved 8 September 2010. 
  121. ^ a b c d Ochs, Sonny. "History of Phil Ochs Song Nights". SonnyOchs.com. http://www.sonnyochs.com/remembering.html. Retrieved October 5, 2010. 
  122. ^ "Getty Images Acquires the Michael Ochs Archives". February 27, 2007. http://company.gettyimages.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=151&isource=corporate_website_ind_press_release. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  123. ^ Cohen, David (December 4, 1997). "Phil Ochs: Pleasures of the Puzzle". Columbus Free Press. http://freepress.org/Backup/UnixBackup/pubhtml/culture/philochs.html. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  124. ^ Ochs, Phil (1968). Tape from California (LP). A&M. 
  125. ^ Ochs, Sonny. "Photo page". SonnyOchs.com. http://sonnyochs.com/photos.html. Retrieved 2009-04-23. 
  126. ^ "Alice Ochs Photography". http://aliceochsphotography.com/. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  127. ^ "ALICE ELIZABETH OCHS Obituary". Marin Independent Journal. 8 December 2010. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/marinij/obituary.aspx?n=alice-elizabeth-ochs&pid=146996915. Retrieved 20 January 2011. 
  128. ^ Tackett, Travis (October 24, 2008). "Folk Alliance to honor Old Town School of Folk Music, Phil Ochs, Guy & Candie Carawan". BluegrassJournal.com. http://www.bluegrassjournal.com/2008/10/24/folk-alliance-to-honor-old-town-school-of-folk-music-phil-ochs-guy-candie-carawan/. Retrieved April 23, 2009. 
  129. ^ Crandall, Alan (July 1998). "Scorched Earth". http://www.furious.com/perfect/jasonscorchers.html. Retrieved October 5, 2010. 
  130. ^ Healy, Barry (July 29, 1998). "What Phil Ochs Heard". Green Left Weekly. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/17165. Retrieved November 2, 2010. 
  131. ^ Denselow, Robin (October 20, 2005). "Christy Moore, Burning Times". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/oct/21/popandrock.shopping3. Retrieved November 13, 2011. 
  132. ^ Cohen (1999), pp. 273–294.
  133. ^ Hornaday, Ann (April 30, 2010). "Movie Review: 'Soundtrack for a Revolution'". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/29/AR2010042901451.html. Retrieved May 17, 2010. 
  134. ^ Eder, Bruce. "What's That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil Ochs". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r347659. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  135. ^ What's That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil Ochs (CD). Sliced Bread. 1998. 
  136. ^ Shimmer, Matt. "Poison Ochs: A Tribute to Phil Ochs". indieville.com. http://www.indieville.com/reviews/poisonochs.htm. Retrieved January 29, 2009. 
  137. ^ "Learn: The Songs of Phil Ochs". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r790586. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
  138. ^ J., David (2005). Learn: The Songs of Phil Ochs (CD). Hush. HSH052. 
  139. ^ Cohen (1999), p. 274.
  140. ^ Greer, Evan. "Love Me, I'm a Liberal (2003)". Riot-Folk. http://www.riotfolk.org/popup.php?p=lyrics&id=205. Retrieved June 6, 2010. 
  141. ^ Harvey, Ryan. "Cops of the World". Riot-Folk. http://www.riotfolk.org/popup.php?p=lyrics&id=486. Retrieved January 20, 2012. 
  142. ^ Cohen (1999), p. 294.
  143. ^ "Storytellers: Pearl Jam". VH1. Archived from the original on October 17, 2008. http://google.com/search?q=cache:IaXt6TB6MFgJ:www.vh1.com/artists/rock_on_tv/show_info.jhtml%3Ftype%3Dchannel%26motvId%3Drotv%253Ac200%26days%3D%26startdoc%3D104. Retrieved January 29, 2009. 
  144. ^ Winters, Pamela (June 9, 2003). "Richard Thompson: Plunging the Knife in Deeper". Paste. http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2003/06/richard-thompson.html. Retrieved January 29, 2009. 
  145. ^ "New Jefferson Starship Album of Formative Folk Treasures: Jefferson's Tree of Liberty". Top40 Charts.com. August 8, 2008. http://www.top40-charts.com/news.php?nid=42167. Retrieved February 2, 2010. 
  146. ^ a b c Cohen (1999), p. 296.
  147. ^ Bragg, Billy. "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night". BillyBragg.co.uk. http://www.billybragg.co.uk/music/album.php?albumID=21&songID=178. Retrieved January 20, 2012. 
  148. ^ Cooper, Peter; Todd Snider. "Thin Wild Mercury". Peter Cooper - The Official Site. http://www.petercoopermusic.com/go/lyrics?id=597798. Retrieved January 20, 2012. 
  149. ^ a b c Cohen (1999), pp. 295–297.
  150. ^ Swihart, Stanton. "Useful Music". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r415306. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  151. ^ Schnee, Stephen SPAZ. "Long Pig". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r220274. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  152. ^ Woodstra, Chris. "It Happened One Night". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r8949. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  153. ^ "Broadside Balladeer". Vic Sadot Music. http://vicsadot.com/2011/09/23/broadside-balladeer/. Retrieved April 4, 2012. 
  154. ^ Cook, Stephen. "Skag Heaven". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r18799. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  155. ^ "In the Red". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r804778. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  156. ^ "A Tribute to Phil Ochs". Mother's Musical Bakery. http://www.mothersmusicalbakery.com/EventDescription.html. 
  157. ^ McPherson, James Alan (2003). "Foreword". In Breece D'J Pancake. The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake. Boston: Back Bay. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-316-71597-3. 
  158. ^ Penn, Sean (1986). A Toast to Those Who Are Gone (CD). Rhino. 
  159. ^ Kelly, Richard T. (2006). Sean Penn: His Life and Times. New York: Canongate U.S.. p. xvii. ISBN 978-1-84195-739-5. 
  160. ^ Ochs, Meegan Lee (1997). "Foreword". Farewells & Fantasies (CD). Elektra. p.3. R2 73518. 
  161. ^ Kreps, Daniel (February 6, 2009). "Sean Penn: The Story Behind the Story". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/sean-penn-the-story-behind-the-story-20090206. Retrieved April 4, 2012. 
  162. ^ Carroll, Jim (1978). The Basketball Diaries. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-024999-6. 
  163. ^ Dolan, Jon (June 9, 1999). "Entre Nous". City Pages. http://www.citypages.com/1999-06-09/music/entre-nous/. Retrieved January 26, 2009. 
  164. ^ Lane, Zack (June 20, 2002). "Woosters Stories Offer Cure for All Things Depressing". Daily Nebraskan. http://www.dailynebraskan.com/2.3976/1.1012786. Retrieved January 26, 2009. 
  165. ^ King, Stephen (1988). The Tommyknockers. New York: Signet. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-451-15660-0. 
  166. ^ King, Stephen (2001). Hearts in Atlantis. New York: Pocket Books. pp. 397–398, 401, 405, 407, 460, 511, 514, 516. ISBN 978-0-671-02424-6. 
  167. ^ Maslin, Janet (February 16, 1984). "Film: Phil Ochs, A Short Biography". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B00E5DE133BF935A25751C0A962948260. Retrieved May 17, 2010. 
  168. ^ "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune". http://philochsthemovie.com/. Retrieved May 17, 2010. 
  169. ^ Baker, Bob (December 26, 2010). "Tracing the Arc of a Tragic Folk Singer". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/movies/26ochs.html. Retrieved December 26, 2010. 
  170. ^ Bell, Mark (September 1, 2010). "2010 Woodstock Film Festival Announces Lineup". Film Threat. http://www.filmthreat.com/festivals/25287/. Retrieved September 1, 2010. 
  171. ^ "First Run Features: PHIL OCHS". First Run Features. http://firstrunfeatures.com/philochs_playdates.html. Retrieved 24 January 2011. 
  172. ^ Rooney, David (2 January 2011). "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune -- Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/phil-ochs-fortune-film-review-67588. Retrieved 24 January 2011. 
  173. ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (10 December 2010). "'Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune,' a great documentary about an underappreciated folk singer". Entertainment Weekly. http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/12/10/phil-ochs-there-but-for-fortune/. Retrieved 24 January 2011. 
  174. ^ Burger, David (21 December 2011). ""American Masters" to feature Phil Ochs and Cab Calloway in 2012". The Salt Lake Tribune. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsburger/53162293-53/ochs-american-calloway-masters.html.csp. Retrieved 20 January 2012. 
  175. ^ Farewells & Fantasies (CD). Elektra. 1997. p.35. R2 73518. 
  176. ^ "What Is AFTRA?". American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Archived from the original on May 28, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070528043944/http://www.aftra.com/aftra/whatis.htm. Retrieved February 4, 2009. 
  177. ^ Ochs (1978), passim.

References

  • Blair, Eric (2007). Folk Singer for the FBI: The Phil Ochs FBI File. Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu Press. 
  • Brend, Mark (2001). American Troubadours: Groundbreaking Singer-Songwriters of the 60s. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-641-0. 
  • Cohen, David (1999). Phil Ochs: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-31029-4. 
  • Eliot, Marc (1979). Death of A Rebel: Starring Phil Ochs and a Small Circle of Friends. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press. ISBN 978-0-385-13610-5. 
  • Eliot, Marc (1989) [1979]. Death of a Rebel: A Biography of Phil Ochs. New York: Franklin Watts. ISBN 978-0-531-15111-2. 
  • Ochs, Phil (1964). Songs of Phil Ochs. New York: Appleseed Music. OCLC 41480512. 
  • Ochs, Phil (1968). The War Is Over. New York: Collier Books. OCLC 1384159. 
  • Ochs, Phil (1978). The Complete Phil Ochs. Hollywood, Calif.: Almo Publications. ISBN 978-0-89705-010-4. 
  • Schumacher, Michael (1996). There But for Fortune: The Life of Phil Ochs. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 978-0-7868-6084-5. 

Further reading

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
Posthumous releases
Posthumous
compilations
Other albums
Singles
Other songs
Documentary films
Tribute albums
Related articles

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Related answers

How old was phil ochs at death? Read answer...
Why did phil ochs commit suicide on Tom Lehrer's birthday? Read answer...
When was Going Down To Mississippi by phil ochs written? Read answer...
Is Cops of the World by phil ochs from the 1990's? Read answer...

Help us answer these

Is the documentry phil ochs there but for the fortune DVD be released in the UK?
Where to get phil passport in manila phils?
Who is phil's mom on phil of the future?
phil Cowan from the Paul and phil Show?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights:

Cite
Gale Musician Profiles Contemporary Musicians © 1989-2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
Cite
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved. Read more
Cite
Wikipedia on Answers.com This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Phil Ochs. Read more

Related answers

How did Phil ochs die?
What countries did Phil Ochs play in?
What is Phil Ochs's birthday?
How old is Phil Ochs?
» More

Answer these

Was Phil ochs Jewish?
Where is rare Phil ochs music?
Did Cui Jian cover flower girl by Phil Ochs?
Which musicians have covered Phil Ochs' song the cruxifiction?
» more

Featured guides

» More

Mentioned in

Paul Kaplan (Folk Artist, '80s)
Winter Hours (1989 Album by Winter Hours)
Barry Dow's Urban Folk Tales (Album by Barry Dow)
Chords of Fame (1976 Album by Phil Ochs)
Broadside Ballads, Vol. 2 (1963 Album by Pete Seeger)
» More