Phil Ochs Zitate

Iron Lady" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/iron-lady.html"The from I Ain't Marching Anymore (1965)
Lyrics

Are You Fighting For" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/what-are-you-fighting-for.html"What from Songs for Broadside (1976)
Lyrics
Kontext: Oh you tell me that there's danger to the land you call your own
And you watch them build the war machine right beside your home
And you tell me that you're ready to go marchin' to the war
I know you're set for fighting, but what are you fighting for?

"There but for Fortune" (1963); Ochs here paraphrases a proverbial expression "There, but for the grace of God, go I", which was itself a paraphrase of John Bradford's expression on seeing other prisoners being led to their execution as heretics to be burned at the stake: There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford. (as quoted in Problems in the Relations of God and Man (1911) by Clement Charles Julian Webb, p. 107)
Lyrics
Variante: There but for fortune, go you or I
You or I.

Quelle: Pleasures of the Harbor (1967), Liner notes; part of this statement is often paraphrased "In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty."
Kontext: I watched my life fade-away in a flash
A quarter of a century dash through closets full of candles with never a room
For rapture through a kingdom had been captured.
And so I turn away from my drizzling furniture and pass old ladies
Sniffling by movie stars' tombs, yes I must be home again soon.
To face the unspoken unguarded thoughts of habitual hearts
A vanguard of electricians a village full of tarts
Who say you must protest you must protest
It is your diamond duty…
Ah but in such an ugly time the true protest is beauty
And the bleeding seer crawled from the ruins of the empire
And stood bleeding, bleeding on the border
He said, passion has led to chaos and now chaos will lead to order.
Oh I have been away for a while and I hope to be back again soon.

Introduction to "(The Marines Have Landed on the Shores of) Santo Domingo," Phil Ochs in Concert (1966)
Kontext: Before the days of television and mass media, the folksinger was often a traveling newspaper spreading tales through music. There is an urgent need for Americans to look deeply into themselves and their actions, and musical poetry is perhaps the most effective mirror available. Every newspaper headline is a potential song.

Broadside magazine interview (1968; published 1976)
Kontext: Leave the old and dying America and use your creative energies to help form a new America, which would be de-militarized, more humanistic, where the police are less hostile and closer to the community, where the wealthy are not given unleashed power for the exploitation of the people. And, mostly because it's now a matter of life and death, reassert an ecological balance with the environment, which means the people in the oil companies and the car companies and the space industry and all the other industries will have to be brought into account, so that there will be a new definition of government which has to be closer to the people and less close to special interests which are far more harmful than any revolutionaries.

"There but for Fortune" (1963); Ochs here paraphrases a proverbial expression "There, but for the grace of God, go I", which was itself a paraphrase of John Bradford's expression on seeing other prisoners being led to their execution as heretics to be burned at the stake: There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford. (as quoted in Problems in the Relations of God and Man (1911) by Clement Charles Julian Webb, p. 107)
Lyrics
Kontext: Show me a prison, show me a jail
Show me a pris'ner whose face has grown pale
And I'll show you a young man
With many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I.

"Bound For Glory" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/bound-for-glory.html from All the News That's Fit to Sing (1964)
Lyrics
Kontext: Now they sing out his praises on every distant shore
But so few remember what he was fightin' for
Oh why sing the songs and forget about the aim?
He wrote them for a reason, why not sing them for the same?

"Crucifixion"
Pleasures of the Harbor (1967)
Kontext: Images of innocence charge him go on
But the decadence of destiny is looking for a pawn
To a nightmare of knowledge he opens up the gate
And a blinding revelation is laid upon his plate
That beneath the greatest love is a hurricane of hate
And God help the critic of the dawn.

Introduction to "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" on Phil Ochs in Concert (1966)
Kontext: In every American community there are varying shades of political opinion. One of the shadiest of these is the liberals. An outspoken group on many subjects. Ten degrees to the left of center in good times. Ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally. Here, then, is a lesson in safe logic.

"Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/small-circle-of-friends.html
Pleasures of the Harbor (1967)
Kontext: Look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed
They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.

"Crucifixion" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/crucifixion.html
Pleasures of the Harbor (1967)
Kontext: In the green fields a turnin', a baby is born
His cries crease the wind and mingle with the morn
An assault upon the order, the changing of the guard
Chosen for a challenge that is hopelessly hard
And the only single sound is the sighing of the stars
But to the silence and distance they are sworn.

As quoted in An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Period (1990) by Charles DeBenedetti, p. 223
Kontext: [The Yippie demonstrations] were merely an attack of mental disobedience on an obediently insane society... and if you feel you have been living in an unreal world for the last couple of years, it is particularly because this power structure has refused to listen to reason... Step outside the guidelines of the official umpires and make your own rules and your own reality.

Quelle: Pleasures of the Harbor (1967), Liner notes; part of this statement is often paraphrased "In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty."
Kontext: I watched my life fade-away in a flash
A quarter of a century dash through closets full of candles with never a room
For rapture through a kingdom had been captured.
And so I turn away from my drizzling furniture and pass old ladies
Sniffling by movie stars' tombs, yes I must be home again soon.
To face the unspoken unguarded thoughts of habitual hearts
A vanguard of electricians a village full of tarts
Who say you must protest you must protest
It is your diamond duty…
Ah but in such an ugly time the true protest is beauty
And the bleeding seer crawled from the ruins of the empire
And stood bleeding, bleeding on the border
He said, passion has led to chaos and now chaos will lead to order.
Oh I have been away for a while and I hope to be back again soon.

"Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/small-circle-of-friends.html
Pleasures of the Harbor (1967)
Kontext: Look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed
They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.

"There but for Fortune" (1963)
Lyrics
Kontext: Show me a country where the bombs had to fall
Show me the ruins of buildings so tall
And I'll show you a young land
With many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I
You or I.

"Crucifixion"
Pleasures of the Harbor (1967)
Kontext: Images of innocence charge him go on
But the decadence of destiny is looking for a pawn
To a nightmare of knowledge he opens up the gate
And a blinding revelation is laid upon his plate
That beneath the greatest love is a hurricane of hate
And God help the critic of the dawn.

Testimony at the Chicago Seven trial (11 December 1969)
Kontext: MR. KUNSTLER: Now, Mr. Ochs, have you ever been associated with what is called the Youth International Party, or, as we will say, the Yippies?
THE WITNESS: Yes. I helped design the party, formulate the idea of what Yippie was going to be, in the early part of 1968.
MR. KUNSTLER: Can you indicate to the Court and jury what Yippie was going to be, what its purpose was for its formation?
THE WITNESS: The idea of Yippie was to be a form of theater politics, theatrically dealing with what seemed to be an increasingly absurd world and trying to deal with it in other than just on a straight moral level. They wanted to be able to act out fantasies in the street to communicate their feelings to the public.

As quoted off the blurb for the song "Days of Decision" on the back of the album https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ain%27t_Marching_Anymore I Ain't Marching Anymore.

"I Ain't Marching Anymore"
Lyrics

Quelle: The Broadside Tapes 1 (made in the 1960s; published c. 1980), Liner notes

Quelle: The Broadside Tapes 1 (made in the 1960s; published c. 1980), Liner notes

Quelle: The Broadside Tapes 1 (made in the 1960s; published c. 1980), Liner notes

As quoted in The Complete Phil Ochs : Chords of Fame (1978) by Almo publications

Statement in Broadside magazine (1962), quoted in Songs of the Vietnam Conflict (2001) by James E. Perone, p. 19

"Crucifixion"
Pleasures of the Harbor (1967)

"Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/small-circle-of-friends.html
Pleasures of the Harbor (1967)

Quelle: The Broadside Tapes 1 (made in the 1960s; published c. 1980), Liner notes

"When I'm Gone" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/when-im-gone.html from Phil Ochs in Concert (1966)
Lyrics