Phil Ochs

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Image:PhilOchs3.gif Philip David Ochs (December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was a U.S. protest singer (or, as he preferred, a "topical singer") popular during the 1960s. Ochs was a member of the IWW and well known as a devout socialist, and has been described as "a warrior" and "the last heir to Woody Guthrie". His best known songs include "Power and the Glory", "There But for Fortune", "Changes", "When I'm Gone", and "I Ain't Marching Anymore".

1 Early career
2 Later life
3 Legacy
4 Discography
- 4.1 Studio albums and live recordings
- 4.2 Compilations and other albums
5 Further reading
6 External links

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Early career

Born in El Paso, Texas, he grew up in a non-political middle-class family. He studied journalism at Ohio State University, but dropped out in his last year. While in Miami, the 18-year-old Ochs was imprisoned 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." He moved to New York City and became an integral part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene. He emerged as an unpolished yet passionate vocalist who wrote poignant lyrics about war, civil rights, labor struggles and other topics which continue to be relevant up to this day, and could be perhaps be described as a socially conscious patriot in the tradition of Woody Guthrie. He described himself as a "singing journalist", saying he built his songs from stories he read in Newsweek.

Ochs contributed many songs and articles for Broadside Magazine, and it was at Broadside he had his first chance to record. His first three albums (All the News That's Fit to Sing (1964), I Ain't Marching Anymore (1965), and Phil Ochs in Concert (1966)) contain some of his best work as a pure folk singer and examples of two traditional genres that Ochs contributed to in his early performances, namely the talking blues and the musical reinterpretation of older poetry (as of Alfred Noyes's The Highwayman and Edgar Allan Poe's The Bells). During this early period of his career, his friend Bob Dylan said, "I just can't keep up with Phil. And he's getting better and better and better." This praise and friendly rivalry was to change in 1965, and at one occasion Ochs' criticism of one of Dylan's singles lead Dylan to throw him out of his limousine, proclaiming: "You're not a folksinger, Ochs, you're just a journalist".

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Later life

In his later studio albums (Pleasures of the Harbor (1967), Tape from California (1968), Rehearsals for Retirement (1969), and the ironically titled Greatest Hits (1970)) he moved away from topical songs and experimented with ensemble and even orchestral instrumentation in the hopes of producing a pop-folk hybrid that would be a "hit."

The most popular tunes from these albums were "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends," "Chords of Fame," "Pleasures of the Harbor," "Crucifixion," and "Jim Dean of Indiana". None actually became hits, although "Small Circle of Friends" received airplay before being banned from many radio stations for suggesting (perhaps sarcastically) that "smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer". It was the closest Ochs ever came to the Top 40.

A lifelong movie fan, Ochs worked the narratives of justice and rebellion that he saw in films as a young man into his music. He was devastated when his onetime hero John Wayne embraced the Vietnam War with what Ochs saw as the blind patriotism of The Green Berets.

Ochs was profoundly concerned with the escalation of the Vietnam War. He was present at the demonstrations during the 1968 Democratic National Convention (he comments on the event during his concert There and Now: Live in Vancouver 1968, which includes the song "Where were you in Chicago?"). He traveled with Chilean folksinger Víctor Jara and sang with Chilean President Salvador Allende before his election and prior to both their deaths during the 1973 coup d'état. Ochs organized concerts to protest these Nixon-era developments, and re-recorded his old sarcastic song "Here's To The State Of Mississippi" as "Here's To The State of Richard Nixon".

While touring Africa, Ochs was attacked and strangled by robbers, supposedly damaging his singing voice. He believed the attack may have been arranged by government agents. Intensely disappointed by his lack of commercial success and haunted by bipolar disorder and an alternate personality by the name of John Train, Phil Ochs hanged himself in 1976 after a long stretch of erratic behavior. After his death, it was revealed that the FBI had a 410-page file on Ochs.

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Legacy

His songs have been covered by Jim and Jean, Joan Baez, Eric Andersen, Billy Bragg, Teenage Fanclub, Ani DiFranco, Dick Gaughan, Eugene Chadbourne, John Wesley Harding, Eddie Vedder, The Weakerthans, Travis MacRae, Diamanda Galas, Freddie Feldman and They Might Be Giants among many others. Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon, in their album Prairie Home Invasion, recorded a version of "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" with updated lyrics (Clinton-era). Evan Greer, part of the Riot Folk collective, has updated "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" (Bush-era). Ryan Harvey, also part of the Riot Folk collective, has remade "Cops Of The World" with updated lyrics. The Clash used some of the lyrics to Ochs' "United Fruit" in their song "Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)," which appeared on their 1980 album Sandinista!.

Ochs is also mentioned in the Dar Williams song "All My Heroes Are Dead," the Will Oldham song "Gezundheit," and the They Might Be Giants song "The Day." The Josh Joplin Group recorded an eponymous tribute to Ochs on their album Useful Music. Schooner Fare recorded "Don't Stop To Rest (Song for Phil Ochs)" on their album Closer to the Wind (1981). The punk band Squirrel Bait cited Ochs as a major creative influence in the liner notes of their 1986 album Skag Heaven, and cover him there with the title track from Tape From California.

In addition, he is the subject of "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night", by British singer Billy Bragg, from his 1990 album The Internationale. John Wesley Harding has also recorded a song titled "Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue & Me". Singer-Songwriter Jen Cass has recorded a song titled "Standing In Your Memory", and Harry Chapin "The Parade's Still Passing By" as tributes to Phil Ochs.

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