Pros: commentary by Ochs, idealism shines through, poetic songs
Cons: Ballad of the Carpenter, some religious overtones, not a classically beautiful voice
The Bottom Line: Phil Ochs brings passion and idealism to these songs, making me want to make the world a better place. Through powerful words and at times humor, Ochs does just that.
quasar's Full Review: I Ain't Marching Anymore by Phil Ochs
I was browsing my local used record store a few years ago when something made me check out the used CDs. I have no idea why I did this, since normally I go in, look at a few LPs, then carefully browse all of the 45s, make my selections, pay, and leave. Something drew me to the CD stand, and whatever that something is I am eternally grateful to it. For therein I found a copy of the Phil Ochs album I Ain't Marching Anymore.
I had heard the name Phil Ochs before, but not his music. It was never played on the radio, not even on those stations that played folk. My parents didn't own any of his albums, so I hadn't heard him that way either. I took one look at the track listing and knew that I had to have this CD.
The Songs
I Ain't Marching Anymore is one of the most well-known Ochs songs. It is an out-and-out war protest song, outlining how throughout history old folks have always sent young folks off to war to kill and be killed and urging the youngsters to start refusing. This was Ochs' favorite of his own songs, and his words it borders between pacifism and treason, combining the best qualities of both.
In the Heat Of the Summer describes the riots in Harlem in the summer of 1964 and various reactions to them. Ochs contends that those who complained loudest - the police, the mayor, the press - were most at fault. This is a slow, pretty song which makes the ugliness of the events told even more apparent:
Now no one knows how it started
Why the windows were shattered
But deep in the dark, someone set the spark
And then it no longer mattered.
Draft Dodger Rag is probably the funniest song Ochs ever wrote. It makes fun of the various ways folks tried to avoid getting drafted. In the liner notes, Ochs says that he was fed up with kids in the US going to extreme measures to avoid service while the Viet Cong soldiers served or died. American soldiers had it good compared to the Viet Cong soldiers. Of course, this song was immediately adopted by those trying to avoid the draft in the US:
Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen and I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, my feet are flat, and my asthma's getting worse
That's What I Want To Hear addresses the issues of unemployment, welfare, and handouts. Ochs didn't have much patience for sob stories, and that came through loud and clear in this song. This song is a little faster than some the ballads on the album with a strong beat. As with many Ochs songs, a forceful tune adds to the forcefullness of the lyrics:
So don't explain that you've lost your way
that you've got no place to go.
You've got a hand and a voice and you're not alone
Brother that's all you need to know.
A plaintive wail mourning the death of John Kennedy, That Was The President is a sad tribute to our 35th president. It tries to look at Kennedy as both the president loved by a nation and as a man mourned by his family (although the second view is mostly implicit), and at how so many of our great leaders are cut down before their time:
It's not only for the leader that the sorrow hits so hard
There are greater things I'll never understand
How a man so filled with life, even death was caught off guard.
That was the President and that was the man.
Those of us who lived through the 80s see the phrase "Iron Lady" and automatically think of Margaret Thatcher. In this song, the Iron Lady is the electric chair, the instrument of death used on Caryl Chessman, a man many believed was innocent of the crimes he was accused and convicted of committing. The overwhelming sound of a rapidly stroked guitar almost drowns out the powerful words about government endorsed murder (as Ochs saw it):
Stop the murder, deter the crimes away
Only killing shows that killing doesn't pay
Yes that's the kind of law it takes
Even though we make mistakes
And sometimes send the wrong man to the chair
At various times in his career Ochs veered from overt protest songs to put poetry that moved him to music. The Highway Man is the first such song, an adaptation of the Alfred Noyes poem The Highwayman. This is a song of love, of sacrifice for love, and although the song is shortened from the original poem and not quite as powerful, it is still haunting.
Links On The Chain takes a jab at the unions that had turned from their traditional role of sticking up for their diverse membership to a more beaurocratic and segregated structure during the civil rights struggle:
And then there came the boycotts and then the freedom rides,
And forgetting what you stood for, you tried to block the tide,
Oh, the automation bosses were laughin' on the side,
As they watched you lose your link on the chain
Hills Of West Virginia paints a picture of rural life in West Virgina, contrasting the natural beauty with the obvious poverty. Another pretty song, this is one of the more poetic Ochs songs:
And the red sun of the morning was smiling through the trees,
As the darkness of the night was quickly fading,
And the fog hugged the road like a cloudy, cloudy sea,
As we drove though the hills of West Virginia.
The second poem set to music on this album, The Men Behind the Guns is based on a patriotic poem by John Rooney. I can see why Ochs set this too music - the words have a real flow to them. As he said in the liner notes, there were so many ringing phrases in this one, I found myself re-reading it several times and reaching for my guitar.
Talking Birmingham Jam is a loud angry rant about the lack of Civil Rights in Alabama. It's very much a talking song set to music, It isn't a rap song, but it shares many elements of modern rap songs - talking to a beat, anger, rhyming words:
Well, all the signs said Welcome in,
Welcome if you're white my friend.
Come along and watch the fights
While we feed our dogs on civil rights.
We believe in segregation...Negroes in one mob...
Policemen, politicians, dogs in the other
Ballad Of The Carpenter is the only song on the album that wasn't either written by or adapted from a poem by Phil Ochs. An overtly religious song protesting the disparity between the rich and the poor, it has a slow haunting melody. Unfortunately the lyrics just don't work for me. This is definitely my least favorite song on the album.
Days Of Decision talks about how everyone has a choice - follow the mold set by authority or do what you think is right. Of course, Ochs lays this out much more eloquently than I did:
There's a change in the wind, and a split in the road,
You can do what's right or you can do what you are told,
And the prize of the victory will belong to the bold,
Yes, these are the days of decision.
Probably the single most powerful song of anarchy and protest against segregation and acts of bigotry I've ever heard, Here's To The State Of Mississippi is an outright rant against the problems of the judges, politicians, teachers, and religious leaders of the deep south who not only did nothing to further the rights of blacks in the South, but were part of the problems they faced:
And, here's to the judges of Mississippi
Who wear the robe of honor as they crawl into the court
They're guarding all the bastions with their phony legal fort
Oh, justice is a stranger when the prisoners report
When the black man stands accused the trial is always short
Ochs the Songwriter
Phil Ochs wrote almost all of the songs on this album. His songs are clear pointed messages, more powerful for their poeticism and flow. Many of his songs are poems set to music (and here I am not explicitly referring to The Highway Man or The Men Behind the Guns which really are poems by others set to music). He has a way of taking the story of a specific incident and turning it into a jab at society as a whole, particularly in areas where he feels people are hypocritical.
Most of the songs that describe particularly ugly events are combined with pretty or upbeat music. The best example on this album is In the Heat of the the Summer which I think has the prettiest melody on the album underlying lyrics describing rioting. Ochs uses this dichotomy well; it makes the ugly images much more powerful in contrast to the prettiness underlying the way you hear them.
Ochs also has a true gift for setting the poetry of others to music. Certain poems seemed to reach out to him and beg for music. The music he devised fits the poems so well I cannot read them without hearing Ochs sing them. This is particularly true for The Highway Man on this album and in Edgar Allan Poe's The Bells, a superb song not found on this album.
The Liner Notes
The liner notes included with this CD are short but offer some incredible tidbits and insight into Phil Ochs the artist and the songs included on this CD. It begins with a long explanation from Ochs concerning how he answers the question "Do you really believe in what your songs are saying?" Following this insightful and humorous section is an analysis of folk music and Ochs' role therein written by Bruce Jackson, a musicologist from The University of Texas. The highlight of the liner notes is the track listing. Each song is accompanied by a few lines of commentary from Ochs. Seeing his thoughts on the songs he wrote and sang was an unexpected treat. All of this material comes from 1965, the year I Ain't Marching Anymore was initially released.
The back cover of the insert contains the words to another song written by Ochs, Encores. I've never heard the song, but the words are very powerful, talking about how society treats aging heros and how the folks treated that way feel about it. I am not positive why it was included but I really enjoyed it and hope to hear the song someday.
Summing Up
Phil Ochs doesn't have a classically beautiful voice, but he sings with such power and conviction that he overcomes any weaknesses in that area. I Ain't Marching Anymore was Ochs' second album, an album written and recorded when he still thought he could make a difference and fix all of the problems of the world. Later in his career he would turn to long sad story songs, intimate tales of how the world went wrong, of how all of the idealism melted away. Eventually Ochs committed suicide, unable to tolerate the world that had so let him down.
In this album the idealism still bellows in full force. It is a reminder of a time when one person thought he could make a difference just by telling everyone what he thought was wrong with the world. It is a window into the mind of a poet who used his art to better the world. I Ain't Marching Anymore was my introduction to Phil Ochs. I wish he were around to provide me with more of his amazing words. It's a shame he ain't marching anymore.
Five Star Album Writeoff
This is my entry in the Five Star Album writeoff sponsored by GasJocket214. Read about the other outstanding albums chosen by:
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.