Category Archives: Phil Ochs
The Power and The Glory
Food for thought for this holiday season. Phil Ochs was one of, if not the, best, one of the most perceptive and one of the most vibrant of the 60s protest singers. Virtually all of his lyrics still ring true today. He committed suicide in 1976 in part because he was “no longer relevant.” What a tragic misconception. Phil Ochs is probably more relevant today than ever. To wit:
Phil Ochs – The Power And The Glory
Come and take a walk with me thru this green and growing land
Walk thru the meadows and the mountains and the sand
Walk thru the valleys and the rivers and the plains
Walk thru the sun and walk thru the rain
Here is a land full of power and glory
Beauty that words cannot recall
Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom
Her glory shall rest on us all (on us all)
From Colorado, Kansas, and the Carolinas too
Virginia and Alaska, from the old to the new
Texas and Ohio and the California shore
Tell me, who could ask for more?
Yet she’s only as rich as the poorest of her poor
Only as free as the padlocked prison door
Only as strong as our love for this land
Only as tall as we stand
Happy Holidays everyone!
JG.
Today’s Quote – 2007.07.08
“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.”
—Phil Ochs*
*From an interview given in 1968
