Phil Ochs (1940-1976)
Phil Ochs was one of the most important, and certainly the most prolific songwriter to record for Broadside, with 73 songs published in the magazine. Ochs was born in El Paso, Texas, but found himself frequently moving as the family followed his father's medical career. Ochs attended Ohio State University, where he was first exposed to folk music and especially to Woody Guthrie.
Influenced by his guitar-playing roommate Jim Glover, Ochs turned more and more to political activism. He began writing articles for the campus newspaper, The Lantern, until he became disillusioned and started his own underground newspaper, The Word. Ochs's songwriting became an important conduit for his journalistic tendencies. Shortly after graduation, Ochs left Columbus and headed to New York City, where he quickly fell in with the "folk scene" that was developing around Greenwich Village and Washington Square Park.
He started to have his songs published in Broadside beginning with "Billy Sol" in issue 13. Ochs wrote long editorials for the magazine on a variety of topics, especially the state of topical songwriting. Ochs was one of the magazine's staunchest supporters and contributors. After his death in 1976, Broadside released 30 of his songs on two record albums produced by Paul Kaplan (The Broadside Tapes 1).
Phil Ochs. Photo by Diana Davies.
The Best of Broadside: 1. "Links on the Chain" (with The Broadside Singers)
In Links On the Chain, Phil Ochs chastises the labor unions for their conservatism in the 1950s and 1960s. He wonders where the "defenders of the common man" were during struggles for civil rights. The slogan "links on the chain" is a term frequently used in labor struggles. "To sum it up, this is one thing I feel is a driving force; that is I get so repelled by certain things—or they strike me as funny or weird, or strange, or ridiculous—and my response comes out in the form of a song" (Phil Ochs, interview with Gordon Friesen and Sis Cunningham, Broadside issue 89, 90, 91, 1965).
The Best of Broadside: 14. "Ballad of William Worthy"
Among the ways the United States government controlled dissent in the 1950s was to revoke passports of citizens who traveled where they were not supposed to go, or to refuse to issue passports to dissenters. The regulations regarding passports were subsequently changed, but not before many people felt the power of the state affecting their individual political actions. William Worthy (ca. 1920-) has had a long career as a distinguished journalist. He served as the Soviet correspondent during the 1950s for CBS News and the Baltimore Afro-American. In 1956 he traveled to China in defiance of a travel ban and found his passport revoked when he refused to agree not to travel to unauthorized places again. In open defiance, he traveled to Cuba in 1961 to report on the revolution. After a number of trips, he was sentenced to jail for his acts, a sentence overturned in federal appeals court. His case has been immortalized by Phil Ochs in this song.
The Best of Broadside: 26. "Changin' Hands" (with The Broadside Singers)
Changin' Hands speaks to the changing world witnessed by Ochs. Colonialism gave way to independent nations worldwide and a reemergence of local culture and politics.
The Best of Broadside: 37. "Freedom Riders"
In 1946 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of interstate bus passengers was unconstitutional. In 1947 the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) organized the first "freedom ride," in which an integrated group of riders boarded a bus bound for the South, where they met strong resistance by segregationists. On May 4, 1961, CORE organized another freedom ride from Washington, D.C., to the South. They expected resistance and hoped that the ensuing battle would force the federal government to enforce the law. The plan was to reach New Orleans, but the riders encountered violence, beatings, and arrests when they reached Alabama and Mississippi. United States Attorney General Robert Kennedy provided some protection, and new riders would join the ride as participants were arrested. By the time it was over, 300 more riders had become part of the freedom ride. Ochs wrote this song after hearing civil rights leader James Farmer speak at Ohio State University. Ochs traveled in the South during this period with various groups of singers working for the cause.
The Best of Broadside: 57. "We Seek No Wider War"
"We have no ambition there for ourselves, we seek no wider war." — Lyndon Johnson, February 17, 1965
One of Ochs's antiwar songs from the Vietnam War era, its title is taken from the Lyndon Johnson speech quoted above. A protest against ever-growing involvement of the United States in the war, it paints a picture of the horrors taking place in Southeast Asia.
The Best of Broadside: 81. "Changes"
A number of Broadside artists began to write more personal and introspective songs as the years passed, since so few aspects of American life appeared to improve in any profound way. "Changes" was written shortly after the dissolution of Phil Ochs's marriage. His wife, Alice, and daughter, Meegan, moved to the West Coast, and he was left to reflect. Not strictly as topical as most of his compositions, this turned out to be one of Ochs's most popular songs and was recorded by many other artists. This performance comes from a 1964 Vassar College concert taped by Broadside.
Text and quotes extracted from the notes by Jeff Place accompanying The Best of Broadside.
Smithsonian Folkways recordings featuring Phil Ochs:
Phil Ochs: Broadside Tapes 1 (SFW40008)
Broadside Ballads,Volume 10 (FW05320)
Broadside Ballads, Volume 11 (Interview with Phil Ochs) (FW05321)
Broadside Ballads, Volume 3 (FW05303)
Broadside Ballads, Volume 6 (FW05315)
Broadside Ballads Volume 8 (FW05310)
Lest We Forget Volume 3: Sing for Freedom (FW05488)