I Might Not Be Marching, But I Will March For Phil Ochs

In community college I used to help a professor teach Humanities classes.  These classes happened every semester and met twice a week.  This class would discuss music, art, film and things of interest.  It was almost like a Philosophy class with a mix of culture thrown in.  For my grade I would talk about music and explain genres and styles of music out there and why a style or genre is categorized that way. An example would be me talking about Folk Music.  In the class I would discuss English Folk Music, or from any other country for that matter and mention one or two people or artists that is associated with the part of the world.  We would have discussions about what makes this a genre or a style and how that changed culture or the world where it was from.

We did Folk music one day and discussed the movement from the early 1960's.  The music would include Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Kingston Trio among a ton of others.  Since my expertise was about the ones I just mentioned the professor mentioned one more.  The person she told me about was Phil Ochs.  I knew little about him, but not enough to have a discussion.  This time I was the student.  I was a student of the curious.  I wanted to know more about him.  I got a great education that would help me when I went on from the community college.

Fast forward to my later college years.  I was looking at classes to pick for the semester and also a major.  In the campus class catalog was a class called Phil Ochs.  When I read the description it was a class in dedication of Folk Troubadour, Singer/Songwriter, and Protest singer Phil Ochs.  I had to get permission from the professor and have a prerequisite of some other high level English Class.  I came to his office and asked if I can sign up with his okay.  He asked me if I knew about Phil Ochs.  I told him we discussed him in a class at my local community college.  He asked for more information of what I knew.  I told him I will come back with what I had.  I ran back to my place and grabbed my two Phil Ochs records and the biography Death Of A Rebel: A Biography of Phil Ochs.  I came back and showed the professor.  He quickly signed my release and I was ready to take the class.  He mentioned to me that I need to keep the book for the class because that was textbook.

I was psyched, I was going to take a class about Phil Ochs.  Not only were we going to study his words, but we were going to study his life.  The words were timeless. The music was powerful.  I told the professor I used to student teach with and she mentioned that she had a good pile of notes and paperwork that I could use for the class.  She even wanted to come up and sit in on a few classes.  I had to ask, but that was a great idea.  When the class started there had to be ten people in the class.  All seemed curious about either Folk Music or Phil Ochs.  The class turned out to be one of the best classes for discussion.  The rapport with the class and the professor was nothing I have ever experienced.  This made me appreciate Phil Ochs more and more.

During the class, we ran into a few problems.  One of these problems we kept on comparing Phil Ochs to Bob Dylan.  When we discussed this, I mentioned that Bob wrote period music with a political slant, Phil wrote music political music with a political slant.  He did it every time and with just about every song he wrote.  You can disagree, but Phil Ochs will always be in the shadow of Bob Dylan.  It really is so sad.  One of the other problems was his music was and still is very hard to find.  His first three albums including the one in this post I Ain't Marching Anymore are not at local record stores.  A quick glance at Amazon and they are very expensive.  If you want a compilation of his music then you can get that.  I do suggest There But For Fortune which covers his first three records for Elektra records.  It is the only good retrospective that is still in print.

Oh, I marched to the battle of New Orleans
At the end of the early British wars
The young land started growing
The young blood started flowing
But I ain't a-marching anymore

Oh I killed my share of Injuns in a thousand different fights
I was there at the Little Big Horn
I heard many men a-lying
I saw many more a-dying
But I ain't a-marching anymore

It's always the old to lead us to the wars
Always the young to fall
Now look at what we've won with a saber and a gun
Tell me is it worth it all?

For I stole California from the Mexican land
Fought in the bloody Civil War
Yes, I even killed my brothers
And so many others
But I ain't a-marching anymore

For I marched to the battle of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain't a-marching anymore

It's always the old to lead us to the wars
Always the young to fall
Now look at what we've won with a saber and a gun
Tell me is it worth it all?

For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky
Set off the mighty mushroom roar
But I saw the cities burnin'
And I knew that I was learnin'
That I ain't a-marching anymore

Now the labor leader's screamin' when they closed the missile plant
United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore
Call it peace or call it treason
Call it love or call it reason
But I ain't a-marching anymore
I ain't a-marching anymore

These words are from one of the most powerful songs on the album and song called I Ain't Marching Anymore. The whole album is a masterpiece of great music and very gifted writing of Phil Ochs.  If you need to someone different in the protest and Folk movement, then check out any Phil Ochs.  His premature death overshadows his greatness.  The man had a gift with words and music and he will always hold a place in my heart.  This album is his landmark and maybe one day we can learn to appreciate his music and hopefully that his music will be accessible for everyone.  Take the time out and look up on YouTube and also if you can find the documentary There But For Fortune check it out and find out the true genius that he really was. People like Sean Penn, Christopher Hitchens, and Van Dyke Parks all spoke his praise.  I will as well, I think he was a true great.  Enjoy!!!!