Phil Ochs was a true social/political idealist...to the point that it broke his heart when what happened at Chicago in '68 happened. I don't think he was ever the same after that.

He wrote a few truly brilliant songs, but I would not put him as an equal to Bob Dylan...nor, I think, would Ochs himself have done so. I think it's pretty clear from the record that Phil Ochs considered Bob Dylan to be far and away the best songwriter of that era. He felt that Dylan was leading the way in that regard, and he defended Dylan tenaciously when much of the folkie old guard was attacking Dylan for "abandoning protest". (Actually, Dylan's new work that bothered those people so much was a far deeper form of protest than what he'd written before...it was protest of everything that is taken for granted in society...not just protest around specific political issues such as racism or war.........and Ochs could see that. He admired Dylan for it. He used to quote lines out of "It's Allright, Ma - I'm Only Bleeding" when illustrating this or that point he was making. "It's Allright, Ma" is probably the greatest single protest song of all time, in my opinion.)

Like I said, though, Ochs wrote a few songs that were simply masterpieces...and they stand as high as anyone's work.

"Changes" was one of them. (that's why everyone and his kid brother recorded a cover of it back then) In fact, that song was so good that it probably got OVER-covered...and people may have gotten tired of it as a consequence. That can happen with truly great songs.