The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #102943   Message #2439459
Posted By: Rog Peek
13-Sep-08 - 05:36 PM
Thread Name: Songs for/about Phil Ochs
Subject: Lyr Add: STANDING IN YOUR MEMORY (Jen Cass)
STANDING IN YOUR MEMORY (for Phil Ochs)
(Jen Cass)

I made an accidental pilgrimage
To city streets you left behind
Found myself standing in your memory
Almost forty years before this time

When you walked proudly
Through the city that you loved,
Those buildings high above, they
Used to guide you on your way
And maybe I'm a stranger in a legendary town
But I walk hallowed ground,
And I still feel you here today.

I took the subway down to Bleecker Street
Stood outside The Bitter End
You got your start inside these red brick walls
But you won't be coming back again

Too many martyrs and
Far too many dead,
Isn't that what you said
Somehow you let it be again
You became another tragedy, a casualty of war
What were we fighting for, if you
Ain't Marchin' Anymore?

In your rehearsals for retirement
You said you died in '68
Content Chicago stole your soul away
To take your life they'd have to wait

The years of silence when
The madness raged
And you couldn't fill a page
But thought you had nothing left to say,
And no one took an interest in a rebels dying words
But you were always heard,
And we're still listening today.

We hear your voice in every alleyway
Spilling out of passing cars
The new disciples of the Broadside years
The Chords of Fame in every bar

Time will always bring
The tallest to their knees,
But you live on in name
And every troubadour who dares to rage,
A mighty protest with the beauty that remains
In ugly times of change,
Tells the truth from every stage.

Notes: This song is on the album 'Accidental Pilgrimage' (Jen Cass B0014EOQU6) released in 2006.
RP Sept08