The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #102943 Message #2502405
Posted By: oldhippie
26-Nov-08 - 05:30 PM
Thread Name: Songs for/about Phil Ochs
Subject: Lyr Add: PHIL'S SONG (Bruce Piephoff)
PHIL'S SONG (Bruce Piephoff)
You were a gentle dreamer born in Texas Growing up on the movies you saw Soon you moved to New York City There was John Wayne to take the place of paw
You used to stare out the window wondering Just where those roads were going to Combed your hair back and wore James Dean's red jacket Dreamed of boxing like Brando used to do
Love your mother, go to church, kick some ass It's white milk turning into red wine Johnny Cash and Elvis would still be there John Train gone too far down the mile
Come the sixties you were marching freedom Left your lady for the lyrics of a song And you captured the spirit of the decade Cried like a baby when the Kennedys were gone
I listened to you sing about Kentucky And the coal miners and the badness of the war You were there in Chicago Then you weren't marchin' anymore
Lost your voice, you were mugged down in Africa Richard Nixon was elected, the light failed Then came the bottle and the bouts with depression Ending up in Far Rockaway where you set sail
You couldn't write no more 'cause you were depressed You weren't depressed because you couldn't write You hung yourself because you were ashamed Of the hurt Train brought your friends in manic blight
An American decade had gone crazy Your ups and downs had mirrored what you saw Some had clapped their hands for the folksong 'Til the folksong wasn't happening anymore
You spiraled from the top down to the bottom Rehersals for retirement at thirty four John Train dared to take over When your friends couldn't listen to any more
What happened to the pleasures of the harbor What happened to the ties that never bind Phil, I guess perhaps it don't really matter Outside a small circle of friends
Notes: This is part of an email I received from Bruce:- "Thanks for including my song, "Phil's Song" from my 2000 CD release, FRINGELAND, on Flyin' Cloud Records. I wrote the song about Phil because of my love of his music. I began playing and writing in the late 60s when Phil was still around and felt the tragic loss when he died young. I wrote the song back in the mid seventies but finally recorded in 2000. I was greatly influenced by great songwriters like Phil and Eric Andersen, Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake, Townes Van Zandt, John Prine and Tom Waits, etc."
Fringeland is still available, vist Bruce's site Bruce Piephoff