The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #102943 Message #2588945
Posted By: Rog Peek
14-Mar-09 - 05:31 PM
Thread Name: Songs for/about Phil Ochs
Subject: Add Lyr: ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO SING (Al Baker
ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO SING (Al Baker)
Well I woke up one night screaming At the wall I thought was moving But the rope around your neck Kept getting tighter The harder I was pulling
You said "Hey, I'm just a shadow" And I said I agreed But I thought you had a guitar And a microphone But all the strings were missing
You said talking was too easy And then sent me back to sleep Then you took the rope from round your neck And tied it to my feet Left me stolen cryptic lyrics for a song When I found out you were gone
I went out the next day breathing But undoubtedly alive And I saw your stories flowing Through the ambulances And the morning papers
I had to stop dead when I realised I could never say goodbye And even Dylan got to sing to Woody Guthrie On his bed as he lay dyin'
But what's become of Bobby now Will not become of me I swear to you my music will respect your memory Woody's, Johnny's, Strummer's and Joe Hill Most of all to Phil
Chorus: Every time you sing to me There's a ringing in my ears All the news that's fit to sing Is fit to cause a tear And I dreamed I saw Phil Ochs last night Alive as you or me Said I to Phil "You're thirty years dead" "I never died." said he "I never died." said he
Oh the dreams I've had of sitting with you Anywhere with seats Talking long into the night Over bottled beer and marijuana cigarettes
'Cause I'm sure you could have told me more Than I will ever know About people, love and freedom And how the grass sways in Virginia when the wind blows
And then you would have played me 'I ain't marchin' anymore' Because you'd know it means as much today As it ever did before There but for fortune There for the grace of fate we'd be
Chorus
I sit here sometimes thinking about Why you had to die Was it money or your mind Or were you hounded to the graveyard by the FBI?
I guess you'd say it doesn't matter Like you sang in 'When I'm Gone' It takes more than that to shatter All the wisdom in the words of One who died so young
You told us "step outside the guidelines Make your own reality" And a protest must be beautiful in ugly times like these. You never once conceded You sang everything that needed to be said
Chorus
Notes: Al wrote this about the song in Mar 2009: "I wrote my song about Phil a little under three years ago, I think, he remains an enormous influence on me and my songwriting."