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."

RP Mar2009