The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #14386 Message #3997182
Posted By: Joe Offer
20-Jun-19 - 04:11 PM
Thread Name: Origins: When I'm Gone (Phil Ochs)
Subject: ADD Version: When I'm Gone (Phil Ochs)-Broadside
Felipa says there is more than one recording on YouTube of Phil Ochs singing "When I'm Gone." Well, yes, there is more than one YouTube video of Ochs singing the song, but almost all of the videos are the same four-minute-and-twenty-second live recording that appears on the There But for Fortune compilation. There are other Elektra CDs that have the song, but they all seem to be that very same concert recording. I can't find a date for the recording. There's another Elektra record called Phil Ochs in Concert, and it has that same 4:20 recording. The only other recording I can find, is the sloppy but interesting performance of the song by Phil Ochs and Arlo Guthrie. I really think there should be other recordings of Ochs singing this song, and I hope Mudcatters can find and post them.
Gerry says that he noted some of the differences in 2010. That's true, and Gerry's post was very helpful. But once we've gotten to a certain point in a discussion, it's good to post full versions of a song, identifying the sources and the differences between versions. I think we're at that conclusive stage right now. Please note that there is no one "correct" version of any song. Phil Ochs changed the song as time went on, and he had a right to do that. If we are to do accurate research of songs, we need to transcribe songs as they are performed in various performances, noting the differences and not necessarily insisting on a "correct" version.
You will find the song in Issue 128 of Broadside Magazine, January-June 1975:
WHEN I'M GONE (Broadside Magazine #128 - differences from DT in bold) (Phil Ochs)
There's no place in the world where I'll belong when I'm gone — And I won't know the right from the wrong when I'm gone — And you won't find me singing on this song when I'm gone, — So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here!
And I won't feel the flowing of the time when I'm gone All the pleasures of love will not be mine when I'm gone My pen won't pour a lyric line when I'm gone So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
And I won't breathe the brandy air when I'm gone And I can't even worry 'bout my cares when I'm gone Won't be asked to do my share when I'm gone So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
And I won't be running from the rain when I'm gone And I can't even suffer from the pain when I'm gone And there's nothing I can loose (sic) or I can gain when I'm gone So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
Won't see the golden of the sun when I'm gone And the evenings and the mornings will be one when I'm gone Can't be singing louder than the guns when I'm gone So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
All my days won't be dances of delight when I'm gone And the sands will be shifting from my sight when I'm gone Can't add my name into the fight when I'm gone So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
And I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone Can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here