Hi Joe,

I agree. I would hate to have to prove it but I think Changes and When I'm Gone come about at nearly the same time. There are similarities to the songs both in emotion and structure. You can hear the journalism student in many of his early songs but at the same time songs like When I'm Gone, Changes, and Celia had a side to his writing that wasn't often heard. Celia is a beautiful love story and at the same time it is very political. It took a deft hand to write that song. I would have expected at the time for that to have been a Tom Paxton song had I not bought the album and read the credits.

I often wonder where is Phil now that we really need him. I also wonder if at my age now would I recognize an important voice like Phil's if I heard it today.

Don Meixner