Lyr ADD: In the Heat of the Summer (Phil Ochs)

Subject: 'In the Heat of the Summer' K&R Harris v
From: GUEST
Date: 09 May 00 - 06:05 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics to the Him and Reggie Harris version of the Phil Ochs song "In the Heat of the Summer." I have the Phil Ochs version already, but I'm looking for this updated one. (If you have the chords, that's okay too, but I have workable chords, I think.)

Thanks in advance

Peace

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'In the Heat of the Summer' K&R Harr
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 May 00 - 04:27 AM

Click here for a good collection of Phil Ochs lyrics. I'll look around for the Harris version. I think I have it, but I put the album away because I don't really care for it.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: IN THE HEAT OF THE SUMMER (K & R Harris)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 May 00 - 05:45 PM

Well, I think this is a pretty good transcription. Thanks for forcing me to take another look at this album. I really like this cut.
-Joe Offer-

---

IN THE HEAT OF THE SUMMER
(Phil Ochs, as sung by Kim & Reggie Harris)
(Harris lyrics in italics)

So wrong, so wrong,
But we've been down too long
And we had to make somebody listen.

In the heat of the summer
When the pavement was burning
The soul of a city was ravaged in the night
Just as the city sun was sinkin'

Now no one knows how it started
Why the windows were shattered
But deep in the dark, someone set the spark
And then it no longer mattered.

So wrong, so wrong,
But we've been down too long
And we had to make somebody listen.

Almost thirty years after
Those long, hot summers
The City of the Angels was ravaged in the night
Millions lost, and fifty-two lives
Simi Valley verdict,
Too many lies were caught by the eye of the camera.

Oh, but we know why this one started,
More than hot anger exploded.
We all saw the sequence again and again,
Video witness proclaiming the sin
It was hard to believe when that decision came in
Just what could the jury be thinkin'?

So wrong, so wrong,
But we've been down too long
And we had to make somebody listen.

Down the street they were rumblin'
All the tempers were ragin'
Oh, where, oh, where are the silver tongues
Who forgot to listen to the warning?

On and on come the angry
No longer following reason
All the stores were the targets now
Where just the other day they were buyin'

So wrong, so wrong,
But we've been down too long
And we had to make somebody listen.

"No, no, no," moaned the mayor.
"No, no, no," cried Rodney King
"No, no, no, no, no,
It's not the way of order
Stay in your homes, put down your guns
We'll tell you what to do in the morning."

"For shame, for shame," said reporters
"Why hurry to your hunger?
Now the rubble lies in your broken neighborhoods
So see what your rage has unraveled."

When the fury was over
Shame replaced the anger.
Will we live to see justice done?
Jobs and education, instead of drugs and guns
We all have to listen, or more violence will come
In the heat of the summer.

So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down so long
And we had to make somebody listen
(repeat chorus several times)

(Ochs lyrics not used by Kim & Reggie Harris are below)

Drunk with the memory of the ghetto
Drunk with the lure of the looting
And the memory of the uniforms shoving with their sticks
Asking, "Are you looking for trouble?"

"No, no, no," moaned the mayor.
"It's not the way of the order.
"Oh stay in your homes, please leave us alone
"We'll be glad to talk in the morning."

"For shame, for shame," wrote the papers.
"Why the hurry to your hunger?
"Now the rubble's resting on your broken streets
"So you see what your rage has unraveled."

Barricades sadly were risin
Bricks were heavily flyin
And the loudspeaker drowned like a whisperin' sound
When compared to the angered emotions

And when the fury was over
And the Shame was replacing the anger.
So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down so long
And we had to make somebody listen
In the heat of the summer......

JRO

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In the Heat of the Summer (K & R Harris)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jun 20 - 12:12 AM

Hope we can find the Phil Ochs lyrics, separated from the Harris version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In the Heat of the Summer (K & R Harris)
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 11 Jun 20 - 06:15 AM

Joe, is there anything wrong with the Ochs lyrics at the site to which you linked in 2000? They are still there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In the Heat of the Summer (K & R Harris)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jun 20 - 02:00 AM

Hi, Gerry - they need proofreading and posting, and I haven't had time to do it. Just a couple words were different from what I hear on the recording.

Subject: ADD: In the Heat of the Summer (Phil Ochs)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jun 20 - 02:20 AM

IN THE HEAT OF THE SUMMER
(Phil Ochs)

In the heat of the summer
When the pavements were burning
The soul of a city was ravaged in the night
After the city sun was sinkin'

Now no one knows how it started
Why the windows were shattered
But deep in the dark, someone set the spark
And then it no longer mattered.

Down the street they were rumbling
All the tempers were ragin'
Oh, where, oh, where are the light silver tongues
Who forgot to listen to the warning?

On and on come the angry
No longer following reason
And all the stores were the target now
Where just the other day they were buyin'

Drunk with the memory of the ghetto
Drunk with the lure of the looting
And the memory of the uniforms shoving with their sticks
Asking, "Are you looking for trouble?"

"No, no, no," moaned the mayor.
"It's not the way of the order.
"Oh stay in your homes, please leave us alone,
"We'll be glad to talk in the morning."

"For shame, for shame," wrote the papers.
"Why the hurry to your hunger?
"Now the rubble's resting on your broken streets,
"So you see what your rage has unraveled."

Barricades sadly were risin'
Bricks were heavily flyin'
And the loudspeaker drowned like a whisperin' sound
when compared to the angered emotions.

And when the fury was over
And the shame was replacing the anger.
So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down too long
And we had to make somebody listen.
In the heat of the summer......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZuUBkkl9KE

I hear "light silver tongues" and "listen to the warning."

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: In the Heat of the Summer (Phil Ochs)
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 14 Jun 20 - 05:31 AM

Joe, I hear "white silver tongues".

I also hear many places where Ochs sings -in', not -ing. In verse one, burnin'; verse three, rumblin' and warnin'; four, followin'; verse five, askin' and lookin'; verse eight, restin'; verse ten, replacin'.

In verse one, I don't hear "the" before "soul". In verse four, "came", not "come".

Everything else in your transcription looks right to me.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: In the Heat of the Summer (Phil Ochs)
From: OldPossum
Date: 14 Jun 20 - 08:42 AM

The tune was posted here.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: In the Heat of the Summer (Phil Ochs)
From: GUEST,Greg F.
Date: 14 Jun 20 - 11:00 AM

That's WHITE silver tongues, Joe. and it sounds more like "warningS" to me.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: In the Heat of the Summer (Phil Ochs)
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Jun 20 - 11:29 AM

Per “The Complete Phil Ochs”, Almo Publications, 1978


IN THE HEAT OF THE SUMMER
(Phil Ochs)

In the heat of the summer
When the pavements were burnin’
Soul of a city was ravaged in the night
After the city sun was sinkin'

Now no one knows how it started
Why the windows were shattered
But deep in the dark, someone set the spark
And then it no longer mattered.

Down the street they were rumblin’
All the tempers were ragin'
Oh, where, oh, where are the white silver tongues
Who forgot to listen to the warnin’?

On and on come the angry
No longer followin’ reason
And all the stores were the target now
Where just the other day they were buyin'

Drunk with the mem’ry of the ghetto
Drunk with the lure of the lootin’
And the memory of the uniforms shoving with their sticks
Asking, "Are you lookin’ for trouble?"

"No, no, no," moaned the mayor.
"It's not the way of the order.
"Oh stay in your homes, please leave us alone,
"We'll be glad to talk in the mornin’."

"For shame, for shame," wrote the papers.
"Why hurry to your hunger?
"Now the rubble's restin’ on your broken streets,
"So you see what your rage has unraveled."

Barricades sadly were risin'
Bricks were heavily flyin'
And the loudspeaker drowned like a whisperin' sound
When compared to the angered emotions.

And when the fury was over
And the shame was replacin’ the anger.
So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down too long
And we had to make somebody listen.

In the heat of the summer......


Copyright 1966 Warner Bros, Inc.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: In the Heat of the Summer (Phil Ochs)
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 15 Jun 20 - 12:35 PM

From "I Ain't Marching Anymore", Phil Ochs' second LP, released on Elektra Records in February 1965. "Scenes and images of the riots last summer in Harlem. As is usually the case, the loudest bursts of outrage came from those most responsible for the debacle."

The Harlem race riot of July 1964 took place after a white off-duty police officer shot and killed an African American teenager. "So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down too long, And we had to make somebody listen."

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: In the Heat of the Summer (Phil Ochs)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 15 Jun 20 - 02:05 PM

Jack and Amanda Palmer's 2016 version tweaks the second verse slightly:

"No need to ask how it started
Why the windows were shattered
Another black kid face down in the road
Whose life did not seem to matter"