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| - Philip David "Phil" Ochs (1940-1976) was an American Singer Songwriter, famous for his protest songs, or "topical songs", as he liked to call them. He was the most active during The Sixties, when he wrote hundreds of songs, covering many topics, such as the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement and labor rights. After the events of 1968 (the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the police riot in Chicago, and the election of Richard Nixon) he became increasingly disillusioned and depressed. By the mid-'70s, he had serious mental problems, and the eventually hanged himself in 1976.
- Ochs, of course, long after his semi-tragic alcohol-fueled death-by-hanging in 1976, became a musical icon in the 21st century. But during his short aggravated lifetime, Phil Ochs was the essential quintessential unknown American folk artist/social activist. And, historians agree, in the end he was not a very good brother.
- Philip David Ochs (pronounced:ˈoʊks) (December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was a Jewish American protet singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer) and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice. He wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and released eight albums in his lifetime.
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| abstract
| - Philip David "Phil" Ochs (1940-1976) was an American Singer Songwriter, famous for his protest songs, or "topical songs", as he liked to call them. He was the most active during The Sixties, when he wrote hundreds of songs, covering many topics, such as the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement and labor rights. After the events of 1968 (the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the police riot in Chicago, and the election of Richard Nixon) he became increasingly disillusioned and depressed. By the mid-'70s, he had serious mental problems, and the eventually hanged himself in 1976.
- Philip David Ochs (pronounced:ˈoʊks) (December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was a Jewish American protet singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer) and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice. He wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and released eight albums in his lifetime. Ochs performed at many political events, including anti-Vietnam War and civil rights rallies, student events, and organized labor events over the course of his career, in addition to many concert appearances at such venues as New York City's Town Hall and Carnegie Hall. Politically, Ochs described himself as a "left social democrat" who became an "early revolutionary" after the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago led to a police riot, which had a profound effect on his state of mind. After years of prolific writing in the 1960s, Ochs's mental stability declined in the 1970s. He eventually succumbed to a number of problems including bipolar disorder and alcoholism, and took his own life in 1976. Some of Ochs's major influences were Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Bob Gibson, Faron Young, Merle Haggard, John Wayne, and John F. Kennedy. His best-known songs include "I Ain't Marching Anymore", "Changes", "Crucifixion", "Draft Dodger Rag", "Love Me I'm a Liberal", "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", "Power and the Glory", "There but for Fortune", and "The War Is Over".
- Ochs, of course, long after his semi-tragic alcohol-fueled death-by-hanging in 1976, became a musical icon in the 21st century. But during his short aggravated lifetime, Phil Ochs was the essential quintessential unknown American folk artist/social activist. And, historians agree, in the end he was not a very good brother. Phil Ochs was unknown in the 20th century for such songs as "The War is Surely Almost Over", "I'm Considering Not Marching Anymore", and "Pleasures of Your Momma", heard by hundreds during his lifetime. He was favorably mentioned at the time of his minor ascension as the folky/protesty/uniony/unkempt heir to iconic singer/songwriter/hillbillytroublemaker Woody Guthrie. Ochs also lived in the shadow of his shadowy contemporary, Bob Dylan - likely because Phil Ochs didn't get one second of air-play on any major radio station during the 1960s, let alone television, which left him well enough alone. He was virtually unknown outside of the movement crowd, which wasn't really a crowd as much as a small knitting-circle of friends. Historians of the era agree that Ochs gained his chords of fame way too late - long after he was wind-blown ashes somewhere - and so missed out on some of the better groupies. In Phil Ochs' prime, when he was a quarter of a century old and only half a century drunk, he was kind of happy and fairly sane. During the era's Civil Rights and Antiwar Movements Ochs would attend protest demonstrations across the United States and Chile at the drop of a hat, sight unseen, itching for a fight, wishin' on a star, and dumpster diving for a dime bag. It's been said that Phil Ochs gave his all to help the people stop an unjust war and gain civil rights for all their citizens, but that the people later sold those rights for a bowl of lentils. Although the ills of the world that Phil Ochs and his hippie companions were always singing and walking around about were swept away like a heavy fog lifting to reveal a sunny new day, they were replaced soon after Ochs' death by more frightful and insidious ills.
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