#phil ochs small circle of friends or flower lady

[dad-friend]

does anybody else wish hozier would do a cover album? like he always does such a good job of taking a song and putting it into his own style instead of just copying it, i think itd be fun to have an album of some of the covers hes done as well as some new ones

[transneilyoung]

top 5 phil ochs?

oh delightful

Tape From California

Chords of Fame

Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends

Ringing of Revolution

Flower Lady

[bbbrianjones]

favourite phil ochs songs in honour of his birthday ♡ pleasure of the harbour gets three because i like

[bestfrozentreats]

Pleasures of the Harbor Full Album - Phil Ochs 1967

“One of the best albums ever made.  A deep exploration of how the cold world can chill the soul and suck the life from you.  In usual Phil Ochs style, he is mercilessly truthful and he doesn't drown his message in metaphor as Bob Dylan does.  Everyone knows how Phil played the song Crucifixion (about JFK) to Robert Kennedy and brought him to tears before he was crucified himself later that same year.  The album intentionally ended in the dark, without any resolution.  But I added The War is Over from his next album (Tape from California) to give it a more settling ending.   In the liner notes Phil Ochs adds  "in such an ugly time the true protest is beauty." Purchase the album for better quality at http://www.amazon.com/Pleasures-Harbo....  It is only $5.  I don't own the rights.” 

Cross My Heart 3:18 Flower Lady   6:05 Miranda 5:19 Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends 3:44 I've Had Her 8:09 The Party 8:03 Pleasures Of The Harbor 8:10   The Crucifixion 8:45   The War Is Over (from Tape from California)

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwc8YM9HL8k)

[philochs]

723 fans can’t be wrong! That is how many have now contributed to the Phil Ochs survey. Below is the latest revised survey. Any comments may be sent to Will Curtis wcurtis1021@gmail.com. I am not Mr. Curtis. I simply host the survey. If anyone has not sent in their favorite Phil Ochs songs, and would like to, please send your five favorite Phil Ochs songs (in order of preference) to Bill at the above email address. Please include the city and state in which you live.

1159 Changes                                  

790 Crucifixion

7011 When I’m Gone

620 I Ain’t Marching Anymore                                

491 Pleasures of the Harbor

414 There But For Fortune

373 Power and Glory

347 Outside A Small Circle of Friends

326 The Highwayman

245 Rehearsals For Retirement

239 No More Songs

234 Tape From California

233 Love Me, I’m A Liberal

217 When In Rome

212 Draft Dodger Rag

188 The Party

186 Flower Lady

165 Here’s To The State of Mississippi

164 The Scorpion Departs, But Never Returns

157 The War Is Over

146 Is There Anybody Here  

133 Jim Dean of Indiana

123 Another Age

112 The Marines Have Landed On The Shores of Santo Domingo

108 Cops Of The World

100 Doesn’t Lenny Live Here Anymore

100 My Life

97 The Bells

96 Chords of Fame

95 Song of My Returning

93 I’m Going To Say It Now

90 Canons of Christianity

81 Cross My Heart

80 Celia

75 Ringing of Revolution

73 Bracero

71 Bound For Glory

71 That Was The President

70 Pretty Smart On My Part

69 What’s That I Hear Now

67 I’ve Had Her

66 The Doll House

65 Links On The Chain

59 Half A Century High

57 Boy In Ohio

57 White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land

54 Joe Hill

50 Floods of Florence

450One Way Ticket Home

50 Too Many Martyrs

48 In The Heat Of The Summer

47 Here’s To The State Of Richard Nixon

44 I’m Tired

39 I Kill, Therefore I Am

39 World Began In Eden and Ended In LA

37 One More Parade

36 Lou Marsh

35 Miranda

31 If I Knew

30 I’ll Be There

29 A Toast To Those Who Are Gone

28 That’s What I Want To Hear

27 Days of Decision

27  William Butler Yeats Goes To Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed

25  Smash Flop Hits

24 Hills Of West Virginia

23 The Thresher

21 My Kingdom For A Car

20 Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Me

19 Gas Station Women

14  Hands

19 The Harder They Fall

19 The Men Behind The Guns

18 The A.M.A. Song

18 The Trial  

17 Ballad of the Carpenter

16 Talking Viet Nam

16  Time Was

14   What Are We Fighting For?

14  Ballad of Henry Faulk

14  Colored Town

14    Ballad of William Worthy

13  Knock on the Door

13 Talking Birmingham Jam                                      

13 The Automation Song

13  Gonna Do What I Have To Do

12 Going Down To Mississippi

11  Iron Lady

11    We Seek No Wider War  

10    Rivers of Blood

9    Ballad of Alfred Packer

9    It’s Morning

9    Ten Cents A Coup

8    Billie Sol

8    A Year To Go By

7    City Boy

7    No Christmas In Kentucky

7    Song of a Soldier

6    Basket In The Pool

6    Kansas City Bomber                              

6    The Passing of My Life

6    Remember Me

5    Another Country

5    Hunger and Cold

5    That’s The Way It’s Going To Be

5    William Moore

4    Paul Crump

4    United Fruit

3    All Quiet On The Western Front  

3    Ballad of Oxford (Jimmy Meredith)

3    Davey Moore

3    Freedom Riders                

3    Never Bet Against The Yankees                            

3    Talking Pay TV  

2    Bullets of Mexico

2    Christine Keeler

2    Hazard, Kentucky  

2    How Long  

2    Where Were You In Chicago

1    Bobby Dylan Record                                

1    Bwatne  

1    Going Down To Mississippi                                    

1    I Shoulda Known Better                            

1    Okie From Muskogee

1    On Her Hand A Golden Ring

1    Spanish Civil War Song

Revised by Bill Curtis

June 2, 2020

wcurtis1021@gmail.com

[maximumbob-universe]

Bob Dylan's 1965 performance at the Newport Folk Festival threw a bomb into the folk music community. The exodus from simple, acoustic music to more elaborate productions was massive and immediate. Some followed Bob into rock, others chose to use the crack studio bands in Nashville to beef up their sound, others went for a more ornate backdrop for their songs......but they all moved on. Phil Ochs, arguably the best songwriter of the bunch, switched record labels and moved to L.A.  Determined to not let the times pass him by, Ochs hired producer Larry Marks, who had a background in classical music,  to produce his first record for A&M. Released in 1967, "Pleasures of the Harbor" was unlike anything he had done before. The songs were poetic observations, critical of modern life  but less overtly political than previously recorded material. The opening cut, "Cross My Heart" begins with strings with harpsichord, giving the LP a neo-classical sound that Marks hoped would suitably frame the new songs Phil was writing. "Flower Lady" tells tales of life in the city, with no one aware of the girl in the neighborhood selling flowers. "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" is the cut that received the most attention at the time. The most topical song here, Lincoln Mayorga's ragtime piano rolling along aside Phil's sarcastic lyrics, which cautions against indifference, much like the previous cut, but with much more bite. "Smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer, but a friend of ours was captured and they gave him 30 years. Maybe we should raise our voices ask somebody why, but demonstrations are a drag, besides we're much too high."  

The lyrical barbs are personal on "The Party", set to cocktail piano, Och's condemnations highlighting societies absurdities.  "The hostess is enormous, she fills the room with perfume, she surrounds the guests and smothers them with greetings.  Asking "how are you" as she offers them a drink, the countess of the social grace who never seems to blink, she promises to talk to you if you promise not to think." The title song was inspired by the movie "The Long Journey Home" and is the most intimate track here. It begins a journey the performer would take into eventual despair, all set to the backdrop of the sailor's life. "Soon you sailing will be over, come and take the pleasures of the harbor" a line that leads to the man's inevitable demise by songs end. Ochs saved the best for last, sort of. "The Crucifixion", which I have written about before, is his greatest moment as a songwriter, but becomes drowned in musical ambitions. The harrowing lyrics become buried in electronic sounds and sweeping orchestrations, throwing a wet blanket on what should have been his triumph.  I have friends who believe the musical canvas is fitting, but I think the song works much better when done solo in concert. Still, "The Crucifixion" ends the record with an amazing lyrical portrait of society’s demand for martyrs. "Pleasures of the Harbor" would be Phil's best selling album, but it still fell far short of the commercial breakthrough he was hoping for. Like Ochs himself, the album is ambitious, over the top, maniacal and brilliant, a major work by any measure. As it was with the poor woman in "Flower Lady", Phil Ochs would continue to be a background presence in popular culture, a place he was familiar with, but never stopped trying to break free of.