Billy Bragg - I dreamed I saw Phil Ochs last night

[robertemmet321]

Phil Ochs is about as close as I've ever come to having a hero. May he rebel in peace forever.

[OBinson]

This is a beautiful song, a lovely little tribute to the man who was my hero in my youth. Phil Ochs shaped my thinking throughout my adulthood. Thank you, Billy!

[savebeautyalone]

The morning star, 'tis neither hammer nor sickle, biblically condemned.. yet they can never kill what they cannot compromise

[WVlandnwater]

im no socialist or red,pro union though, but i like this music

[DirtyDebutsCom]

Looks like the West Ham football badge in a soviet star to me, son :)

[ma166406]

Does anyone know what this symbol means?! Some kind of revolution? Communist adaptation?

[BobTheRecordGuy]

@ma166406 : i don't know. Bragg is often ironic. But given the massacres and genocides of Communist regimes, the hammer & sickle is as offensive as the swastika.

[CatalystParadox]

@BobTheRecordGuy That's absurd. It is the symbol of a political philosophy that spans all nations, not any one particular regime. You may as well argue that any symbol of democracy is offensive, because of the excesses of the French Revolution - or that symbols of Christianity are offensive, because of the Inquisition.

[paschal421]

good song

keep on

[amimillie]

Marxist-Leninism is the only truth. Phil knew that.

[Seasass]

@amimillie In the liner notes to his second album, “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” Ochs wrote “my Marxist friends can’t understand why I wrote ‘That was the President’ and that’s probably one of the reasons why I’m not a Marxist.” If you're going to categorize Phil's politics (and I admit, that's kind of difficult and perhaps pointless), "democratic socialist" or "social democrat" might be the most accurate, although in his post-1968 depression, he began to speak more favorably of Mao.

[BobTheRecordGuy]

@amimillie : Please don't insult Phil Ochs like that. He was not retarded although he was a little naive is some respects. But he was a patrioitic American and, had he lived, I think he might have become a Libertarian. But a believer in philosophies which take a way freedom and the human soul? I don't think so.

[JHERNDO]

@BobTheRecordGuy Libertarian is the ultimate in allowing the big guy to screw over the little guy. Everything we know of Phil (who believed in humanity helping each other and being unified) says he would have never swung over that direction. I agree with the others who said that today he'd likely be considered a socialist.

[BillAbendroth]

On the album, Billy Bragg writes "There were Bob Dylans, ten to a penny. But only one Phil Ochs.

[doctorpsycho1960]

I thought this song would be a trivial gag, but this is really good.

[Starshadow]

May the gods bless Billy Bragg...Yes, Joan's version of Joe Hill is a favorite, but oh, Phil, I miss you, lad. I miss you.

[robles559]

phil ochs is the best type of comunist  , a dead one

[mussman717word]

@robles559

Way to be a dick, you fucking pig. I hope your next tea party gets bombed, you bloody wanker.

[robles559]

@mussman717word yawn

[ARP7777777]

@robles559 Socialist, and even if he WERE, that not illegal, you know.

[DrewBludd]

@robles559

That's just impolite, sir. Being rude on the Internet is a cowardly act. Use your manners, please.

[padraiggillon]

@robles559 You weren't listening too well. Phil isn't dead.

The struggle carries on. Phil Ochs inspires us still.

[blindwilliejohnson66]

@robles559 It's coMMunist with two Ms, not that that's my biggest concern with your comment

[arbeitsscheuer]

Is there a version of I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill last night that is done in a way similar to this (i.e. slow tempo, a cappela etc)?

I love the sombre way this one is done, much less naff than a lot of the covers of the original song about Joe Hill.

[Cryolemon]

@arbeitsscheuer I assume so, I don't know for certain though.

[sjsturgis]

@arbeitsscheuer The first "Joe Hill" I ever heard was by Joan Baez, and it's still one of my favorites. Do you know it? It's slow and meditative, as if the singer really was waking from a dream. (Posted on the 34th anniversary of Phil's death.)

[MaiHarinder]

@sjsturgis The best recording of Joe Hill in my opinion is by thr great Paul Robeson.

[sjsturgis]

@MaiHarinder Have you heard John McCutcheon's wonderful story about singing "Joe Hill" at the Sydney Opera House? It's on his CD Untold. Might be online somewhere.

[morgainari]

@arbeitsscheuer It may or may not be on youtube (what?! There are things NOT on youtube?!), but try looking for Utah Phillips singing it.

[grndlmagic]

Phil Ochs inspires me still!!!

[Bigdancingchopsticks]

I still say I love BB's voice. But the selling of 30$ concert t-shirts makes the whole thing a joke.

[yeryopl]

The struggle carries on

[philochsmemory]

Thanks for posting this - when fashions changed after Vietnam war, someone like Phil was unwanted, while

Dylan (famous for being "not there") and others metamorphized into

something marketable. It is often claimed that Phil's lyrics are dated, but now those

comments seem so ridiculous "I'm not Marching anymore" dated?

[benmcfee]

@philochsmemory

Or, "The War Is Over" or "I'm Going to Say It Now," or "Cops of the World," or "When I'm Gone" or "Changes" or hell, even "That's What I Want to Hear" That last one rings especially true in light of the recent economic crisis. Jason Rietman prefers to make movies that teach us to swallow our pride, accept the bankruptcy, and move on, and gets oscar nominations for it. Phil Ochs, however would've never stood for that. He'd tell us to get mad and fight back. Definitely not dated

[11xzxzxz]

@benmcfee Hey you name a lot of great Phil Ochs songs.. don't forget "The Marines Have Landed..."

or Flower Lady or Cross My Heart or Celia. I also like Pretty Smart on my Part .. and the Hills of W. Virginia and Heat of the Summer. I never liked the draft dodgers rag so they kicked me out of the Phil Ochs memorial .. club.

[WVliberty]

@11xzxzxz Hills of W. Virginia is a good one, old school musicians had more in common with common people unlike musicians of today, woody guthrie,leadbelly,johnny cash,hank sr,hasil adkins who was exploited by record comapnies to name a few

[11xzxzxz]

@WVliberty Yeah I love the song Hills of W Virginia but never been to.. Hey I noticed where you live and  I have not been .. but what are things really like In Appalachia ? Are things improving? It's held up as the poster boy for poverty and all that sort of thing and I was just wondering what it is really like as a whole because it's hard to know unless you live there?

[WVliberty]

@11xzxzxz idk i guess its better than it was 80 90 years ago, but so many people are hooked predcription drugs now, there still exploitation by outside corporations, mountains nerar where my famil is from are being covered in windmills and some mountains look like quilts now because of this piece of shit developer, ruining mountains to sell lots to the rich of DC,Maryland and Virginia

[11xzxzxz]

@WVliberty Well sounds still bad but hope you are doing OK. They have a university there .. did you go?

[WVliberty]

@11xzxzxz theres one in morgantown my sister goes there, im going back to school next fall, i have temp job at a coal plant now and i help on my families farm,

[11xzxzxz]

@WVliberty Wow you have some pretty hard-rocking music that is much better than most on YT.

[WVliberty]

@11xzxzxz yea hasil adkins started punk, hes from near where i was born, except im from the oil fields aand hes from the coal fields south of where i was born

[WVliberty]

@11xzxzxz thanks by the way

[Seasass]

@philochsmemory "I'm Not Marching ..." is only dated in the sense that it needs an extra verse or two. Something like, "For I marched in Kuwait to keep our oil supply safe / And I gave old Saddam Hussein what for / After three tours in Afghanistan, they seem to want me back again / but I ain't marchin' anymore" ... ?