Another Age - Phil Ochs

There's a man walking round the island with a snake cane
He picked it up in Thailand from a hurricane
And you know he's not gonna go there
He's been one time too long
Now all the gods are gone (Though the game is gone)
The younger boys are drowning in a shallow sea
The night belongs to snipers in palm trees
And their sabres flashed like lightning
In the charge of the last brigade
They must have been afraid
Soldiers have their sorrow
The wretched have their rage
Pray for the aged it's the dawn of another age
Of another age
Of another age
Of another age

The blood running down the blackboard on a blank(?) screen (in a thin stream?)
The convicts shake their cages of a bad dream
And they'll coach you in the classroom that it cannot happen here
But it has happened here
I remember nothing that I memorized (The cockroach cops are crawling on a battle ground)
I got my education from a black eye (The shields are in the shadows, it's a college town)
And they'll teach you law and order
If you dare to raise your hand
Spare the glove and spoil the man
Soldiers have their sorrow
The wretched have their rage
Pray for the aged
It's the dawn of another age
Of another age
Of another age

Thomas Paine and Jesse James are old friends
And Robin Hood is riding on the road again
We were born in a revolution and we died in a wasted war
It's gone that way before
The dogs are chasing chicken bones across the lawn
If that was an election, I'm a Viet Cong
So I pledge allegiance against the flag
and the (fall,flaw,cloth?) for which it stands
I'll raise/raze it if I can (Pledge allegiance to the land)
Soldier have their sorrow
The wretched have their rage
Pray for the aged
It's the dawn of another age
Of another age
Of another age
Of another age
Of another age

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Rehearsals
• for
• Retirement
• Another
• Age
• Phil
• Ochs
• 1969
• Folksinger
• Country
• Folk
• Rock
• Americana

[elusiverobertdenby]

Awesome, awesome song. Between this song and "Pretty Smart On My Part," Phil was anticipating punk.

[C130C5a]

@3ETERNALNOW -I understand why you might feel this way but it does not help those of us with mental illnesses to blame the CIA for our condition. The tragedy of Phil Och's was not that the US government thought ill of him. It was that his friends abandoned him when he fell into a manic episode in 1974 and began acting in a way that his friends did not understand. They found him offensive when they should have been more understanding. They left him to die of depression, then mourned his death.

[Krutponken]

@comotevue1 That's awesome, Phil is amazingly great!

[comotevue1]

I've Never heard of Phil Ochs till last night when I stopped on PBS while channel surfing and watched a Documentory about his music and standing up for what he believed in. I am now a Phil Ochs Fan.

[FogBoz]

I was a kid when I listened to the rehesal for retirement. I think this was Phils finer moments,What a shame to loose history and a giver of the truth of what our country had become. If he was alive to see the outcome and the damage that has been inflicted upon our society today, he may have change the tune for a alot more love and stopping hate. I love America, I hate foreiners

[RossM3838]

People who think that the CIA can do anything are paranoid. They didn't care about Phil Ochs. Ochs had serious psychiatric problems which went untreated. This was a tragedy.

[paullavan2011]

Always my hero, Phil. God bless you.

[OMGDeBest]

Wow, such interesting music... Phil was so misunderstood, a one of a kind musical genius with such powerful messages. - RIP

[11xzxzxz]

Sadly they stared & sank in their chairs and searched for a comforting notion.

And the rich silver walls looked ready to fall As they shook in doubtful devotion.

The ice cubes would clink as they freshened their drinks, wet their minds in bitter emotion. And they talked about the ringing of revolution!

Down on our knees we're begging u please, sorry for the way you were driven. There's no need to taunt just take what you want, & we'll make amends, if we're living.. BUT ONLY THE DEAD R FORGIVEN.

[11xzxzxz]

@C130C5a exactly, unfortunately precise.

[VJ254]

All my life I was looking for a singer/song writer, who I finally decided did not exist, then a friend intoduced me to Phil Ochs.

[superhoga]

@C130C5a

Doesn't mean the CIA didn't mess him up. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean no one is after you.