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There is an urgent need for Americans to look deeply into themselves and their actions, and musical poetry is perhaps the most effective mirror available. Every newspaper headline is a potential song.

Phil Ochs

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Phil Ochs
Age: 35 †
Born: 1940
Born: December 19
Died: 1976
Died: April 9
Guitarist
Poet
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Songwriter
El Paso
Texas
Philip David Ochs
Need
Musical
Effective
Needs
Americans
Mirror
Every
Poetry
Newspapers
Perhaps
Mirrors
Song
Deeply
Headline
Action
Potential
Headlines
Look
Actions
Urgent
Looks
Available
Newspaper

More quotes by Phil Ochs

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The only possibility in the United States for a humane society would be a revolution with Elvis Presley as leader.
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I like Hitler, jolly jolly Hitler.
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America is two Mack trucks colliding on a superhighway because all the drivers are on amphetamines.
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Call it peace or call it treason / call it love or call it reason / but I ain't marching anymore
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Oh you tell me that there's danger to the land you call your own, And you watch them build the war machine right beside your home, And you tell me that you're ready to go marchin' to the war, I know you're set for fighting, but what are you fighting for?
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Is there anybody here who thinks that following the orders takes away the blame Is there anybody here who wouldn't mind a murder by another name?
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A protest song is a song that's so specific that you cannot mistake it for bullshit.
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Love is a rainbow curving down from the sky, falling crystals of color, shades of warm that never die.
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I write all my own songs and they are just simple melodies with a lot of lyrics. They usually have to do with current events and what is going on in the news. You can call them topical songs, songs about the news, and then developing into more philosophical songs later.
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The fortunes of the entire world may well ride on the ability of young Americans to face the responsibilities of an old America gone mad.
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Maybe we should raise our voices, ask somebody why. But demonstrations are a drag, besides we're much too high.
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The people who carried the burden, who marked in strange field in search of an answer, and ended their journeys an unwilling hero.
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Show me a country where the bombs had to fallShow me the ruins of buildings so tallAnd I'll show you a young landWith many reasons whyThere but for fortune, go you or IYou or I.
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One legged veterans will greet the dawn, and they're whistling marches as they mow the lawn, and the gargoyles on sit and grieve.
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In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.
Phil Ochs
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One good song with a message can bring a point more deeply to more people than a thousand rallies.
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It is wrong to expect a reward for your struggles. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life.
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In the state of Mississippi, Many Years Ago, a boy of 14 years got a taste of Southern law.
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I'm gonna give all I've got to giveCross my heart, and I hope to live.
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In the courtroom, watch the balance of the scalesIf the price is right, there's time for more appealsThe strings are pulled, the switch is stayedThe finest lawyers fees are paidAnd a rich man never died upon the chair
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