I
subscribe to “No More Songs”, a wonderful Phil Ochs memorabilia
tribute web site that has an email discussion list. The current email
from “No More Songs” features an article about the Folkways
Collection, which is now housed at the Smithsonian Museum in
Washington, DC. The Spring/Summer 2013 cover story at Smithsonian
Folkways on-line has an article by Ronald D Cohen titled “PeaceSongs of the 1960's”. It gives well-deserved
recognition to Phil Ochs. Hit the photo to link to the story!
Attention
Phil Ochs fans! An interactive web site has been created called No More Songs: A Phil Ochs Collection. No More Songs features a number
of free downloads of songs, photos, articles, and interviews. Vic
Sadot and Rich Lang interview of Phil Ochs from May 1973 is a free download
there under "Phil" and his 2005 full band release of the song is a free download under "Tribute Songs to Phil Ochs"!
The
“Peace Songs of the 1960's” article features an interview with
Pete Seeger about his peace songs; a slide show of anti-war photos
that has several of a very young Phil Ochs playing at Broadside
concerts; and there are links to the various Folkways albums that are
fortunately being preserved and celebrated as part of American
culture. For example, there is a link to “The Best of Broadside 1962-1988: Anthems of the American Underground from the Pages of Broadside Magazine”.
“Peace Songs of the 1960s” by Ronald D. Cohen on the Smithsonian Folkways
Collection: “Sis
Cunningham and Gordon Friesen launched “Broadside: The National
Topical Song Magazine” in 1962, which soon featured numerous peace
songs. The third issue included Bob Dylan’s “I Will Not Go Down
Under the Ground,” referring to bomb shelters, and was recorded by
Happy Traum, backed by Dylan, for the album Broadside Ballads Vol. 1
(1963). Potential devastation from atomic weapons, rather than the
looming Vietnam War, mostly occupied the minds of songwriters at this
point. Dylan’s creative and powerful songs caught the imaginations
of a growing number of performers and fans, although their political
messages were often oblique. His 1963 “Go Away You Bomb,”
however, while unknown at the time, was more direct. Dylan’s
“Blowin’ in the Wind” appeared on the cover ofBroadside #6, in
May 1962, with its rather abstract, convoluted peace message. His
1963 Columbia album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan included not only
“Blowin’ in the Wind” but also more pointed peace songs, such
as“Masters of War” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” Dylan
would soon stray from writing about peace, but would quickly be
replaced by the prolific Phil Ochs, who had arrived in New York from
Ohio and quickly joined the Broadside collective. The October 1962
issue opened with Ochs’s critical “Vietnam,” an early
indication that things were definitely heating up in Southeast Asia,
despite President John F. Kennedy’s disclaimers. In addition to
publishing topical songs, with the assistance of Folkways Records’
Moses Asch, Broadside issued the first of its Broadside Ballads
albums in 1963, which included Matt McGinn’s “Go Limp” (a.k.a.
“The Young CND”), about the British antinuclear movement, Mark
Spoelstra’s “The Civil Defense Sign,” and Dylan’s “Let Me
Die In My Footsteps.” During the Newport Folk Festival in July 1964
Ochs performed his hard hitting “Draft Dodger Rag” as well as
“Talking Vietnam Blues.” This
essay is drawn from Study
War No More: Peace Songs in American History, 1900-1970 (East
Windsor, NJ: CAMSCO Music, forthcoming).
Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen photo at Smithsonian Folkways
I
met and interviewed Phil Ochs in May 1973, and these days that
interview is a free download at “No More Songs”. That interview
is available for free under “Phil” in the Downloads section at
www.nomoresongs.com
In
1976 in a spell of deep depression, Phil committed suicide at the home of his
sister Sonny Ochs in Far Rockaway, New York. Sometime in 1977 I wrote a tribute song to Phil titled "Broadside Balladeer" because he had over 70 songs published in the pages of Broadside Magazine, which has been archived on line. The tribute was recorded with the Crazy Planet Band in 1985. But it was
not released until 2005 on a "Best of Vic Sadot Songs" CD
titled "Broadsides & Retrospectives", which is also
available at CD Baby.
My
brother Joe Sadot and I had some songs published in Broadside Magazine. I got to know Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen during a
few years of visits to Greenwich Village and to their apartment. In
the later years of Broadside I was a editor/writer. In 1982 Gordon
Friesen asked me to review and write an article about the more than
400 pages of FBI files that Gordon had obtained through the Freedom
of Information Act after Phil's death by suicide in 1976.
PHIL OCHS FBI FILE 1982 article was re-published at the Official Vic Sadot Website in 2011.
Photo from Sept 1987 Broadside Magazine: Sis Cunningham and Vic Sadot
I
was delighted to see Sis Cunningham featured in an "Artist
Spotlight” at Smithsonian Folkways along with her “Sundown” LP
preserved for listening on line at the Smithsonian Folkways site!
Free
SoundCloud mp3 of the 2011 acoustic version of Vic Sadot's tribute song to Phil Ochs, Broadside
Balladeer, recorded with Eric Golub on violin for the “9/11 Truth & Justice Songs” CD released on the 10th anniversary of
the event on 9/11/11.
YouTube Video by Dean A. Banks for
Vic Sadot's Crazy Planet Band 2005 release of Broadside Balladeer
Discover lots of Phil Ochs songs at LastFM Interactive Radio website: http://www.last.fm/music/Phil+Ochs
Note: Blues folk singer Lucinda Williams, who is still going strong, had her first two albums released on Folkways in 1979 and 1981 and some of her early songs were published in Broadside Magazine.
The official website of Vic Sadot is www.vicsadot.com
