No More Songs [Hobart] - Phil Ochs: The music & story

No More Songs

The music and story of the legendary Phil Ochs
featuring The Small Circle of Friends Band

Phil Ochs (1940–1976) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and political activist best known for his sharp, witty protest songs about war, civil rights, political corruption, and social justice; a true activist-musician who described himself as a “singing journalist”. He devoted his short life to music and radical protest and many of Ochs’ songs remain in the common vocabulary and repertoire of today’s folk singers. Despite this, even in North America this vital, powerful, gifted songwriter of sonorous voice is losing the recognition he deserves.

Phil was a prolific songwriter – Bob Dylan said "I just can't keep up with Phil—and he's gettin' better and better", but sadly the wider acclaim that his fellow folk singers found escaped him. Despite this, Ochs remained deeply committed to writing songs about specific political events and injustices. In the early 1970s, he organised large-scale benefit concerts that would serve as the model for the later No Nukes and Live Aid events.

Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Gibson and Merle Haggard were some of Ochs’ major influences and he in turn will certainly have inspired later generations of folk and protest singers with his songs. It's not unusual for songs many decades old to still sound as if they are a commentary on current politics, and Phil's are no exception.

In February 2009, Ochs was posthumously awarded the Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Award by the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance

Ochs believed that songs could do more than entertain: they could tell the truth, challenge authority, and inspire people to act. His songs include: “I Ain't Marching Anymore” (1965) - an anti-war anthem told from the perspective of a soldier who has grown weary of fighting, “There but for Fortune” (1964) — a compassionate song about how easily anyone can fall into poverty, imprisonment, or misfortune and “Love Me, I'm a Liberal” (1966) — a satirical attack on people who profess progressive values but resist meaningful change. Sixty years on and those topics are still current.

Outside of a Small Circle of Friends is a Phil Ochs song for which the presenting band (including Peter Hicks, Maurie Mulheron, Dave O'Neill and a number of well-known Tasmanian folk artists) is named. Join us; let’s have a large circle of friends and comrades.

No More Songs - The music and story of the legendary Phil Ochs.
Friday 5th Feb, Fern Tree Tavern, 7:30pm

A Folk Federation of Tasmania Inc. event

See also: <Launceston gig>