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about
Ochs was arguably the most passionate voice of the 1960's civil right's music movement starting with his breakout anti-Vietnam war anthem, "I Ain't Marching Anymore". Regrettably, Ochs was relegated to living in the shadow of other songwriters of the time like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, whose lyrical work, in my opinion, is brutally put to shame by Ochs' sizzlingly specific, coarse and inventive word play and turn of phrase, often drawing his material and song titles directly from newspaper articles in an attempt to reveal that all too unfortunately, "All the News is Fit to Sing". Musically, his melodies and countermelodies sweep the scale voraciously, as too, his vocal range.
As the war came to end Phil began suffering with schizophrenia, manic depression and subsequently, alcoholism. His psychosis intensified. Phil Ochs took his own life at the end of his belt against the back of his bathroom door leaving behind a 3 year old daughter among many friends and other family.
Before his tragic end at the height of his mania, Phil claimed that "Phil Ochs no longer exists. He passed away a long time ago. All you're seeing here is an illusion- an unimportant illusion." He gave himself a new persona- "John Butler Train".
It is popular belief that he assembled the name borrowing from John F. Kennedy and William Butler Yeats, some of his dearest idols.
It would be an understatement to say the mysteries of mental illness are confounding and infuriating as we watch the inflicted loved ones in our lives literally disintegrate before our eyes. It would also be an understatement to say Phil Ochs was one of the finest poets, prophets, polemicists, and musicians the madness of the post-war generation zeitgeist produced. His existence and music were conjured into reality by age-old Necessity; the necessity to express, protest, invigorate and always to bring people together rather than apart.
Below, please find, a new song I've recorded about Phil, his illness and the impact of his poetry entitled, "John Butler Train".
April 9th 2017
Paul Kmiec
lyrics
He asked around for nickels,
He asked around for dimes.
Loose change in his pockets
A graver change in mind
What's that I hear now- ringing in my brain?
Is it revolution – or is it just the rain?
I never knew you
but I felt you all the same.
And now you leave us
Vanished in the rain
The precipitation calling out your name ...... "John Butler Train"
We didn't want to leave you
and you are not to blame.
Something had to take you
What, we can't explain
But damn it to it's name
and you vanish with the rain...... "John Butler Train"
credits
released April 9, 2017
Music and Lyrics by Paul Kmiec
Guitar and vocals by Paul Kmiec
Recording Engineer Kage O'Malley
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