Tom Paxton "Phil" (Tribute to Phil Ochs), early 1980s TV

[@libertyann439]

I'm a bit young to have known of Phil in his lifetime, but discovering him has enriched my life.

[@BazookaTooth707]

Same here.

[@RobHollanderMusic]

Phil and Tom are probably the two most underrated singer/songwriters of their generation.

[@icaruscrane8846]

Part of the reason is that Phil was a 'peacenik', and needed to be suppresses by those on power.

[@geo3573]

Special man lost in a strange time in our history.

[@comeonyouyellows]

The utter raw emotion pouring out of Tom Paxton in this song is really quite something to witness. RIP Phil

[@LordGroundhog]

I remember Phil and Tom from those days in the Village. They were 2 bright stars in my folk-singing firmament. To my mind it's especially fitting for Tom to do this tribute. Too few people remember how great Ochs really was, and we didn't get to see the best of him.

[@comeonyouyellows]

I loved this song before having lost a friend last year. Now I fully understand feelings of losing someone so close.

[@punagurl8]

Of all the tributes at Phil Ochs’ Memorial, this is the one that stands out to me above all the other outstanding tributes to Phil. It’s just so personal, heartfelt, and heartbreaking.

[@Billy2W55]

Our group brought Phil in to play in Moncton, NB, Canada many years ago. We lost more than $1,000 on the concert. Best loss of money ever. His songs crop up in my head once or twice a week ... melodic and meaningful.

[@Oops3Sue]

I met Ochs in Berlin (of all places), and looked so glad to see an American! He invited me to where he was playing, but I of course got lost. He looked so sad and depressed, I felt bad leaving him there.Did I know who Phil Ochs was" "Of course" I said, and he smiled. That was the only smile I saw. He seemed so lost. When I head he had commited suicide, I could only collapse in agony and guilt. It's truly fitting, yes, that Tom do this. We loved them all so :Phil, Tom, PP&M.

[@AkinNath]

Susan Lang thank you for that.

[@accountisdisabled]

I second that, thank you.

[@averayugen1371]

Susan heres my Phil Ochs story..I was traveling from Ontario to Vancouver in the summer of 1970 and Phil was in Syracuse before I left and Phil was In Ottowa a day before we arrived and then Phil was in Vancouver after I did something that now has 2 songs written about it, and then Phil sang at a Vancouver city park festival (for July 4?) and now so far in 2022, not one person in the universe seems to have been there too. I keep asking though.

[@libertyann439]

I hear he was attacked by someone who damaged his vocal chords. I wonder if this might have sent him over the edge. I know I would be heartbroken if I couldn't sing anymore.

[@nyxaerospace4319]

“Fortune turned its back on you”

[@proedithd]

Some of the earliest songs I learned on my first guitar were by Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton. I still play them 'til this day. "When I'm gone" is one of my favorites. I played "Last thing on my mind" by Tom at my mom's funeral service by her request. Folk music is deeply ingrained in my life and always will be.

[@AkinNath]

Hold on to that, friend

[@howard5992]

Beautiful. He interweaves several of Phil's lyrics into this song.

[@mariondiabolito4054]

This is just a heartbreaking song.

[@SirDcitykity]

sorrow is too weak a word

[@padraiggillon]

Miss you forever, Phil. Gone, gone, gone.

[@TheEntertainmentguro]

I absolutely love phil ochs and this song is so full of emotion

[@kathleenkeenan6182]

I was to see Phil Ochs in 1976 in a small Boston club. I remember it was in a basement but when we arrived the 40 miles to Boston , it was canceled. Phil died soon after, very disappointed and sadden by the news !

[@TheEscape2012]

I can not accept the fact that Phil Ochs went so young...he is my absolut favourite folk singer. Why didnt he made a much bigger impact on this world?

[@ulpana]

Lamentably in American English we started to substitute the word "impact" as a verb for the words "affect" and "effect." There are good editors and loads of good teachers to correct us when we slip into that now common if less subtle usage. A generation after I had such a conscientious teacher as an undergrad, I saw the resistance to subbing the word "utilize" for "use" had dissipated and more jargonized blather was crowding out even simple language 'tween friends. Subtlety isn't reinforced by our Pay2Play corporate-captured mass media, where dramatic or psychotic conflict is prized and rewarded while the sublime artists slink off during commercials or underwriting disclosures to their tiny gallery and garage-scaled audiences of fellow seekers after an intimacy that only manifests when & where language ends...and those trying to bring clarity into focus only to find that occurs when our eyes are closed and ears with mind's eyes are opened. Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of Atonement Seekers) Media Discussion List\Looksee

[@icaruscrane8846]

Deep State?

[@jimaroo100]

Two of my favorites... Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton....None of those folk era guys moves my heart like Tom Paxton. He was ans is the real thing. This is a treasure to see...thank you.

[@richardstutman238]

Thank you, Tom

[@sternstaubigeKathi]

Phil Ochs was one of me most important men. I never will forget him. Maybe it sounds curious, but he was and is the one most important man of my life. thank you

[@minnieg.4835]

Since I was 9 years old. It never stopped. And I'm "elderly".

[@Hi_Brien]

The there but for fortune based line hits real hard. He was dead long before I knew him, I guess that's true of too many... but much of my early years built a personality that lead me to his music, and it was a million nice listens.

[@icaruscrane8846]

Thank you, Tom. This still rings true.

[@jamescarey]

Was just discussing Phil and his music with friends, and one of them sent this link. Very moving and apt tribute to a great protest singer/songwriter, the best in my opinion. So sad his life ended so young, especially in the way it did. Listen to When I'm Gone and cry, I did.

[@Ducksoup67]

I didn't discover Phil Ochs until I was in my 40s - I bought a Vietnam Era mix CD and a couple of his songs were on it. I was vaguely familiar with one of them, but when I played that CD over and over - I knew I had to learn more about this guy. I did. And my daughters did as well. When they were just 5 or 6 they'd sing along while I'd butcher some Ochs' tunes on my guitar. They loved When I'm Gone, Ringing of Revolution and Draft Dodger Rag. Phil you're loved and your memory carries on in our youth. ☮☮🕊☮☮

[@paullavan6098]

In my heart every day, Phil. Always will be.

[@pluckerpick]

Very underrated contributor to the folk scene of the 80"s - brings back many memories of when I was 17 listening to his songs over and over again.

[@davidanthonystone5165]

Tom Paxton is one of the most versatile songwriters ever ----ballads children songs protest ------bless you Tom

[@samvertongen6363]

I'm crying. This is a very moving tribute to Phil Ochs. Tom Paxton is so underrated.

[@ulpana]

Pogo Paxton wasn't so underrated during 60's, 70's only slipping from radio in the disco 80's. Before that he was more accepted on show biz terms (thanks to his record label, the homegrown but L.A. blown Elektra), although he never wavered from performing from his core self. I'm just regretful (apologies to Tom Rush who declares "No Regrets" most plaintively on subject of relationships) that Phil's core audience didn't grow and pick up more young'uns in the coming generations cuz his songwriting and recordings keep getting better. His sense of the absurd clearly has seen him through the pain he has confronted in many of his best songs, like this one (and "Biko") after his 'hoodie compadre over cards at Dave Van Ronk and Teri Thal's crash pad, those argumentative caring soul brothers and sisters, while Phil finally felt he had to check out... Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of Atonement Seekers) Media Discussion List\Looksee

[@let-the-sun-shine-in7293]

I just wish this argumentative fellow, one of my all time favorite singers, had found that grace. Phil I wish you were here.

[@margaretross9150]

An eloquent tribute to a brilliant man. Rarely a day passes that I don't hear his songs in my head.

[@heinrichvon]

A nice tribute from one wonderful songwriter to another wonderful songwriter... and human being!

[@SteveRamm]

Today is the anniversary I had the pleasure of seeing him at least 5 times here in Philly.

[@chautauqua14781]

What a painful and strong tribute. Thank you Tom.

[@Tony-dk9sx]

Wonderful tribute. RIP Phil.

[@keathgraham2742]

Harry Chapin has a tribute song for Phil Ochs also, entitled "The Parade's Still Passing By."

[@jong0000]

a wonderful song...

[@nancydraeger1687]

The parade's still passing by

[@chrispdorf]

Harry seemed to criticize Ochs for killing himself in a lyric. What about mental illness?

[@ulpana]

@@chrispdorf Any sentient human that doesn't phase into and out of mental illness, is to paraphrase Miles Davis on Depression: "not payin' attention." Sometimes an illness overtakes one and sometimes like Hamlet and biblical mytho-poetic King David one has to feign madness (either to themselves or to others) to keep one's sanity. So if blessed Harry Chapin allowed himself to write a line expressing a fleeting feeling one can get when one loses a brother or sister in arms or in harm's way that can absorb no more pain and opts out, we who are left behind in lives that can feel like a cruel bardo that never ends will need to lash out and "shadow box" with our departed soul brother\sister on-binary... Tio Mitchito\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of Atonement Seekers) Media Discussion List\Looksee

[@kingofthebingogame]

@@ulpana What does that last paragraph mean?

[@wbworkout]

Amazing Song, I was on another planet in that time period and unaware to Phil's music and Tom's as well. Hugh gaps in my life. One can really isolated sometimes and not even know it.

[@stevenaegele5547]

That morning I woke up, usually I walked to Central Square to the Redline, but I was late, the bus pulled up, I got on, standing across from a woman who looked at me and said “ Phil’s gone.” Neither one of us said another word, and I never saw her again.

[@aasmundolsen]

listening to this i understand Mr Paxton suffered a big loss ..

[@DavidBookbinder]

Thank you, KZbin, for putting this in my feed. I knew Phil slightly toward the end of his life. I had seen him several times at antiwar rallies and heard he was singing at Folk City in the village. He showed up drunk, sang a few songs, and then presented Sammy Walker, a protege, who was terrific. Phil had been a hero and it was heartbreaking to see him this way. Shortly after that Phil opened a new music club/bar in SoHo. He threw beer mugs through the windows that same night. I did an article on Sammy Walker, through him met the Broadside Magazine folks, Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen, and through them met Phil a few times when he showed up at their house disoriented and looking for breakfast after having slept in Central Park for several days. My impression was that he suffered from untreated bipolar disorder, then called manic-depressive disorder. Tragic is too mild a word for his death.

[@jenniferm4985]

He was a phenomenal guitar player and songwriter, well beyond my wildest dreams. But I play two of his, just to keep them alive. Wish he had stayed around a little longer. So grateful Tom is around writing songs about these troubled times, but dammit I wish Phil was here to add his voice to the chorus. Miss him.

[@verbaud]

Dear tender Phil. In my heart forever. Punched a hole in the wall when you left. Then they tore that house down.

[@zettl2010]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR POSTING THIS VIDEO! It is a fine tribute for a Phil Ochs. RIP

[@Treebard]

Wow. Thank you Tom for this amazing song. I never heard it before. I've been a fan of Phil's for many years.

[@ralphdavis9670]

Christopher Hitchens once said that it was easy to be a Dylan fan, much harder to be a Phil Ochs fan. Hitchens was right, as usual.

[@ralphdavis9670]

Thank you, Tom Paxton.

[@bilbocroft1]

You don't have to be dead to have a tribute song written, just appreciation.

[@tonybenn1000]

Thanks Tom, love ya.

[@donaldzahnke4300]

I was a huge. fan. of phil

[@Awesomenoob25]

Damn ninjas cutting onions...

[@susanhansen5383]

I believe Phil's death had as much to do with his clinical depression as with having been beaten in a robbery which affected his voice. Perhaps there are other reasons as well -- it's rarely One Thing which causes someone to take his own life. And how can Bumper 776 say Phil wasted his life? His songs taught us so much. That's not a waste of talent.

[@ralphdavis9670]

His life was no waste at all.

[@icaruscrane8846]

As the song 'Joe Hill' points out, Phil is still alive, and more so every day.

[@tonybenn1000]

ITs true, The Good Die Young, Rest in Peace Phil, Rest in Peace.

[@msandisue]

@allenshepard Mine too - I sat with my guitar and his albums and learned all the songs... he was bipolar but not on medication and that unfortunately was both his genius and his downfall. I hope he found peace.

[@lumaz71]

goosebumps.

[@Folkadelic]

Thank you for posting this.

[@bethcurtin5449]

I went to as many concerts as I could in NYC to hear Phil. Luckily I had a boyfriend named Charlie who escorted me and tolerated my eclectic music tastes. I believe the music died the day Phil died,

[@Ducksoup67]

His Ramblin' pal, he's dead and gone...

[@whiskey6actual]

there was and will be no better song than Rehersals for Retirement -- " I tell my daughter it doesn't matter "

[@anythinglovecanbuy]

If I'm not mistaken, this is actually from "Tom Paxton in Concert", 1980, Shanachie Records, released on VHS - the only video release so far by Tom. Would love to have a copy! Wonder if it will ever be reissued digitally?

[@nbenefiel]

Wasn't that a time?

[@Perfectkid197]

what is the game to this song or where to get it, if its on an ablum or something

[@HelterSkelter07]

is somebody know the chords?

[@rburns2548]

Wonderful tribute. Was it really suicide Some have doubts

[@Awesomenoob25]

it's extremely likely, he had depression and bipolar disorder, he smoked and drank heavily and his songs towards the end got darker and darker and often mentioning or hinting to suicide, and his friends got more and more worried about him as he spiraled out of control and he told a couple of friends the week before his death that he was going to finally commit suicide. so I think whoever has doubts might be at least a bit paranoid. although the government did contribute in an indirect way to his suicide.

[@marchecker1160]

I have spoken at length with Sonny Ochs. He suffered from depression, as did his father. She said that she wished he had listened more to family and friends.

[@rosshurst2845]

18,000 rallies?! How is that possible?

[@patriciatonkin8731]

It is in the tradition of other artists to fabricate.

[@elliottsiegel]

Hyperbole

[@avijitsharker8340]

plz anyone can give me the lyrics of that song ? sometimes this song makes me feeling good!. Want to cover this great song.

[@paullavan785]

Who paid them to attack Phil? I'll give you a clue - it has something to do with the initials F...B...I. I love you, Phil, and I always will.

[@Awesomenoob25]

although I do not deny the possibility, it was unlikely they were hired to attack bill as the government did not think him as enough of a threat to have him attacked and at that point he was already at a decline and if the government did hire people to attack him they would do it to kill or send a message, they did neither. they attacked him until he was unconscious and stole his wallet and watch. Phil believed it was the government but he had a lot of mental problems at that point so it is unsurprising he would have drawn some semi-wild conclusions. P.S it would have been the CIA, the FBI only deal with internal matters, but the CIA deals with foreign affairs, since he was visiting other countries at the time (Africa at the time of the attack) the FBI would not have handled it, the CIA would have.

[@patriciatonkin8731]

@@Awesomenoob25 Which bill are you talking about?

[@icaruscrane8846]

Or, C..I..A?

[@paulv6741]

wow... harsh. I think his suicide had more to do with the fact that the overwhelming willingness to remain ignorant that most americans continue to have left his music falling on mostly deaf ears... and what suppressing marxist regime are you referring to? Allende's Chile? Look at what we put in its place. suppression at its worst. And let neither of us ever claim we know a thing about why he committed suicide.

[@calebcar]

Yes. My ears became deaf to his voice as I tried to adapt to a new and darker decade. Lost a chunk of my soul in suppressing that voice. Now my children face a dark world I did little to prevent.

[@oppothumbs1]

THIS IS not as good as any Phil Och's song. SMH.

[@margaretross9150]

It's a heartfelt tribute, not a competition.