Phil Ochs

Phil Ochs was under-appreciated during his lifetime but, over 30 years since his death, he is still cited by many as being an influence on their music, their politics and their careers. A contemporary and friend of Bob Dylan, although Phil never achieved the commercial success he craved, he led a generation through probably the most politically turbulent decade the world has ever seen.

Ultimately, Phil's internal turbulence proved too much for him, but he left us with a legacy of songs which are as relevant today, as they were when they were first written, 45 years ago.

For more information about Phil, please read the biography.

Phil Ochs Inspires Us Still

Home

All The News That's Fit To Sing

  • Print

 

All The News That's Fit to Sing was Phil Ochs' first official album. Recorded in 1964 for Elektra Records, it was full of many elements that would come back throughout his career. It was the album that defined his "singing journalist" phase, strewn with songs whose roots were allegedly pulled from Newsweek magazine. It is one in a long line of folk albums used to tell stories about everyday struggles and hardships.

Among these stories was that of William Worthy, an American journalist who traveled to Cuba in spite of an embargo on the country who was forbidden to return to the United States. Civil rights figures Medgar Evers and Emmett Till were lionized in "Too Many Martyrs" (alternatively known as "The Ballad of Medgar Evers".) Two "talking blues" using the melody to the old folk song "John Hardy" jabbed sarcastic at Vietnam and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Even a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Bells", was set to music. "The Thresher" was an ode to the sinking of the nuclear-powered American submarine, the USS Thresher: "And she'll always run silent/And she'll always run deep." Also included was one of Ochs' widest known songs, "Power and the Glory".

The title references the motto of The New York Times, "All the news that's fit to print." The Times was founded by Adolph Ochs (no relation to Phil), so this may be a joke or allusion to the coincidence.

Track listing

 

All songs by Phil Ochs unless otherwise noted.

  1. "One More Parade" (P. Ochs, B. Gibson) – 3:00
  2. "The Thresher" – 2:50
  3. "Talkin' Vietnam" – 3:38
  4. "Lou Marsh" – 4:04
  5. "Power and the Glory" – 2:15
  6. "Celia"– 3:08)
  7. "The Bells" (E. A. Poe, with musical adaptation by P. Ochs) – 3:00
  8. "Automation Song" – 2:08
  9. "Ballad of William Worthy" – 2:15
  10. "Knock on the Door" – 2:47
  11. "Talkin' Cuban Crisis" – 2:40
  12. "Bound for Glory" – 3:15
  13. "Too Many Martyrs" (Ochs, Gibson) – 2:46
  14. "What's That I Hear" – 2:00
  15. "Bullets of Mexico" – 2:34 - bonus track on CD

Participants

  • Phil Ochs – first guitar, vocals
  • Danny Kalb – second guitar
  • John Sebastian – harmonica on "Bound For Glory" (uncredited)
  • Paul A. Rothchild – recording director
  • Jac Holzman – production supervisor