True Protest is Beauty
Phil Ochs, Process Theology, and
the concept of Ihsan in Islam
OCHS, PHILLIP DAVID (1940–1976)
Phillip David Ochs, singer and songwriter, was born on December 19, 1940, in El Paso. He was the son of Jacob "Jack" Ochs and Gertrude Ochs. Like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, Ochs was one of the most successful singer–songwriters to arise on the New York City folk-music scene in the 1960s. Plagued with depression throughout his short life, he wrote politically-charged songs that became protest anthems of that decade. He strongly opposed the war in Vietnam and supported supported the civil rights movement -- two themes that dominated much of his music. " (Bradley Shreve, Texas State Historical Association. Click here for more.) |
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You must protest, you must protest; it is your diamond duty; ah but in such an ugly time the true protest is beauty.
* One good song with a message can bring a point more deeply to more people than a thousand rallies. * Show me a prison, show me a jail, show me a prisoner whose face has grown pale, And I'll show you a young man, with many reasons why. There but for fortune, go you or I. * All my days won't be dances of delight when I'm gone And the sands will be shifting from my sight when I'm gone Can't add my name into the fight while I'm gone So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here * It's always the old to lead us to the war; it's always the young to fall Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun. Tell me is it worth it all? For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky; set off the mighty mushroom roar. When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning that I ain't marchin' anymore. |