Phil Ochs
WBAI radio, New York NY
1965


01 Song Of My Returning
02 White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land
03 Changes
04 Crucifixion
05 Cannons Of Christianity
06 Joe Hill
07 City Boy
08 Positively (not) 4th Street
09 Power And The Glory
10 Morning (experiment in jazz chords)
11 Morning


CDR -EAC-> *.wav -FLACFronted-> *.flac

"And they cry how they miss him, year after year..." The highlight of Phil's WBAI set is the unveiling of his new song,
"Crucifixion" Not written immediately after Kennedy's assassination, as some thought, the song was evidently brewing for a long time,
as Phil combined images of Christ and Kennedy and, playfully here, adds Dylan's name.
He has just about memorized the tune for this radio debut. Were a few lines ad-libs or simply lines he later dropped or refined?

And speaking of Dylan.. here's a wry throwaway of Phil doing a few lines of parody on "Positively 4th Street" before wandering through
some ad-libs about hipness and England.

While many thought that Phil's "ballad" phase began with "Pleasures of the Harbor," two meditative numbers appear this early:
"Song of My Returning" and "City Boy." Neither would turn up on the A&M albums he released in the late 60's;
Phil evidently preferred newer if sometimes less compelling numbers such as "My Kingdom for a Car," or long and uncommercial tracks
("When In Rome"). Ultimately it would take a Rhino posthumous release to collect these two heartfelt and poignant numbers.

Once again, Phil blended political and topical material with ageless ballads. And often they were combined, as in "Joe Hill,"
which could be titled by a phrase in the song, "Death of a Rebel." As

NOTE: this is the earliest recording of "Crucifixion"; slightly different than later versions.

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