Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Backbeat
Pages: 344
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9½
978-1-4930-5147-2 • Hardback • December 2020 • $29.95 • (£25.00)
978-1-4930-5148-9 • eBook • December 2020 • $28.50 • (£19.99)
Phil Ochs was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1940. After attending Staunton Military Academy, Ochs became political while a journalism major at Ohio State University. Forsaking his college degree, Ochs moved to New York City in 1962 to join the burgeoning folk scene. Most well known as a topical singer-songwriter, Ochs was also an anti–Vietnam War and civil rights activist, performing at countless rallies, benefits and marches (authoring the seminal anti-war song "I Ain't Marching Anymore"). Ochs recorded three albums for Elektra Records before moving westward to Los Angeles and A&M Records. Ochs died, by his own hand, in Far Rockaway, Queens, in 1976.
The words (and melodies) of Phil Ochs have inspired me for over 50 years. They are "dances of delight" but also remind us that: "Can't add my name into the fight when I'm gone, so I guess I better do it while I'm here."
— Russ Feingold, Former US Senator, WI
The long lost, largely unpublished, prose of folksinger Phil Ochs does much more than entertain. At the least, it takes us back to a more innocent time. At the best, it awakens the poet in the soul.
— Kinky Friedman, Author, The Mile High Club
As much as has been written about the sixties, it’s arguable that no one experienced that defining moment in American history more personally than Phil Ochs .
— Steve Earle, American singer, songwriter, record producer, author and actor.
As a teenager my life was changed by Phil Ochs' anti-war songs and his unique ability to combine fierce progressive ideology with a sentimental heart. This remarkable collection of his prose is a reminder that Ochs was simultaneously one of the intellectual leaders of the counter-culture, a writer whose moral clarity was balanced by humor, irreverence, and wisdom. I'm Gonna Say It Now is not merely a treasured relic for Ochs completists, it reveals a unique window into a pivotal moment in American history.
— Danny Goldberg, Author of Serving The Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain and In Search Of The Lost Chord:1967 and the Hippie Idea
Phil Ochs was much more than simply a songwriter. He wrote obsessively, because he had to—from his heart, his soul, his conscience. This collection of Phil's many and varied writings throughout his life sheds new light on his brilliant mind.
— Joan Baez, musician
I grew up listening to Phil Ochs, and his music had as much to do with my political awakening as did reading Rachel Carson or Allen Ginsberg, listening to John Lennon or Joan Baez or being given a chance to laugh at all the madness via Hunter S. Thompson or Lenny Bruce. Phil Ochs was that combination — heart, rage, satire, a call to action, a moment of peace. When he died before his time I remember feeling crushed yet determined not for any of us to give up. The stakes are too high. That he still speaks to us today is a monument to his art and his enduring soul.
— Michael Moore, American documentary filmmaker
Everything Phil Ochs wrote, including this new collection of journalism, poetry and calls to action, exudes great humanity, heart, and brilliant humor. He was and continues to be a great blessing.
— Anne Lamott
Phil Ochs told the truth before it was ready to be accepted, before it was politically expedient. He was the kind of truth teller that made liberal allies nervous because his truth demanded an accountability to their own compromise, their own self serving pragmatism.
— Tim Robbins, American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer
Phil Ochs has one of those minds. He wrote with such clear thinking, his words lift boulders off hypocracy's hide, and his wit whittles the readers distractions into justice.
— Sean Penn