Phil Ochs and Neil Young

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 11, 2011 - UPDATE: 10/13/2019

Phil Ochs: 1940 - 1976

Phil Ochs and Neil Young have a somewhat tangential, but critical relationship.

If we look at the 1977 Decade box album, Neil's hand written note about the song "Cinnamon Girl" says:

"Wrote this for a city girl on peeling pavement coming at me thru Phil Ochs eyes playing finger cymbals.

It was hard to explain to my wife."

We still have no idea what "Phil Ochs eyes" means but it indicates that Neil and Phil connected back in the 1960's. (For more, see, So Who Was The "Cinnamon Girl"? The Story Behind The Song.)

In a 1969 interview on KSAN radio with Neil Young, he is asked about Dylan's music and admits that he didn't even own a Bob Dylan album for fear of being influenced by it. Young then goes on to site Phil Ochs as a major influence. Young adds that he considered Ochs and Dylan on the same level.



Upon the release of Neil Young's 2006 Living With War, Neil described the album as "metal folk protest like Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan."

Which leads us to today's times of turmoil and change and the new film Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune (preview clip above). The film is rather timely and relevant tribute to an unlikely hero. Over the course of a meteoric music career that spanned two turbulent decades, Phil Ochs sought the bright lights of fame and social justice in equal measure - a contradiction that eventually tore him apart. From youthful idealism to rage to pessimism, the arch of Ochs' life paralleled that of the times, and the anger, satire and righteous indignation that drove his music also drove him to dark despair.

From AlterNet | Phil Ochs, a Musical American Hero by Julianne Escobedo Shepherd:

During the idealistic youth movement of the 1960s, the political folk singer Phil Ochs was a kind of pied piper. Reflecting the era’s idealism, he set out very earnestly to change the world with his music, viewing himself less as a songwriter and more of a reporter, his incisive, sardonic lyrics mining the tumult of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the Nixon era, and the Chilean coup.

Beginning his career in New York’s Greenwich Village as a compatriot to Bob Dylan, over the course of 15 years he became a hero-troubador to the peace movement, and quite possibly the most important American activist/musician of all time. Ochs loved Elvis Presley and John Wayne as American archetypes writ large, and eventually he became an archetype himself. But stricken by bipolar disorder and alcoholism, coupled with the disillusionment of the era, Ochs died by his own hand in 1976. And while his story hasn’t been entirely lost, like much of leftist history his achievements have been buried.

Until now. Director/producer Kenneth Bowser has been working on Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune for the better part of 20 years.

Speaking of answers blowin' in the wind, also see more on metal folk protest music.



Above, "Changes" written by Phil Ochs, performed by Neil Young at Farm Aid 2013.

Listen carefully to the song's introduction. One of Neil's more stunning stage chats -- ever.


Kurt Cobain
(Neil Young's Influence on Kurt Cobain)
Before playing a cover of "Changes" by Phil Ochs at Farm Aid 2013, Neil Young commented that just earlier Pete Seeger talked of regret about Phil Ochs suicide and not doing more to help. Neil then remembers reaching out to Kurt Cobain (unmentioned) but being unable to make contact. Neil has only made mention of this tragedy once before on the record.

Neil Young Solo
Carnegie Hall, New York City - 2014 (Reviews)

Neil Young played a four-show run at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2014 and played Phil Ochs' song "Changes" each of the four nights in concert.

From Album Cover of Phil Ochs - Greatest Hits

In another one of those eerie Neil synchronicities, Phil Ochs infamously once decided to commission a gold lamé suit because he needed to be "part Elvis Presley and part Che Guevara"["There But for Fortune: The Life of Phil Ochs" by Michael Schumacher ]. Phil Ochs performed at Carnegie Hall wearing gold lamé suit, much to dismay of his audience. Neil Young -- of course -- played "Heart of Gold" each of the four nights in concert of the four-show run at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2014. (See "Must a performer be that obligated to fulfilling the image his fans have of him?" - https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/11/archives/no-gold-lame-for-phil-ochs-no-lame-for-phil-ochs.html.)

Neil Young Recording "Changes" for A Letter Home Album in Soundbooth @ 3rd Man Records, Nashville, TN
(note Jack White in background)
via video Neil Young Archives

Neil Young's 2014 album A Letter Home opening track #1 is a cover of Phil Ochs song "Changes".


PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE (2010) - Official Trailer

As our country continues to embroil itself in foreign wars and pins its hopes on a new leader's promise for change, Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune is a timely and relevant tribute to an unlikely American hero. Over the course of a meteoric music career that spanned two turbulent decades, Phil Ochs sought the bright lights of fame and social justice in equal measure - a contradiction that eventually tore him apart. From youthful idealism to rage to pessimism, the arch of Ochs' life paralleled that of the times, and the anger, satire and righteous indignation that drove his music also drove him to dark despair. In this brilliantly constructed film, interview and performance footage of Ochs is illuminated by the ruminations of Joan Baez, Tom Hayden, Pete Seeger, Sean Penn, Peter Yarrow, Christopher Hitchens, Ed Sanders, and others.

Phil Ochs and Neil Young https://t.co/SHHkxV2iZN
Phil Ochs and Neil Young have a somewhat tangential, but critical relationship.
-@NeilYoungNYA pic.twitter.com/3Huk5CDFzB

— ThrashersWheat (@ThrashersWheat) October 13, 2019

More on Rebels With Causes. Or, When Neil Young Speaks Truth To Power, The World Listens. As in, Sing Truth to Power!

Also, see Neil Young's Musical Influences.


Bob Dylan, Neil Young & Eric Clapton,
Madison Square Garden, New York City - 1992
Influences and Musical Collaborations of Neil Young

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