{"id":4009,"date":"2019-01-12T17:40:29","date_gmt":"2019-01-12T17:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/12\/saturday-night-at-the-oldies-phil-ochs-and-tim-hardin\/"},"modified":"2019-01-12T17:40:29","modified_gmt":"2019-01-12T17:40:29","slug":"saturday-night-at-the-oldies-phil-ochs-and-tim-hardin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2019\/01\/12\/saturday-night-at-the-oldies-phil-ochs-and-tim-hardin\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Night at the Oldies: Phil Ochs and Tim Hardin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joan Baez, There but for Fortune<\/a>. Ochs' best song in its best rendition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Phil Ochs, Changes<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

YouTuber comment, good except for the exaggeration in the last sentence:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Somewhere, in a parallel universe, in another dimension, where there's musical justice, Phil Ochs wasn't just Bob Dylan's sidekick in the early 60's, who released a bunch of albums that are long out of print, failed to gain international recognition, got choked by muggers and lost his ability to sing, disappeared into alcoholism and severe depression, and hanged himself on his birthday, and is remembered only thanks to documentaries about Greenwich Village and the Folk Revival. No, in some other reality he's remembered as one of the absolutely greatest songwriters, guitarist, and singers in the history of popular music . . . .<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Phil Ochs, Pleasures of the Harbor<\/a>. Brings back memories of '67 and shows that Ochs could break out of the protest\/topical rut. <\/span><\/p>\n

Christopher Hitchens<\/a> on Phil Ochs and those days.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/a>Ochs' protest songs were too obvious and bound to the events of the day. Dylan's best protest songs avoided these defects to float free of the specific and enter the ethereal.  This is part of the reason why Ochs is tied to his time and place and remembered only by the aficionados but Dylan has a permanent place in the pantheon of Americana. For example, these great Dylan anthems lay it between the lines and have stood the test of time:
<\/span><\/p>\n

Clancy Bros., When the Ship Comes In<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Alanis Morissette, Blowin' in the Wind<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Joan Baez, A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And now some great tunes from the ill-starred Tim Hardin. I discovered him in '67 when I bought his Tim Hardin 2 LP.  Still have it in mint condition. Do I hear $10,000?  At the time, I thought that Hardin might displace Dylan in my adolescent affections or else become a sort of second Dylan.  But of course that did not happen since Dylan is on 'a whole other level'  despite Hardin's being a very fine songwriter and performer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tim Hardin, Lady Came from Baltimore<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Tim Hardin, Reason to Believe<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Small Faces, Red Balloon<\/a>. Great version! I prefer it to Hardin's original<\/a>. But then, I don't know. Both good.  Hardin died of a heroin overdose in 1980.  'Red Balloon' is a heroin reference. See here<\/a>:
<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

"Red Balloon" is a confessional song about Tim's mixed feelings toward heroin and its effects upon him. Heroin is often sold in balloons, so the "bought myself a red balloon" line refers to buying and taking heroin. The "blue surprise" is the adverse effects of heroin. One such effect is the loss of libido or sexual desire – "took the lovelight from my eyes." (or possibly mistreating your loved ones) "The pinning of my eyes" is probably some adverse physical effect. In the song he is addressing heroin (according to the magazine's interpretation) when he states "you were so easy to get to know, but will we see one another again…I hope so." The Troubadour version seems to confirm this, talking about running around on the lower East Side, much like in the old Cocaine song talking about going down to Beale and Main looking for the man who sells Cocaine. So though on the surface it appears to be a childlike song about balloons and children, it's actually quite the opposite.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Tim<\/a>Don't mess with the stuff, muchachos. I speak from experience. It can very easily kill you. This is part of the reason why I have such utter contempt for those obstructionist crapweasels, Nancy the Knucklehead Pelosi, the Botox-ed-up face of the Democrat (Demon Rat?) party, and her sidekick Chucky the Scumbag Schumer who in effect promote open borders and the flow of  drugs into the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tim Hardin, Black Sheep Boy<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

If you love, let me live in peace\/Please understand\/ That the black sheep can wear the golden fleece and hold a winning hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tim Hardin, If I Were a Carpenter<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joan Baez, There but for Fortune. Ochs' best song in its best rendition. Phil Ochs, Changes YouTuber comment, good except for the exaggeration in the last sentence: Somewhere, in a parallel universe, in another dimension, where there's musical justice, Phil Ochs wasn't just Bob Dylan's sidekick in the early 60's, who released a bunch of … Continue reading “Saturday Night at the Oldies: Phil Ochs and Tim Hardin”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}