Phil Ochs - All The News That's Fit To Sing (2006) by Phil Ochs (보컬) on maniadb.com

One More Parade
Phil Ochs
Written by Phil Ochs and Bob Gibson


Hup, two, three, four, marchin' down the street
Rollin' of the drums and the trampin' of the feet
General salutes and the mothers wave and weep
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid, price is paid
One more parade

In Portsmouth town
On the eastern shore
Where many a fine ship was born

The Thresher was built
And the Thresher was launched
And the crew of the Thresher was sworn

She was shaped like a tear
She was built like a shark
She was made to run fast and free

And the builders shook their hands
And the builders shared their wine
Thought that they had mastered the sea

Yes, she'll always run silent
And she'll always run deep
Though the ocean has no pity
Though the waves will never weep
They'll never weep

And they marveled at her speed
And they marveled at her depth
And they marveled at her deadly design

And they sailed to every land
And they sailed to every port
Just to see what faults they could find

Then they put her on the land
For nine months to stand
And they worked on her from stem to stern

But they could never see
It was their coffin to be
For the sea was waiting for their return

Yes, she'll always run silent
And she'll always run deep
Though the ocean has no pity
Though the waves will never weep
They'll never weep

On a cold Wednesday morn
They put her out to sea
When the waves they were nine feet high

And they dove beneath the waves
And they dove to their graves
And they never said a last goodbye

And it's deeper and deeper
And deeper they dove
Just to see what their ship could stand

But the hull gave a moan
And the hull gave a groan
And they plunged to the deepest darkest sand

Now she lies in the depths
Of the darkened ocean floor
Covered by the waters cold and still

Oh, can't you see the wrong?
She was a death ship all along
Died before she had a chance to kill

And she'll never run silent
And she'll never run deep
For the ocean had no pity
And the waves they never weep
They never weep

Sailing over to Vietnam,
Southeast Asian Birmingham.
Well training is the word we use,
Nice word to have in case we lose.
Training a million Vietnamese
To fight for the wrong government and the American Way.

Well they put me in a barracks house
Just across the way from Laos.
They said you're pretty safe when the troops deploy
But don't turn your back on your house boy
When they ring the gong, watch out for the Viet-Cong.

Well the sergeant said it's time to train
So I climbed aboard my helicopter plane.
We flew above the battle ground
A sniper tried to shoot us down.
He must have forgotten, we're only trainees.
Them Commies never fight fair.

Friends the very next day we trained some more
We burned some villages down to the floor.
Yes we burned out the jungles far and wide,
Made sure those red apes had no place left to hide.
Threw all the people in relocation camps,
Under lock and key, made damn sure they're free.

Well I walked through the jungle and around the bend
Who should I meet but President Diem.
Said you're fighting to keep Vietnam free
For good old de-em-moc-ra-cy (Diem-ocracy).
That means rule by one family
And 15,000 American troops, give or take a few
Thousand.
American.
Troops.

He said: "I was a fine old Christian man
Ruling this backward Buddhist land.
Well it ain't much but what the heck
It sure beats hell out of Chiang Kai-shek
I'm the power elite. Me and the 7th fleet."

He said: "meet my sister, Madam Nhu
The sweetheart of Dien Bien Phu"
He said: "Meet my brothers, meet my aunts
With the government that doesn't take a chance.
Families that slay together, stay together."

Said: "If you want to stay you'll have to pay
Over a million dollars a day.
But it's worth it all, don't you see?
If you loose the country you'll still have me.
Me and Syngman Rhee, Chiang Kai-shek, Madam Nhu.
Like I said on _Meet the Press_
'I regret that I have but one country to give for my life.'"

Well now old Dien is gone and dead
All the new leaders are anti-Red.
Yes they're pro-American, freedom sensations
Against Red China, the United Nations.
Now all the news commentators and the CIA
are saying, "Thank God for coincidence."

On the streets of New York city when the hour was getting late
There were young men armed with knives and guns, young men armed with hate
And Lou Marsh stepped between them and died there in his tracks
For one man is no army when the city turns its back

Now the streets are empty, now the streets are dark
So keep an eye on shadows and never pass the park
For the city is a jungle when the law is out of sight
And death lurks in El Barrio with the orphans of the night

He left behind a chamber of a church he served so long
For he learned the prayers of distant men will never right the wrongs
His church became an alley and his pulpit was the street
He made his congregation from the boys he used to meet

There were two gangs approaching in spanish Harlem town
The smell of blood was in the air, the challenge was laid down
He felt their blinding hatred, and he tried to save their lives
And the answer that they gave him was their fists and feet and knives

Will Lou Marsh lie forgotten in his cold and silent grave?
Will his memory still linger on, in those he tried to save?
All of us who knew him will now and then recall
And shed a tear on poverty, tombstone of us all

Come and take a walk with me thru this green and growing land

Walk thru the meadows and the mountains and the sand

Walk thru the valleys and the rivers and the plains

Walk thru the sun and walk thru the rain


Here is a land full of power and glory

Beauty that words cannot recall

Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom

Her glory shall rest on us all (on us all)

From Colorado, Kansas, and the Carolinas too

Virginia and Alaska, from the old to the new

Texas and Ohio and the California shore

Tell me, who could ask for more?

Yet she's only as rich as the poorest of her poor

Only as free as the padlocked prison door

Only as strong as our love for this land

Only as tall as we stand

[ extra verse supplied by Sonny Ochs ]

But our land is still troubled by men who have to hate

They twist away our freedom & they twist away our fate

Fear is their weapon and treason is their cry

We can stop them if we try

When the wind from the island is rollin' through the trees

When a kiss from a prison cell is carried in the breeze

That's when I wonder how sad a man can be.

Oh, when will Celia come to me?

I still remember the mountains of the war
Sierra Madre and the Philipino shore
When will I lie beside my Celia 'neath the trees?
Oh, when will Celia come to me?

So many years were stolen, so many years are gone
And the vision of my Celia make dreams to dream upon
Each hour is a day filled with memories.
Oh, when will Celia come to me?

I wake each morning and I watch the sun arise
Wonder if my Celia sleeps, wonder if she cries
If hate must be my prison lock, love must be the key
Oh, when will Celia come to me?

The guns have stopped their firing, you may wander through the hills
They kept my Celia through the war, they keep her from me still.
She waits upon island now, a prisoner of the sea.
Oh, when will Celia come to me?

When the wind from the island is rolling through the trees
When a kiss from a prison cell is carried in the breeze
That's when I wonder how sad a man can be.
Oh, when will Celia come to me?
Oh, when will Celia come to me?



Notes:

Hear the sledges with the bells
Silver bells
What a world of merriment
Their melody foretells

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle
In the icy air of night
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight

Keeping time, time, time
With a sort of Runic rhyme
From the tintinnabulation
That so musically wells

From the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells
Hear the mellow wedding bells
Golden bells

What a world of happiness
Their harmony foretells
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight
Through the dances and the yells
And the rapture that impels

How it swells
How it dwells
On the future
How it tells

From the swinging and the ringing
Of the molten golden bells
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells
Of the rhyming and the chiming of the bells

Hear the loud alarm bells
Brazen bells
What a tale of terror now
Their turbulency tells

Much too horrified to speak
Oh, they can only shriek
For all the ears to know
How the danger ebbs and flows

Leaping higher, higher, higher
With a desperate desire
In a clamorous appealing
To the mercy of the fire

With the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells
With the clamor and the clanging of the bells
Hear the tolling of the bells
Iron bells

What a world of solemn thought their monody compels
For all the sound that floats
From the rust within our throats
And the people sit and groan
In their muffled monotone

And the tolling, tolling, tolling
Feels a glory in the rolling
From the throbbing and the sobbing
Of the melancholy bells

Oh, the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells
Oh, the moaning and the groaning of the bells

Oh, I laid down your railroads, every mile of track
With the muscles on my arm and the sweat upon my back
And now the trains are rolling, they roll to every shore
You tell me that my job is through, there ain't no work no more

Though I laid down your highways all across the land
With the ringing of the steel and the power of my hands
And now the roads are there like ribbons in the sky
You tell me that my job is through but still I wonder why

For the wages were low and the hours were long
And the labor was all I could bear
Now you've got new machines for to take my place
And you tell me it's not mine to share

Though I laid down your factories and laid down your fields
With my feet on the ground and my back to your wheels
And now the smoke is rising, the steel is all a-glow
I'm walking down a jobless road and where am I to go

For the wages were low and the hours were long
And the labor was all I could bear
Now you've got new machines for to take my place
And you tell me it's not mine to share

Though I laid down your factories and laid down your fields
With my feet on the ground and my back to your wheels
And now the smoke is rising, the steel is all a-glow
I'm walking down a jobless road and where am I to go

Tell me, where am I to go

Well, it's of a bold reporter whose story I will tell
He went down to the Cuban land, the nearest place to hell
He'd been there many times before, but now the law does say
The only way to Cuba is with the CIA
William Worthy isn't worthy to enter our door
Went down to Cuba, he's not American anymore
But somehow it is strange to hear the State Department say
You are living in the free world, in the free world you must stay
Five thousand dollars or a five year sentence may well be
For a man who had the nerve to think that travelin' is free
Oh why'd he waste his time to see a dictator's reign
When he could have seen democracy by travelin' on to Spain?
William Worthy isn't worthy to enter our door
Went down to Cuba, he's not American anymore
But somehow it is strange to hear the State Department say
You are living in the free world, in the free world you must stay
So, come all you good travelers and fellow-travelers, too
Yes, and travel all around the world, see every country through
I'd surely like to come along and see what may be new
But my passport's disappearing as I sing these words to you
Well, there really is no need to travel to these evil lands
Yes, and though the list grows larger you must try to understand
Try hard not to be surprised if someday you should hear
The whole world is off limits, visit Disneyland this year
William Worthy isn't worthy to enter our door
Went down to Cuba, he's not American anymore
But somehow it is strange to hear the State Department say
You are living in the free world, in the free world you must stay

In many a time, in many a land,
With many a gun in many a hand,
They came by the night, they came by the day,
Came with their guns to take us away

With a knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.

Back in the days of the Roman Empire,
They died by the cross and they died by the fire.
In the stone coliseum, the crowd gave a roar,
And it all began with that knock on the door

Just a knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.

The years have all passed, we've reached modern times,
The Nazis have come with their Nazi war crimes.
Yes the power was there, the power was found,
Six million people have heard that same sound

That old knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.

Now there's many new words and many new names,
The banners have changed but the knock is the same.
On the Soviet shores with right on their side,
I wonder who knows how many have died

With their knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.

Look over the oceans, look over the lands,
Look over the leaders with the blood on their hands.
And open your eyes and see what they do,
When they knock over their friend they're knocking for you

With their knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
With their knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.

It was just a little while ago, I glued my ears to the radio
The announcer was sayin' we'd better beware
A crisis was hanging, a wave up in the air
Crawlin' on the ground, swimmin' in the sea, headin' for me

Well, I didn't know if I was for or agin' it
He was yellin' and screamin' a mile a minute
Well, he said "Here comes the President
But first this word from Pepsodent
Have whiter teeth, have cleaner breath
When you're facin' nuclear death"

And then President John began to speak
And I knew right away he wouldn't be weak
Well, he said he'd seen some missile bases
And terrible smiles on Cuban faces
Close pictures, carryin' land reform too far
Giving land to the USSR

Well, he said we mustn't be afraid
We're settin' up a little blockade
Put our ships along the Cuban shores
And if the Russian bear yells and roars
We'll let him have it

From Turkey and Greece, Formosa and Spain
The peaceful West European Plain
From Alaska and Greenland we'll use our means
And twenty thousand submarines
We're gonna teach the Russians a lesson
For trying to upset the balance of power

Now most Americans stood behind
The President and his military minds
But me, I stood behind a bar
Dreamin' of a spaceship getaway car
Head for mars, any other planet that has bars
Like Gerde's Folk City

Yes, it seemed the stand was strong and plain
But some Republicans was a goin' insane
And they still are, well, they said our plan was just too mild
Spare the rod and spoil the child
Let's sink Cuba into the sea
And give 'em back democracy under the water

Well, the deadline was set for ten o'clock
For a cold war it was a gettin' hot
Well, the Russians tried, the Russians failed
Homeward bound those missiles sailed
Mr. Khruschev said, "Better Red than dead"

He walked all over his own growin' land

From the New York island to the California sand

He saw all the people that needed to be seen

Planted all the grass where it needed to be green

And now he's bound for a glory all his own

And now he is bound for glory

He wrote and he sang and he rode upon the rails
And he got on board when the sailors had to sail
He said all the words that needed to be said
He fed all the hungry souls that needed to be fed

(chorus)

He sang in our streets and he sang in our halls
And he was always there when the unions gave a call
He did all the jobs that needed to be done
He always stood his ground when a smaller man would run
(chorus)

And its Pastures of Plenty wrote the dustbowl balladeer
And This Land is Your Land, he wanted us to hear
And the risin' of the unions will be sung about again
And the Deportees live on through the power of his pen
(chorus)

Now they sing out his praises on every distant shore
But so few remember what he was fightin' for
Oh why sing the songs and forget about the aim?
He wrote them for a reason, why not sing them for the same
(chorus)


Notes:

In the state of Mississippi many years ago

A boy of 14 years got a taste of southern law

He saw his friend a hanging and his color was his crime

And the blood upon his jacket left a brand upon his mind


CHORUS: Too many martyrs and too many dead

Too many lies too many empty words were said

Too many times for too many angry men

Oh let it never be again

His name was Medgar Evers and he walked his road alone
Like Emmett Till and thousands more whose names we'll never know
They tried to burn his home and they beat him to the ground
But deep inside they both knew what it took to bring him down
*chorus*

The killer waited by his home hidden by the night
As Evers stepped out from his car into the rifle sight
he slowly squeezed the trigger, the bullet left his side
It struck the heart of every man when Evers fell and died.
*chorus*

And they laid him in his grave while the bugle sounded clear
laid him in his grave when the victory was near
While we waited for the future for freedom through the land (*)
The country gained a killer and the country lost a man
*chorus*



Notes:

What's that I hear now ringing in my ear
I've heard that sound before
What's that I hear now ringing in my ear
I hear it more and more

It's the sound of freedom calling
Ringing up to the sky
It's the sound of the old ways falling
You can hear it if you try

You can hear it if you try
What's that I see now shining in my eyes
I've seen that light before
What's that I see now shining in my eyes

I see it more and more
It's the light of freedom shining
Shining up to the sky
It's the light of the old ways a dying

You can see it if you try
What's that I feel now beating in my heart
I've felt that beat before
What's that I feel now beating in my heart

I feel it more and more
It's the rumble of freedom calling
Climbing up to the sky
It's the rumble of the old ways a falling

You can feel it if you try

The peons of Mexico long have known suffering and pain.
Zapata and Villa have died there, fighting in vain.
Rube'n Jaramillo kept up the tradition, he fought for the land once again.
He lived for the land, and there on the land he was slain.

A forty-five bullet has ended the life of a man who had lived by the gun,
But all of the bullets of Mexico cannot undo all the work that he's done.

The greedy capiques* have stolen and plundered the land,
With pistoleros they ruled with a cold iron hand.
The poor campesinos could stand it no longer, resistance was starting to grow.
Jaramillo decided to fight for a new Mexico.

A forty-five bullet has ended the life of a man who had lived by the gun,
But all of the bullets of Mexico cannot undo all the work that he's done.

For twenty long years he fought and he struggled and tried,
Epifania, his wife, always there at his side.
Often surrounded, he always was hounded, they searched for him near, far, and wide:
A man of deep sorrow, but also a man of deep pride.

A forty-five bullet has ended the life of a man who had lived by the gun,
But all of the bullets of Mexico cannot undo all the work that he's done.

Two thousand peasants he led to their long-promised land,
And the army's revenge killed the wife and the sons and the man.
His assasins rejoiced with their whiskey and women, they laughed and they danced on his grave.
Now the land waits again for another to ride on the waves.

A forty-five bullet has ended the life of a man who had lived by the gun,
But all of the bullets of Mexico cannot undo all the work that he's done.