Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune

Last updated

Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune
Ochs-ThereButForFortune.jpg
Promotional poster
Directed byKenneth Bowser [1]
Written byKenneth Bowser [1]
Produced by Michael Cohl
Kenneth Bowser
Michael Ochs [1]
Edited byPamela Scott Arnold
Music by Phil Ochs
Distributed by First Run Features
Release dates
  • October 1, 2010 (2010-10-01)(Woodstock)
  • January 5, 2011 (2011-01-05)(United States)
[2]
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune is a documentary film on the life and times of folk singer-songwriter Phil Ochs. [3] The film, released theatrically in January 2011, was written and directed by Kenneth Bowser. [1] [2] Its title is taken from one of Ochs' best known songs, "There but for Fortune" (1963). [4]

Contents

The documentary features extensive archival footage of Ochs, as well as scenes reflecting the turbulent political climate of the 1960s during which he emerged as a spokesperson on causes such as racial injustice, political oppression, the horrors of war, and labor issues. [5] In addition, it includes interviews with family members and many of the artists and activists who knew him from his arrival in Greenwich Village in the early 1960s through his death in 1976. Also featured are comments from contemporary figures on Ochs' influence. The film was broadcast on January 23, 2012 on the PBS series American Masters . [6] [7]

Personal biography and political history

There but for Fortune is a biography of Ochs as well as a history of the anti-war movement, the folk song revival in the United States, and left-wing political activism during the 1960s. [2] [5] Tracking Ochs' rise to fame during the folk and protest song movements of the period, the film depicts his growing involvement in the radical politics that developed over the decade. [8] [9] Throughout, he wrote hundreds of songs, many of them ripped straight from the daily news. As the film's interviews bring out, Ochs firmly believed his music could change the world for the better. [1]

Besides the archival footage of Ochs and the interviews with others involved in the folk movement, the film features extensive news clips of the events of the times, including the Civil Rights struggle in the South, assassination of John F. Kennedy, rallies protesting US military involvement in Vietnam, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the Kent State shootings and the "police riot" at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. [2] [5] [10] Ochs became a part of the inner circle that sought to defeat US policies, and the film shows interviews with some of the movement's central figures, several of whom were close friends with Ochs, including Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, co-founders of the Youth International Party, as well as Tom Hayden, who went on to become a California State Senator. [11]

As the film recounts, Ochs first became interested in politics and folk music while attending college at Ohio State University. [10] He eventually dropped out of school and moved to Greenwich Village in 1962. His goal was to become the folk movement's leading songwriter. Unfortunately, Bob Dylan was already on his way to claiming that title, and Ochs had to settle for second best, at least in that regard. One of the film's subjects is the contrast between the two. Dylan, less concerned with politics than his music, abandoned topical songs early on. Ochs, on the other hand, held by his commitment to the era's causes, which made him, in Kenneth Bowser's view, probably the most important protest singer of the 1960s. [8]

According to interviews with those close to Ochs, the political struggles weighed heavily on the folk singer, who took much of it personally. [9] After the events in Chicago, he felt that America had lost its way. Suffering from bipolar disorder, Ochs subsequently became depressed and slid into alcoholism. He committed suicide at his sister's home in 1976.

Cast

In addition to archival footage of Ochs, the film features interviews with his younger brother Michael, a producer of the film and the singer's manager starting in the mid sixties; his older sister, Sonny; his wife, Alice Skinner; and his daughter, Meegan Lee Ochs. [2] [5] It also includes interviews with many of the figures who were connected with Ochs through music and politics, including:

Among the contemporary figures influenced by Ochs who are featured in the film are singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, singer Jello Biafra, [21] and actor Sean Penn. Literary critic Christopher Hitchens provides commentary on Ochs' career. [2]

Music

The film features parts of about three dozen songs that Ochs had written over the span of his career, from "Draft Dodger Rag" and "I Ain't Marching Anymore" to "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" and "One Way Ticket Home". It also includes a cover of his song "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" by Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon. Songs by other artists include Dave Van Ronk's recording of the traditional "He Was a Friend of Mine", Bob Dylan's recording of his song "Blowin' in the Wind", and Chilean activist and singer-songwriter Víctor Jara's recording of his song "El Cigarrito". [1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune Press Kit" (PDF). First Run Features. 2010. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Holden, Stephen (January 4, 2011). "Aspiring to Musical Power and Glory". The New York Times : C6. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  3. Green, Jonah (January 5, 2011). "There But For Fortune: A Moving Tribute To A Complicated Singer". Huffington Post . Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 Lovece, Frank (January 5, 2011). "Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune". Film Journal International . Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Rooney, David (January 2, 2011). "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune – Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  6. "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune". PBS. December 20, 2011. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  7. "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune". Season 26. Episode 1. January 23, 2012. PBS.{{cite episode}}: Missing or empty |series= (help)
  8. 1 2 Shepherd, Julianne Escobedo (January 6, 2011). "Phil Ochs, a Musical American Hero". AlterNet . Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  9. 1 2 Kenneth, Bowser. "Film Trailer: Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune". TV Guide . Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  10. 1 2 Baker, Bob (December 22, 2010). "Tracing the Arc of a Tragic Folk Singer". New York Times . Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  11. 1 2 "Testimony of Phillip David Ochs". The Chicago Eight Trial: Excerpts from the Trial Transcript. Famous Trials. December 11, 1969. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  12. Gray 2006 , pp. 513
  13. 1 2 Amy, Goodman (January 6, 2011). "Phil Ochs: The Life and Legacy of a Legendary American Folk Singer". Democracy Now! . Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Anderson, John (January 4, 2010). "Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune". Variety . Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  15. Fine, Marshall (January 6, 2011). "Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune". Huffington Post . Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  16. Schumacher 1996 , pp. 219–222
  17. Schumacher 1996 , pp. 225–226
  18. 1 2 "Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  19. Schumacher 1996
  20. Lanthier, Joseph Jon (January 3, 2011). "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune". Slant Magazine . Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  21. Johnson, Martin (January 4, 2011). "A Voice Echoes in the Village". Wall Street Journal Online . Retrieved January 9, 2011.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Ochs</span> American singer and songwriter (1940–1976)

Philip David Ochs was an American songwriter and protest singer. Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and distinctive voice. He wrote hundreds of songs from the 1960s to early 1970s and released eight albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Van Ronk</span> American folk musician (1936–2002)

David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Paxton</span> American folk singer and singer-songwriter

Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer-songwriter who has had a music career spanning more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a music educator as well as an advocate for folk singers to combine traditional songs with new compositions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Grossman</span> American music manager (1926–1986)

Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk and folk-rock music, including Bob Dylan; Janis Joplin; Peter, Paul and Mary; the Band; Odetta; Gordon Lightfoot; and Ian & Sylvia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Positively 4th Street</span> Original song written and composed by Bob Dylan

"Positively 4th Street" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, first recorded in New York City on July 29, 1965. It was released as a single by Columbia Records on September 7, 1965, reaching No. 1 on Canada's RPM chart, No. 7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song as No. 203 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Gaslight Cafe</span> Coffeehouse

The Gaslight Cafe was a coffeehouse in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. Also known as The Village Gaslight, it opened in 1958 and became notable as a venue for folk music and other musical acts. It closed in 1971.

"He Was a Friend of Mine" is a traditional folk song in which the singer laments the death of a friend. Ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax was the first to collect the song, in 1939, describing it as a "blues" that was "a dirge for a dead comrade."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Happy Traum</span> American folk musician

Happy Traum is an American folk musician who started playing music in the 1950s and became a stalwart of the Greenwich Village music scene of the 1960s and the Woodstock music scene of the 1970s and 1980s. For several years, he studied blues guitar with Brownie McGhee, who was a big influence on his guitar style. Happy is most famously known as one half of Happy and Artie Traum, a duo he began with his brother. They released several albums, including Happy and Artie Traum, Double Back, and Hard Times In The Country. He has continued as a solo artist and as founder of Homespun Music Instruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American folk music revival</span> 20th-century American musical movement

The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob Niles, Susan Reed, Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought forward styles of American folk music that had in earlier times contributed to the development of country and western, blues, jazz, and rock and roll music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?</span> Song written by Bob Dylan

"Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" is a folk rock song written by American musician Bob Dylan. In 1965, Columbia Records released it as a single, which reached number 58 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 17 on the UK chart in January 1966. While Dylan never included the song on any of his studio albums, it appears on compilations, such as Biograph and Side Tracks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Blue (musician)</span> American singer-songwriter (1941–1982)

David Blue was an American folk music singer-songwriter and actor.

Jim and Jean, composed of Jim Glover and Jean Ray (1941–2007) were an American folk music duo, who performed and recorded music from the early to the late 1960s.

Jim R. Glover is an American peace activist and folk singer. He is from Cleveland, Ohio and lives in Brandon, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Ain't Marching Any More (song)</span>

"I Ain't Marching Any More" is an anti-war song by Phil Ochs, a U.S. protest singer from the 1960s known for being a passionate critic of the American military industrial complex. Originally released on his 1965 album of the same name, "I Ain't Marching Any More" is one of Ochs's best-known songs.

"There but for Fortune" is a song by American folk musician Phil Ochs. Ochs wrote the song in 1963 and recorded it twice, for New Folks Volume 2 and Phil Ochs in Concert. Joan Baez also recorded "There but for Fortune" in 1964, and her version of the song became a chart hit.

"Crucifixion" is a 1966 song by Phil Ochs, a US singer-songwriter. Ochs described the song as "the greatest song I've ever written".

<i>Chords of Fame</i> (film) 1984 American film

Chords of Fame is a 1984 feature-length documentary film about Phil Ochs, a US singer-songwriter of the 1960s and early 1970s. The film was directed by Michael Korolenko, written by Mady Schutzman, and produced by Korolenko, Schutzman, and David Sternburg. It was funded in part by grants from the American Film Institute and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Sonia "Sonny" Ochs is a music producer and radio host. She is known for the "Phil Ochs Song Nights" she organizes, at which various musicians sing the songs of her brother, singer-songwriter Phil Ochs.

"Love Me, I'm a Liberal" is a satirical political song by Phil Ochs, an American singer-songwriter. Originally released on his 1966 live album, Phil Ochs in Concert, "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" was soon one of Ochs's most popular concert staples.

References