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captain america and billy
Old Love
907 Posts |
 Posted - 19/11/2012 : 16:45:57
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| I've heard only bits and pieces about the celebrated career of folkie Phil Ochs.Has he written some tunes I might be familiar with/I'm also curious about Laura Nyro.I know she wrote "Liar" for Three Dog Night.What else? |
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sometimesmylifeissoeerie
Fourth Love
198 Posts |
Posted - 19/11/2012 : 23:26:25
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| LN didn't write "Liar'- I saw Argent play it live at the Fillmore East. One of the guys from Argent must have written it. |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9866 Posts |
Posted - 20/11/2012 : 03:09:30
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Nyro wrote "Eli's Coming"...perfect
________________________________________________
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9866 Posts |
Posted - 22/11/2012 : 14:04:19
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I posted these...for your reading and listening pleasure, captn'.
PHIL OCHS-the legendary-American Masters 2011
PHIL OCHS
When I'm Gone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB-BBVQLnxI
American Masters-Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune the full 1.4 hours
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAW894F10l4
Philip David Ochs (play /#712;o#650;ks/; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer) and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and distinctive voice. He wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and released eight albums in his lifetime.
Ochs performed at many political events, including anti-Vietnam War and civil rights rallies, student events, and organized labor events over the course of his career, in addition to many concert appearances at such venues as New York City's Town Hall and Carnegie Hall. Politically, Ochs described himself as a "left social democrat" who became an "early revolutionary" after the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago led to a police riot, which had a profound effect on his state of mind.[1]
After years of prolific writing in the 1960s, Ochs's mental stability declined in the 1970s. He eventually succumbed to a number of problems including bipolar disorder and alcoholism, and took his own life in 1976.
Some of Ochs's major influences were Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Bob Gibson, Faron Young, Merle Haggard, John Wayne, and John F. Kennedy. His best-known songs include "I Ain't Marching Anymore", "Changes", "Crucifixion", "Draft Dodger Rag", "Love Me, I'm a Liberal", "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", "Power and the Glory", "There but for Fortune", and "The War Is Over".
Phil Ochs was born in El Paso, Texas, to Jacob ("Jack") Ochs, a physician who was born in New York in 1910,[2] and Gertrude Phin Ochs, who was born in Scotland.[3] His parents met and married in Edinburgh where Jack was attending medical school.[4] After their marriage, they moved to the United States. Jack, drafted into the army, was sent overseas at the end of World War II, where he treated soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge. His war experiences affected his mental health and he received an honorable medical discharge in November 1945.[5] On his return, Jack, who suffered from bipolar disorder and depression, worked at a series of hospitals around the country, unable to establish a successful medical practice.[4] As a result, the Ochs family moved frequently: to Far Rockaway, New York, when Ochs was a teenager; then to Perrysburg in upstate New York, where he first studied music; and then to Columbus, Ohio.[6]
Ochs grew up with an older sister, Sonia (known as Sonny), and a younger brother, Michael.[7] The Ochs family was middle class and Jewish, but not religious. His father was distant from his wife and children, and was hospitalized for depression.[9] He died in 1963 from a cerebral hemorrhage.[10]
As a teenager, Ochs was recognized as a talented clarinet player; in an evaluation, one music instructor wrote: "You have exceptional musical feeling and the ability to transfer it on your instrument is abundant."[11] His musical skills allowed him to play clarinet with the orchestra at the Capital University Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where he rose to the status of principal soloist before he was 16. Although Ochs played classical music, he soon became interested in other sounds he heard on the radio, such as early rock icons Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley and country music artists including Faron Young, Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Sr., and Johnny Cash.[12]
Ochs also spent a lot of time at the movies. He especially liked big screen heroes such as John Wayne and Audie Murphy.[13] Later on, he developed an interest in movie rebels, including Marlon Brando and James Dean.[14]
From 1956 to 1958, Ochs was a student at the Staunton Military Academy in rural Virginia, and when he graduated he returned to Columbus and enrolled in the Ohio State University.[15] Unhappy after his first semester, he took a leave of absence and went to Florida. While in Miami, the 18-year-old Ochs was jailed for two weeks for sleeping on a park bench, an incident he would later recall:
"Somewhere during the course of those fifteen days I decided to become a writer. My primary thought was journalism ... so in a flash I decided—I'll be a writer and a major in journalism."[16]
Bob Gibson was a major influence on Ochs's writing.
Ochs returned to Ohio State to study journalism and developed an interest in politics, with a particular interest in the Cuban Revolution of 1959. At Ohio State he met Jim Glover, a fellow student who was a devotee of folk music. Glover introduced Ochs to the music of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and The Weavers. Glover taught Ochs how to play guitar, and they debated politics.[13] Ochs began writing newspaper articles, often on radical themes. When the student paper refused to publish some of his more radical articles, he started his own underground newspaper called The Word. His two main interests, politics and music, soon merged, and Ochs began writing topical political songs. Ochs and Glover formed a duet called "The Singing Socialists",[17] later renamed "The Sundowners", but the duo broke up before their first professional performance and Glover went to New York City to become a folksinger.[18]
Ochs's parents and brother had moved from Columbus to Cleveland, and Ochs started to spend more time there, performing professionally at a local folk club called Farragher's Back Room. He was the opening act for a number of musicians in the summer of 1961, including the Smothers Brothers.[19] Ochs met Bob Gibson that summer as well, and according to Dave Van Ronk, Gibson became "the seminal influence" on Ochs's writing.[20] Ochs continued at Ohio State into his senior year, but was bitterly disappointed at not being appointed editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, and dropped out in his last semester without graduating. He left for New York, as Glover had, to become a folksinger.[21]
1962–1966
"In the early 1960s, there was a folk music rebirth in this country with the likes of Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. Although his fame was probably limited, Ochs became an integral part of that crowd. His songs "Draft Dodger Rag" and "I Ain't Marching Anymore" became a rallying cry for the peace movement much the way that Dylan's did.”
— San Francisco Chronicle [22]
Ochs arrived in New York City in 1962 and began performing in numerous small folk nightclubs, eventually becoming an integral part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene.[23] He emerged as an unpolished but passionate vocalist who wrote pointed songs about current events: war, civil rights, labor struggles and other topics. While others described his music as "protest songs", Ochs preferred the term "topical songs".[24]
Ochs described himself as a "singing journalist",[25] saying he built his songs from stories he read in Newsweek.[26] By the summer of 1963 he was sufficiently well known in folk circles to be invited to sing at the Newport Folk Festival, where he performed "Too Many Martyrs" (co-written with Bob Gibson), "Talking Birmingham Jam", and "Power and the Glory"—his patriotic Guthrie-esque anthem that brought the audience to its feet. Other performers at the 1963 folk festival included Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Tom Paxton.[27] Ochs's return appearance at Newport in 1964, when he performed "Draft Dodger Rag" and other songs, was widely praised.[28] But he was not invited to appear in 1965, the festival when Dylan infamously performed "Maggie's Farm" with an electric guitar. Although many in the folk world decried Dylan's choice, Ochs was amused, and admired Dylan's courage in defying the folk establishment.
Ochs in the early 1960s playing his Gibson J-45.
During 1963, Ochs performed at New York's Carnegie Hall and Town Hall in hootenannies.[31] He made his first solo appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1966.[32] Throughout his career, Ochs would perform at a wide range of venues, including civil rights rallies, anti-war demonstrations, and concert halls.[33]
Ochs contributed many songs and articles to the influential Broadside Magazine.[34][35] He recorded his first three albums for Elektra Records: All the News That's Fit to Sing (1964), I Ain't Marching Anymore (1965), and Phil Ochs in Concert (1966).[36] Critics wrote that each album was better than its predecessors, and fans seemed to agree; record sales increased with each new release.[37]
On these records, Ochs was accompanied only by an acoustic guitar. The albums contain many of Ochs's topical songs, such as "Too Many Martyrs", "I Ain't Marching Anymore", and "Draft Dodger Rag"; and some musical reinterpretation of older poetry, such as "The Highwayman" (poem by Alfred Noyes) and "The Bells" (poem by Edgar Allan Poe). Phil Ochs in Concert includes some more introspective songs, such as "Changes" and "When I'm Gone".[38][39]
During the early period of his career, Ochs and Bob Dylan had a friendly rivalry. Dylan said of Ochs, "I just can't keep up with Phil. And he just keeps getting better and better and better".[40] On another occasion, when Ochs criticized one of Dylan's songs, Dylan threw him out of his limousine, saying, "You're not a folksinger. You're a journalist".[41]
In 1962, Ochs married Alice Skinner, who was pregnant with their daughter Meegan, in a City Hall ceremony with Jim Glover as best man and Jean Ray as bridesmaid, and witnessed by Dylan's sometime girlfriend, Suze Rotolo.[42][43] Phil and Alice separated in 1965, but they never divorced.[44][45]
Like many people of his generation, Ochs deeply admired President John F. Kennedy, even though he disagreed with the president on issues such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the growing involvement of the United States in the Vietnamese civil war. When Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, Ochs wept. He told his wife that he thought he was going to die that night. It was the only time she ever saw Ochs cry.[46][47]
Ochs's managers during this part of his career were Albert Grossman (who also managed Dylan and Peter, Paul, and Mary) followed by Arthur Gorson.[48] Gorson had close ties with such groups as Americans For Democratic Action, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and Students for a Democratic Society.[49]
Ochs was writing songs at an amazing pace. Some of the songs he wrote during this period were held back and recorded on his later albums.[50]
1967–1969
In 1967, Ochs—now managed by his brother Michael—left Elektra for A&M Records and moved to California.[51] He recorded four studio albums for A&M: Pleasures of the Harbor (1967), Tape from California (1968), Rehearsals for Retirement (1969), and the ironically titled Greatest Hits (1970) (which actually consisted of all new material).[52] For his A&M albums, Ochs moved away from simply-produced solo acoustic guitar performances and experimented with ensemble and even orchestral instrumentation, "baroque-folk",[53] in the hopes of producing a pop-folk hybrid that would be a hit.[54]
Critic Robert Christgau, writing in Esquire of Pleasures of the Harbor in May 1968, did not consider this new direction a good turn. While describing Ochs as "unquestionably a nice guy", he went on to say, "too bad his voice shows an effective range of about half an octave [and] his guitar playing would not suffer much if his right hand were webbed." "Pleasures of the Harbor", Christgau continued, "epitomizes the decadence that has infected pop since Sgt. Pepper. [The] gaudy musical settings ... inspire nostalgia for the three-chord strum."[55] With an ironic sense of humor, Ochs included Christgau's "webbed hand" comment in his 1968 songbook The War is Over on a page titled "The Critics Raved", opposite a full-page picture of Ochs standing in a large metal garbage can.[56] Despite his sense of humor, Ochs was unhappy that his work was not receiving the critical acclaim and popular success he had hoped for.[57] Still, Ochs would joke on the back cover of Greatest Hits that there were 50 Phil Ochs fans ("50 fans can't be wrong!"), a sarcastic reference to an Elvis Presley album that bragged of 50 million Elvis fans.[58]
None of Ochs's songs became hits, although "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" received a good deal of airplay. It reached #119 on Billboard's national "Hot Prospect" listing before being pulled from some radio stations because of its lyrics, which sarcastically suggested that "smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer".[59] It was the closest Ochs ever came to the Top 40. Joan Baez, however, did have a Top Ten hit in the U.K. in August 1965, reaching #8 with her cover of Ochs's song "There but for Fortune",[60] which was also nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Folk Recording".[61] In the U.S. it peaked at #50 on the Billboard charts[62]—a good showing, but not a hit.[63]
Although he was trying new things musically, Ochs did not abandon his protest roots. He was profoundly concerned with the escalation of the Vietnam War, performing tirelessly at anti-war rallies across the country. In 1967 he organized two rallies to declare that "The War Is Over"—"Is everybody sick of this stinking war? In that case, friends, do what I and thousands of other Americans have done—declare the war over."[64]—one in Los Angeles in June, the other in New York in November.[65] He continued to write and record anti-war songs, such as "The War Is Over" and "White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land". Other topical songs of this period include "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", inspired by the murder of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death outside of her New York City apartment building while dozens of her neighbors reportedly ignored her cries for help, and "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed", about the despair he felt in the aftermath of the Chicago 1968 Democratic National Convention police riot.[66]
Ochs was writing more personal songs as well, such as "Crucifixion", in which he compared the deaths of Jesus Christ and President John F. Kennedy as part of a "cycle of sacrifice" in which people build up heroes and then celebrate their destruction; "Chords of Fame", a warning against the dangers and corruption of fame; "Pleasures of the Harbor", a lyrical portrait of a lonely sailor seeking human connection far from home; and "Boy in Ohio", a plaintive look back at Ochs's childhood in Columbus.[67][68]
A lifelong movie fan, Ochs worked the narratives of justice and rebellion that he had seen in films into his music, describing some of his songs as "cinematic".[69] He was disappointed and bitter when his onetime hero John Wayne embraced the Vietnam War with what Ochs saw as the blind patriotism of Wayne's 1968 film, The Green Berets:
[H]ere we have John Wayne, who was a major artistic and psychological figure on the American scene, ... who at one point used to make movies of soldiers who had a certain validity, ... a certain sense of honor [about] what the soldier was doing.... Even if it was a cavalry movie doing a historically dishonorable thing to the Indians, even as there was a feeling of what it meant to be a man, what it meant to have some sense of duty.... Now today we have the same actor making his new war movie in a war so hopelessly corrupt that, without seeing the movie, I'm sure it is perfectly safe to say that it will be an almost technically-robot-view of soldiery, just by definition of how the whole country has deteriorated. And I think it would make a very interesting double feature to show a good old Wayne movie like, say, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon with The Green Berets. Because that would make a very striking comment on what has happened to America in general.[70]
Ochs was involved in the creation of the Youth International Party, known as the Yippies, along with Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Stew Albert, and Paul Krassner.[71] At the same time, Ochs actively supported Eugene McCarthy's more mainstream bid for the 1968 Democratic nomination for President, a position at odds with the more radical Yippie point of view.[72][73] Still, Ochs helped plan the Yippies' "Festival of Life" which was to take place at the 1968 Democratic National Convention along with demonstrations by other anti-war groups including the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam.[74] Despite warnings that there might be trouble, Ochs went to Chicago both as a guest of the McCarthy campaign and to participate in the demonstrations. He performed in Lincoln Park, Grant Park, and at the Chicago Coliseum, witnessed the violence perpetrated by the Chicago police against the protesters, and was himself arrested at one point.[75][76]
The cover of Ochs's 1969 album, Rehearsals for Retirement
The events of 1968—the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the police riot in Chicago, and the election of Richard Nixon—left Ochs feeling disillusioned and depressed.[77] The cover of his 1969 album Rehearsals for Retirement eerily portrays a tombstone with the words:
PHIL OCHS
(AMERICAN)
BORN: EL PASO, TEXAS, 1940
DIED: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 1968[78]
Ochs testified for the defense at the trial of the Chicago Seven in December 1969. His testimony included his recitation of the lyrics to his song "I Ain't Marching Anymore". On his way out of the courthouse, Ochs sang the song for the press corps; to Ochs's amusement, his singing was broadcast that evening by Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News.[79]
1970
After the riot in Chicago and the subsequent trial, Ochs changed direction again. The events of 1968 convinced him that the average American was not listening to topical songs or responding to Yippie tactics. Ochs thought that by playing the sort of music that had moved him as a teenager he could speak more directly to the American public.[80]
Ochs sought to be "part Elvis Presley ...
... and part Che Guevara".
Ochs turned to his musical roots in country music and early rock and roll.[81] He decided he needed to be "part Elvis Presley and part Che Guevara",[82] so he commissioned a gold lamé suit from Elvis Presley's costumer Nudie Cohn.[83] Ochs wore the gold suit on the cover of his 1970 album, Greatest Hits, which consisted of new songs largely in rock and country styles.[67][81]
Ochs went on tour wearing the gold suit, backed by a rock band, singing his own material along with medleys of songs by Buddy Holly, Elvis, and Merle Haggard. His fans did not know how to respond. This new Phil Ochs drew a hostile reaction from his audience. Ochs's March 27, 1970, concerts at Carnegie Hall were the most successful, and by the end of that night's second show Ochs had won over many in the crowd. The show was recorded and released as Gunfight at Carnegie Hall.[84]
During this period, Ochs was taking drugs to get through performances. He had been taking Valium for years to help control his nerves, and he was also drinking heavily.[85] Pianist Lincoln Mayorga said of that period, "He was physically abusing himself very badly on that tour. He was drinking a lot of wine and taking uppers. The wine was pulling him one way and the uppers were pulling him another way, and he was kind of a mess. There were so many pharmaceuticals around—so many pills. I'd never seen anything like that."[86] Ochs tried to cut back on the pills, but alcohol remained his drug of choice for the rest of his life.[87][88]
Depressed by his lack of widespread appreciation and suffering from writer's block, Ochs did not record any further albums.[89] He slipped deeper into depression and alcoholism.[87][88] His personal problems notwithstanding, Ochs performed at the inaugural benefit for Greenpeace on October 16, 1970, at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, BC. A recording of his performance, along with performances by Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, was released by Greenpeace in 2009.
1971–1975
In August 1971, Phil went to Chile, where Salvador Allende, a Marxist, had been democratically elected in the 1970 election. There he met Chilean folksinger Víctor Jara, an Allende supporter, and the two became friends. In October, Ochs left Chile to visit Argentina. Later that month, after singing at a political rally in Uruguay, he and his American traveling companion David Ifshin were arrested and detained overnight. When the two returned to Argentina, they were arrested as they got off the airplane. After a brief stay in an Argentinian prison, Ochs and Ifshin were sent to Bolivia via a commercial airliner where authorities were to detain them. Ifshin had previously been warned by Argentine leftist friends that when authorities sent dissidents to Bolivia, they would disappear forever. When the airliner arrived in Bolivia, the American captain of the Braniff International Airways aircraft allowed Ochs and Ifshin to stay on the aircraft and barred Bolivian authorities from entering. The aircraft then flew to Peru where the two disembarked and they were not detained. Fearful that Peruvian authorities might arrest him, Ochs returned to the United States a few days later.[90]
Ochs was having difficulties writing new songs during this period, but he had occasional breakthroughs. He updated his sarcastic song "Here's to the State of Mississippi" as "Here's to the State of Richard Nixon", with cutting lines such as "the speeches of the Spiro are the ravings of a clown", a reference to Nixon's vitriolic vice president, Spiro Agnew—sung as "the speeches of the President are the ravings of a clown" after Agnew's resignation.[91][92][93]
Ochs was personally invited by John Lennon to sing at a large benefit at the University of Michigan in December 1971 on behalf of John Sinclair, an activist poet who had been arrested on minor drug charges and given a severe sentence. Ochs performed at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally along with Stevie Wonder, Allen Ginsberg, David Peel, Abbie Hoffman and many others. The rally culminated with Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were making their first public performance in the United States since the breakup of The Beatles.[94]
Although the 1968 election had left him deeply disillusioned, Ochs continued to work for the election campaigns of anti-war candidates, such as George McGovern's unsuccessful Presidential bid in 1972.[95]
In 1972, Ochs was asked to write the theme song for the film Kansas City Bomber. The task proved difficult, as Ochs struggled to overcome his writer's block. Although his song was not used in the soundtrack, it was released as a single.[96]
Ochs decided to travel. In mid-1972, he went to Australia and New Zealand.[97] He traveled to Africa in 1973, where he visited Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa. One night, Ochs was attacked and strangled by robbers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which damaged his vocal cords, causing a loss of the top three notes in his vocal range.[98] The attack also exacerbated his growing mental problems, and he became increasingly paranoid. Ochs believed the attack may have been arranged by government agents—perhaps the CIA. Still, he continued his trip, even recording a single in Kenya, "Bwatue".[99]
On September 11, 1973, the Allende government of Chile was overthrown in a coup d'état. Allende died during the bombing of the presidential palace, and Jara was publicly tortured and killed. When Ochs heard about the manner in which his friend had been killed, he was outraged. He decided to organize a benefit concert to bring to public attention the situation in Chile and raise funds for the people of Chile. The concert, "An Evening with Salvador Allende", included films of Allende; singers such as Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and Bob Dylan; and political activists such as former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Dylan had agreed to perform at the last minute when he heard that the concert had sold so few tickets that it was in danger of being canceled. Once his participation was announced, the event quickly sold out.[100]
After the Chile benefit, Ochs and Dylan discussed the possibility of a joint concert tour, playing small nightclubs. Nothing came of the Dylan-Ochs plans, but the idea eventually evolved into Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue.[101]
The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975.[102] Ochs planned a final "War Is Over" rally, which was held in New York's Central Park on May 11. More than 100,000 people came to hear Ochs, joined by Harry Belafonte, Odetta, Pete Seeger and others. Ochs and Joan Baez sang a duet of "There but for Fortune" and he closed with his song "The War Is Over"—finally a true declaration that the war was over.[103]
[edit] Decline and death
Ochs's drinking became more and more of a problem, and his behavior became increasingly erratic. He frightened his friends both with his drunken rants about the FBI and CIA, and about his claiming to want to have Elvis's manager Colonel Tom Parker or Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders manage his career.[104]
In mid-1975, Ochs took on the identity of John Butler Train. He told people that Train had murdered Ochs, and that he, John Butler Train, had replaced him. Train was convinced that someone was trying to kill him, so he carried a weapon at all times: a hammer, a knife, or a lead pipe.[105]
Ochs's friends tried to help him. His brother Michael attempted to have him committed to a psychiatric hospital. Friends pleaded with him to get help voluntarily. They feared for his safety, because he was getting into fights with bar patrons. Unable to pay his rent, he began living on the streets.[106]
After several months, the Train persona faded and Ochs returned, but his talk of suicide disturbed his friends and family. They hoped it was a passing phase, but Ochs was determined.[107] One of his biographers explains Ochs's motivation:
By Phil's thinking, he had died a long time ago: he had died politically in Chicago in 1968 in the violence of the Democratic National Convention; he had died professionally in Africa a few years later, when he had been strangled and felt that he could no longer sing; he had died spiritually when Chile had been overthrown and his friend Victor Jara had been brutally murdered; and, finally, he had died psychologically at the hands of John Train.[108]
In January 1976, Ochs moved to Far Rockaway, New York, to live with his sister Sonny. He was lethargic; his only activities were watching television and playing cards with his nephews. Ochs saw a psychiatrist, who diagnosed his bipolar disorder. He was prescribed medication, and he told his sister he was taking it.[109] On April 9, 1976, Ochs hanged himself.[110]
Years after his death, it was revealed that the FBI had a file of nearly 500 pages on Ochs.[111] Much of the information in those files relates to his association with counterculture figures, protest organizers, musicians, and other people described by the FBI as "subversive".[112] The FBI was often sloppy in collecting information on Ochs: his name was frequently misspelled "Oakes" in their files, and they continued to consider him "potentially dangerous"[113] after his death.[112]
Congresswoman Bella Abzug (Democrat from New York), an outspoken anti-war activist herself who had appeared at the 1975 "War is Over" rally, entered this statement into the Congressional Record on April 29, 1976:
Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, a young folksinger whose music personified the protest mood of the 1960s took his own life. Phil Ochs—whose original compositions were compelling moral statements against war in Southeast Asia—apparently felt that he had run out of words.
While his tragic action was undoubtedly motivated by terrible personal despair, his death is a political as well as an artistic tragedy. I believe it is indicative of the despair many of the activists of the 1960s are experiencing as they perceive a government which continues the distortion of national priorities that is exemplified in the military budget we have before us.
Phil Ochs' poetic pronouncements were part of a larger effort to galvanize his generation into taking action to prevent war, racism, and poverty. He left us a legacy of important songs that continue to be relevant in 1976—even though "the war is over".
Just one year ago—during this week of the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War—Phil recruited entertainers to appear at the "War is Over" celebration in Central Park, at which I spoke.
It seems particularly appropriate that this week we should commemorate the contributions of this extraordinary young man.
Robert Christgau, who had been so critical of Pleasures of the Harbor and Ochs's guitar skills eight years earlier, wrote warmly of Ochs in his obituary in the Village Voice—an irony that Ochs might have enjoyed. "I came around to liking Phil Ochs' music, guitar included," Christgau wrote. "My affection [for Ochs] no doubt prejudiced me, so it is worth [noting] that many observers who care more for folk music than I do remember both his compositions and his vibrato tenor as close to the peak of the genre."[115]
Legacy
More than thirty years after his death, Ochs's songs remain relevant. Ochs continues to influence singers and fans worldwide, many of whom never saw him perform live. There are mailing lists and online discussion groups dedicated to Ochs and his music;[116][117] websites that have music samples, photographs, and other links;[118][119] and articles and books continue to be written and published about him.[120]
His sister Sonny Ochs (Tanzman) runs a series of "Phil Ochs Song Nights" with a rotating group of performers who keep Ochs's music and legacy alive by singing his songs in cities across the U.S.[121] Michael Ochs is a photographic archivist of 20th century music and entertainment personalities.[122] Meegan Lee Ochs worked with Michael to produce a box set of Ochs's music titled Farewells & Fantasies, the title of which was taken from Ochs's sign-off on the "postcard" on the back of Tape from California: "Farewells & Fantasies, Folks, P. Ochs".[123][124] Meegan has a son named Caidan, Ochs's grandchild.[125] Alice Skinner Ochs was a photographer;[126] she died in November 2010.[127]
In February 2009, the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance gave the 2009 Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Award to Phil Ochs.[128]
[edit] Covers and updates
Ochs's songs have been covered by scores of performers, including Eric Andersen, Peter Asher, Joan Baez, Bastro, Cilla Black, Black 47, Billy Bragg, Eugene Chadbourne, Cher, Gene Clark, Judy Collins, Henry Cow, Allison Crowe, John Denver,[121] Kevin Devine, Ani DiFranco, disappear fear, Mark Eitzel, Marianne Faithfull, Julie Felix, Diamanda Galás, Dick Gaughan, Ronnie Gilbert,[121] Thea Gilmore, John Wesley Harding, Carolyn Hester, Pat Humphries, Jason & the Scorchers,[129] Jim and Jean, Jeannie Lewis,[130] Gordon Lightfoot,[121] Christy Moore,[131] Ray Naylor, Harry Nilsson, Will Oldham, Brian Ritchie, David Rovics, Melanie Safka, Pete Seeger, The Shrubs, Squirrel Bait, Crispian St. Peters, Teenage Fanclub, Tempest, They Might Be Giants, Dave Van Ronk, Eddie Vedder, and The Weakerthans.[132] Wyclef Jean performed "Here's to the State of Mississippi" in the 2009 documentary Soundtrack for a Revolution.[133]
In 1998, Sliced Bread Records released What's That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil Ochs, a two CD set of 28 covers by artists that includes Eric Andersen, Billy Bragg, John Gorka, Nanci Griffith, Arlo Guthrie, Pat Humphries, Magpie, Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk, Sammy Walker, Peter Yarrow, and others.[134] The liner notes indicate that all record company profits from the sale of the set were to be divided between the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California and Sing Out! magazine.[135]
Wood Records released an indie rock/experimental rock tribute album titled Poison Ochs: A Tribute to Phil Ochs in 2003.[136]
In 2005, Kind Of Like Spitting released an album, Learn: The Songs of Phil Ochs, consisting of covers of nine songs written by Ochs, to pay tribute to his music and raise awareness of the artist, whom they felt had been overlooked.[137][138]
Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon, on their album Prairie Home Invasion, recorded a version of "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" with lyrics updated to the Clinton era.[139] Evan Greer, part of the Riot-Folk collective, later updated the song for the George W. Bush era.[140] Ryan Harvey, also part of Riot-Folk, remade "Cops Of The World" with updated lyrics.[141] The Clash used some of the lyrics to "United Fruit" in their song "Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)", which appeared on their 1980 album Sandinista!.[142] During their performance on VH1 Storytellers, Pearl Jam covered "Here's to the State of Mississippi" with updated lyrics to include Jerry Falwell, Dick Cheney, John Roberts, Alberto Gonzales, and George W. Bush.[143] In 2002, with the agreement of Ochs's sister Sonny, Richard Thompson added an extra verse to "I Ain't Marching Anymore" to reflect recent American foreign policy.[144] Jefferson Starship recorded "I Ain't Marching Anymore" with additional lyrics by band member Cathy Richardson for their 2008 release Jefferson's Tree of Liberty.[145]
Tributes
On learning of Ochs's death, Tom Paxton wrote a touching song titled "Phil", which he recorded for his 1978 album Heroes.[146] Ochs is also the subject of "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night", by Billy Bragg, from his 1990 album The Internationale.[147] "Thin Wild Mercury," by Peter Cooper and Todd Snider, is about Ochs's infamous clash with Dylan and getting thrown out of Dylan's limo.[148] Ochs is mentioned in the Dar Williams song "All My Heroes Are Dead", the Will Oldham song "Gezundheit", the Chumbawamba song "Love Me", and the They Might Be Giants song "The Day".[149] The Josh Joplin Group recorded a tribute to Ochs on their album Useful Music.[150] Schooner Fare recorded "Don't Stop To Rest (Song for Phil Ochs)" on their 1981 album Closer to the Wind.[146] Latin Quarter memorialized him in the song "Phil Ochs" on their album Long Pig (1993).[151]
John Wesley Harding recorded a song titled "Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue and Me", the title a reference to the Ochs song "Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Me".[152] Singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith wrote a song about Phil entitled "Radio Fragile". English folk/punk songwriter Al Baker recorded a song about Ochs entitled "All The News That's Fit To Sing", a reference to the title of Ochs's first album.[149] Cajun musician Vic Sadot wrote a song about Ochs entitled "Broadside Balladeer".[153] Singer-songwriter Jen Cass's "Standing In Your Memory", and Harry Chapin's "The Parade's Still Passing By" are tributes to Ochs. Leslie Fish recorded "Chickasaw Mountain", which is dedicated to Ochs, on her 1986 album of that name.[149] The punk band Squirrel Bait cited Ochs as a major creative influence in the liner notes of their 1986 album Skag Heaven, and cover his "Tape From California".[154] A Greek folk record, Dimitris Panagopoulos' Unstable Equilibrium (1987), was dedicated to the memory of Phil Ochs.[146] On the 2005 Kind Of Like Spitting album In the Red, songwriter Ben Barnett included his song "Sheriff Ochs", which was inspired by reading a biography of Ochs.[155] On April 9, 2009, Jim Glover performed a tribute to Ochs at Mother's Musical Bakery in Sarasota, Florida.[156]
A one hour musical commentary on the life and times of Phil Ochs called “No More Songs: Phil Ochs and the Sixties” was performed at the National Folk Festival held in the Australian capital, Canberra, on April 18, 2003. The show was written by Anthony Ashbolt who also narrated it. The performers, A Small Circle of Friends, were Tom Bridges, Deanne Dale, Jeannie Lewis and Maurie Mulheron. The performance received a standing ovation. Jeannie Lewis had been the opening act for Phil when he had toured Australia in 1972.
Popular culture
Among Ochs's many admirers were the short story writer Breece D'J Pancake[157] and actor Sean Penn.[158] Meegan Lee Ochs, who worked as Sean Penn's personal assistant from 1983 to 1985,[159] wrote in her Foreword to Farewells & Fantasies that she and Penn discussed "over many years" the possibility of making a movie about her father;[160] the plan has not yet come to fruition, although Penn expressed an interest in the project as recently as February 2009.[161] Author Jim Carroll's autobiography, The Basketball Diaries (1978), was dedicated in memory of Phil Ochs.[162] On the cover of The Go-Betweens' The Lost Album, Grant McLennan wore a shirt with the words "Get outta the car, Ochs", a reference to the limousine incident involving Ochs and Dylan.[163] The 1994 film Spanking the Monkey makes reference to Ochs and his suicide.[164] Ochs is mentioned in the Stephen King novels The Tommyknockers[165] and Hearts in Atlantis.[166]
[edit] Films
Michael Korolenko directed the 1984 biopic Chords of Fame, which featured Bill Burnett as Ochs. The film included interviews with people who had known Ochs, including Yippies Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, manager Harold Leventhal, and Mike Porco, the owner of Gerde's Folk City. Chords of Fame also included performances of Ochs songs by folk musicians who knew him, including Bob Gibson, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk, and Eric Andersen.[167]
Filmmaker Ken Bowser directed the documentary film Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune, which premiered at the 2010 Woodstock Film Festival in Woodstock, New York.[168][169][170] Its theatrical run began on January 5, 2011, at the IFC Theater in Greenwich Village, New York City, opening in cities around the US and Canada thereafter.[171] The film features extensive archival footage of Ochs and many pivotal events from the 1960s civil rights and peace movements, as well as interviews with friends, family and colleagues who knew Ochs through music and politics.[172][173] The PBS American Masters series opened its 2012 season with an edited version of the film.[174]
[edit] Professional affiliations
* Ochs was a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.[175][176]
* The music publishing company Ochs formed with Arthur Gorson, Barricade Music, was an ASCAP company.[177]
Discography
Main article: Phil Ochs discography
Studio albums and live recordings
* All the News That's Fit to Sing (Elektra, 1964)
* I Ain't Marching Anymore (Elektra, 1965)
* Phil Ochs in Concert (Elektra, 1966)
* Pleasures of the Harbor (A&M, 1967)
* Tape from California (A&M, 1968)
* Rehearsals for Retirement (A&M, 1969)
* Greatest Hits (A&M, 1970)
* Gunfight at Carnegie Hall (A&M Canada, 1975)
Compilations and other albums
* The Campers: Camp Favorites (Cameo, 1962)
* Chords of Fame (A&M, 1976)
* Sings for Broadside (Folkways, 1976)
* Interviews with Phil Ochs (Folkways, 1976)
* A Toast to Those Who Are Gone (Rhino, 1986)
* The War Is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs (A&M, 1988)
* The Broadside Tapes 1 (Smithsonian Folkways, 1989)
* There but for Fortune (Elektra, 1989)
* There and Now: Live in Vancouver 1968 (Rhino, 1991)
* Live at Newport (Vanguard, 1996)
* Farewells & Fantasies (Elektra/Rhino, 1997)
* American Troubadour (A&M Britain, 1997)
* The Early Years (Vanguard, 2000)
* 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Phil Ochs (Universal, 2002)
* Cross My Heart: An Introduction to Phil Ochs (Polydor, 2004)
* Amchitka, The 1970 Concert That Launched Greenpeace (Greenpeace, 2009)
* On My Way (Micro Werks, 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv8vJ3f3AoM&feature=related
American Masters-Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune...watch it now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAW894F10l4
..................................................
LAURA NYRO
STONED SOUL PICNIC...written & sung by Nyro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwSNbC9zK-w
Laura Nyro /#712;n#618;#601;ro#650;/ NEAR-oh[citation needed] (October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry, and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th Dimension recording her songs. Her style was a hybrid of Brill Building-style New York pop, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, show tunes, rock and soul.[1]
Between 1968 and 1970, a number of artists had hits with her songs: The 5th Dimension with "Blowing Away", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Sweet Blindness", "Save The Country" and "Black Patch"; Blood, Sweat & Tears and Peter, Paul & Mary with "And When I Die"; Three Dog Night and Maynard Ferguson with "Eli's Coming"; and Streisand with "Stoney End", "Time and Love", and "Hands off the Man (Flim Flam Man)". Nyro's best-selling single was her recording of Carole King and Gerry Goffin's "Up on the Roof."[1]
On April 14, 2012, Laura Nyro was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[2][3]
Nyro was born Laura Nigro in the Bronx, New York, the daughter of Gilda Mirsky Nigro, a bookkeeper, and Louis Nigro, a piano tuner and jazz trumpeter. Laura had a younger brother, Jan Nigro. Laura was of Russian Jewish and Italian ancestry.[4] As a child, she taught herself piano, read poetry, and listened to her mother's records by Leontyne Price, Billie Holiday and classical composers such as Ravel and Debussy. She composed her first songs at age eight. With her family, she spent summers in the Catskill Mountains, where her father played the trumpet at resorts. She credited the Sunday school at the New York Society for Ethical Culture with providing the basis of her education; she also attended Manhattan's High School of Music and Art.[5]
Nyro was very close to her aunt and uncle, the artists Theresa Bernstein and William Meyerowitz, who helped to support her education and early career.
While in high school, she sang with a group of friends in subway stations and on street corners. She said, "I would go out singing, as a teenager, to a party or out on the street, because there were harmony groups there, and that was one of the joys of my youth."[6] Among her favorite musicians were John Coltrane, Nina Simone, Pete Seeger, Curtis Mayfield, Van Morrison, and girl groups such as The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas and the Shirelles. She also commented: "I was always interested in the social consciousness of certain songs. My mother and grandfather were progressive thinkers, so I felt at home in the peace movement and the women's movement, and that has influenced my music."[6]
[edit] Early career
Her father’s work brought him into contact with record company executive Artie Mogull (1927–2004),[7] and his partner, Paul Barry (1912–1987) who auditioned Laura in 1966 and became her first managers. However, Louis Nigro claims that he "not even once" mentioned Laura to any of his clients, adding "they would have laughed at me if I did."[4] As a teenager she experimented with using different names, and Nyro (NEAR-oh) was the one she was using at the time. She sold her song "And When I Die" to Peter, Paul and Mary for $5,000, and made her first extended professional appearance, at age 18, singing at the "hungry i" coffeehouse in San Francisco. Mogull negotiated her a recording contract, and she recorded her debut album, More Than a New Discovery, for the Verve Folkways label. The album provided material for other artists, notably the 5th Dimension.
In 1967, Nyro made only her second major live appearance, at the Monterey Pop Festival. Although some accounts described her performance as a fiasco that culminated in her being booed off the stage, recordings later made public contradict this view.[5]
Soon afterwards, David Geffen approached Mogull about taking over as her agent. Nyro successfully sued to void her management and recording contracts on the grounds that she had entered into them while still a minor. Geffen became her manager, and the two established a publishing company, Tuna Fish Music, under which the proceeds from her future compositions would be divided equally between them. Geffen also arranged Nyro’s new recording contract with Clive Davis at Columbia Records, and purchased the publishing rights to her early compositions. In his memoir Clive: Inside the Record Business, Davis recalled Nyro's audition for him: she'd invited him to her New York apartment, turned off every light except that of a television set next to her piano, and played him the material that would become Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. Around this time, Nyro considered becoming lead singer for Blood, Sweat & Tears, after the departure of founder Al Kooper, but was dissuaded by Geffen. However, BS&T would go on to have a hit with a cover of "And When I Die."
The new contract allowed Nyro more artistic freedom and control. In 1968, Columbia released Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, her second album. This received high critical praise for the depth and sophistication of the performance and arrangements, which merged pop structure with inspired imagery, rich vocals and avant-garde jazz, and is widely considered to be one of her best works. It was followed in 1969 by New York Tendaberry, another highly acclaimed work which cemented Nyro’s artistic credibility. The record's "Time and Love" and "Save the Country" emerged as two of her most well-regarded and popular songs in the hands of other artists. Her own recordings sold mostly to a cult audience. This prompted Clive Davis, in his memoir, to note that her recordings, as solid as they were, came to resemble demonstrations for other performers.
Her fourth album, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat, was issued at the end of 1970. The set contained the songs "Upstairs By a Chinese Lamp" and "When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main Drag". It featured Duane Allman and other Muscle Shoals musicians. The following year’s Gonna Take a Miracle was an album of her favorite "teenage heartbeat songs", recorded with vocal group Labelle (Patti Labelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash) and the production team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. With the exception of her attribution of the song "Désiree" (originally "Deserie" by The Charts), this was Nyro's sole album of wholly non-original material, featuring such songs as "Jimmy Mack", "Nowhere to Run", and "Spanish Harlem".
By this time (1971) Nyro was married, to carpenter David Bianchini. She was also reportedly uncomfortable with attempts to market her as a celebrity and she announced her retirement from the music business at the age of 24.
In 1973, her Verve debut album was acquired and reissued by Columbia as The First Songs.
[edit] Later career
By 1976, her marriage had ended, and she returned with an album of new material, Smile. She then embarked on a four-month tour with a full band, which resulted in the 1977 live album Season of Lights.
After the 1978 album Nested, recorded when she was pregnant with her only child, she again took a break from recording, this time until 1984's Mother's Spiritual. She began touring with a band in 1988, her first concert appearances in 10 years. The tour was dedicated to the animal rights movement. The shows led to her 1989 release, Laura: Live at the Bottom Line, which included six new compositions.
Her final album of predominantly original material was Walk the Dog and Light the Light (1993), her last album for Columbia, which was co-produced by Gary Katz, best known for his work with Steely Dan. This sparked reappraisal of her place in popular music, and new commercial offers began to appear. She turned down lucrative film-composing offers, although she contributed a rare protest song to the Academy Award-winning documentary "Broken Rainbow", about the unjust relocation of the Navajo people.
Nyro appeared at the 1989 Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and performed in the 1980s and 1990s with female musicians. Among them was Nydia "Liberty" Mata, a popular drummer well known in the lesbian-feminist women's music subculture. On October 27, 1997, a large-scale tribute concert was produced by women at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Performers included Sandra Bernhard, Toshi Reagon, and Phoebe Snow.
Both The Tonight Show and the Late Show with David Letterman staffs heavily pursued Nyro for a TV appearance during this period, yet she turned them down as well, citing her discomfort with appearing on television (she made only a handful of early TV appearances and one fleeting moment on VH-1 performing the title song from “Broken Rainbow” on Earth Day in 1990). She never released an official video, although there was talk of filming some Bottom Line appearances in the 1990s. On July 4, 1991, she opened for Bob Dylan at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts.[9]
[edit] Personal life
She had a relationship with singer/songwriter Jackson Browne in late 1970 to early 1971.
Nyro married Vietnam War veteran David Bianchini in 1972 after a whirlwind romance and spent the next three years living with him in a small town in Massachusetts. The marriage ended after three years, during which time she grew accustomed to the country life as opposed to the city life where she had recorded her first five records.
She had one son, Gil Bianchini, also known as musician Gil-T, from a short-lived relationship with an Indian man named Harindra Singh, but gave him the surname of her ex-husband.
In 1975, Nyro split from Bianchini and also suffered the trauma of the death of her mother Gilda to ovarian cancer at the age of 49. She consoled herself largely by recording a new album, enlisting Charlie Calello, with whom she had collaborated on Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.
In the early 1980s, Laura began living with painter Maria Desiderio (1954–1999),[10] a relationship that lasted 17 years, the rest of Laura's life.
[edit] Death
In 1996, Nyro was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After the diagnosis, Columbia Records prepared a double-disc CD retrospective of material from her years at the label. The company involved Nyro herself, who selected the tracks and approved the final project. She lived to see the release of Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro (1997), and was reportedly pleased with the outcome.
She died of ovarian cancer in Danbury, Connecticut, on April 8, 1997, at 49, the same age at which that disease had claimed the life of her mother.
[edit] Posthumous releases and legacy
Posthumous releases include Angel In The Dark (2001), which include her final studio recordings made in 1994 and 1995, and The Loom’s Desire, a set of live recordings with solo piano and harmony singers from The Bottom Line Christmas shows of 1993 and 1994.
A tribute album, Time and Love: The Music of Laura Nyro, on which Nyro's compositions were performed by 14 women singers and groups, including Phoebe Snow, Jill Sobule, Suzanne Vega, Rosanne Cash, Jane Siberry, Lisa Germano, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Patty Larkin was issued in 1997 after her death. Siberry's contribution to the project was a medley of Nyro songs called "When I Think Of Laura Nyro", which would subsequently appear on her own compilation City.
Nyro's influence on popular musicians has also been acknowledged by such artists as Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, and Melissa Manchester. Todd Rundgren stated that, once he heard her, he "stopped writing songs like The Who and started writing songs like Laura".[11] Cyndi Lauper acknowledged that her rendition of song Walk on By, on her Grammy Award-nominated 2003 cover album At Last, was inspired by Nyro.[12] Elton John and Elvis Costello discussed Laura's influence on both of them during the premiere episode of Costello's interview show Spectacle on the Sundance channel. When asked by the host if he could name three great performer/songwriters who have largely been ignored, he cited Nyro as one of his choices. John also addressed Nyro's influence on his 1970 song "Burn Down the Mission", from Tumbleweed Connection, in particular. “I idolized her," he concluded. "The soul, the passion, just the out and out audacity of the way her rhythmic and melody changes came was like nothing I’ve heard before.” [13]
* Bruce Arnold, leader of the pioneering soft rock group Orpheus (band) was a fan of Nyro's music and like her, worked with legendary studio drummer Bernard Purdie. While recording with Purdie, Arnold mentioned his love of Nyro's music; the drummer responded with a story about Nyro: At Nyro's home one night in the late 1970s, Purdie mentioned that he had been the uncredited drummer for Orpheus. Nyro got excited and brought him into a room where she kept her record collection. She pulled out well-worn copies of every Orpheus LP as well as sealed ones for posterity.
* Diane Paulus and Bruce Buschel co-created Eli's Comin', a musical revue of the songs of Nyro, which, among others, starred Anika Noni Rose.
* The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Canadian Ballet have also included her music in their performances; notably, "Been On A Train" from Christmas and the Beads of Sweat, in which a woman describes watching her lover die from a drug overdose, comprises the second movement of Ailey's 1971 solo for Judith Jamison, Cry.
* On October 2, 2007, three-time Tony nominee Judy Kuhn released her new album Serious Playground: The Songs of Laura Nyro. The album, which debuted as a concert to a sold-out house at Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series in January 2007, includes several of Nyro's biggest hits ("Stoned Soul Picnic", "Stoney End") as well as some of her lesser known gems.
* On her 2006 album Build a Bridge, the operatic/Broadway soprano Audra McDonald included covers of Nyro's songs "To a Child" and "Tom Cat Goodbye".
* The musical theater composer Stephen Schwartz credits Nyro as a major influence on his work.[14]
* Alice Cooper has mentioned that Nyro is one of his favorite songwriters on his syndicated radio show.
* Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley, when promoting her 2006 solo album Rabbit Fur Coat repeatedly cited Nyro's 1971 album Gonna Take a Miracle as a big influence on her music. Lewis performed the first track on that album "I Met Him on a Sunday" on the Rabbit Fur Coat tour.
* On the 2004 drama film A Home at the End of the World can be heard Nyro's recordings of "Désiree" and "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", both songs from the album Gonna Take a Miracle.
[edit] Biographies, analysis and tributes
To Carry On, an original tribute show celebrating the music and life of Laura Nyro, starring Mimi Cohen, is in its second return engagement as of January 19, 2011, at Cherry Lane Theatre in Manhattan.
A biography of Nyro, Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro, written by Michele Kort, was published in 2002 by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press.
Nyro's life and music were celebrated in a 2005 BBC Radio 2 documentary, Shooting Star – Laura Nyro Remembered, which was narrated by her friend Bette Midler and included contributions from her one-time manager David Geffen, co-producers Arif Mardin and Gary Katz, and performers Suzanne Vega and Janis Ian. It was rebroadcast on April 4, 2006.[15]
Janis Ian, who attended the High School of Music and Art in New York at the same time as Nyro, discussed her friendship with Nyro during the late 1960s in her autobiography, Society's Child. Ian described her as looking like a "Morticia Addams" caricature with her long, dark hair, and called her a "brilliant songwriter" but "oddly inarticulate" in terms of musical terminology. Ian was a fan of Nyro's work with producer Charlie Calello and chose him as the producer of her 1969 album Who Really Cares on the basis of his work with Nyro.[16]
Comedian, writer, and singer Sandra Bernhard has spoken extensively of Laura Nyro as an ongoing inspiration. She dedicated a song, "The Woman I Could've Been" on Excuses for Bad Behavior (Part One), to her. She also sang Nyro's "I Never Meant to Hurt You" in her film Without You I'm Nothing.
Rickie Lee Jones' critically acclaimed album Pirates and songs such as "We Belong Together" and "Living It Up" are reminiscent of early Laura Nyro songs, and Jones acknowledged Nyro's influence.
Todd Rundgren has also acknowledged the strong influence of Nyro's 1960s music on his own songwriting. While a member of the pop group Nazz his great admiration for Nyro led to him arranging a meeting with her (which took place shortly after she had recorded the Eli and the Thirteenth Confession LP). Nyro in fact invited Rundgren to become the musical director of her backing group, but his commitments to Nazz obliged him to decline. Rundgren's debut solo album Runt (1970) includes the strongly Nyro-influenced "Baby Let’s Swing," which was written about her and mentions her by name. Rundgren and Nyro remained friends for much of her professional career, and he subsequently assisted her with the recording of her album Mother's Spiritual.[17]
On April 14, 2012, Laura Nyro was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[2]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio
* 1967 – More Than a New Discovery (later reissued as Laura Nyro, 1969, and as The First Songs, 1973)
* 1968 – Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (reissued and remastered with bonus tracks, 2002, Columbia) US No. 181
* 1969 – New York Tendaberry (reissued and remastered with bonus tracks, 2002, Columbia) US No. 32
* 1970 – Christmas and the Beads of Sweat March 2008 – BMG Sony (US division)
* 1971 – Gonna Take a Miracle (with Labelle) (reissued and remastered with bonus tracks, 2002, Columbia)
* 1976 – Smile
* 1978 – Nested (reissued and remastered, 2008, http://www.iconoclassicrecords.com/)
* 1984 – Mother's Spiritual
* 1993 – Walk the Dog and Light the Light
* 2001 – Angel in the Dark (posthumous album recorded 1994–1995)
[edit] Live
* 1977 – Season of Lights (reissued and remastered, 2008, http://www.iconoclassicrecords.com/)
* 1989 – Laura: Live at the Bottom Line
* 2000 – Live at Mountain Stage (recorded 1990)
* 2002 – Live: The Loom's Desire (recorded 1993–1994)
* 2003 – Live in Japan (recorded 1994)
* 2004 – Spread Your Wings and Fly: Live at the Fillmore East (May 30, 1971)
[edit] Compilation
* 1972 – Laura Nyro sings her Greatest Hits [Japan only]
* 1980 – Impressions
* 1997 – Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro (reissued 2011 as The Essential Laura Nyro, Sony Music)
* 1999 – Premium Best Collection-Laura Nyro [Japan only]
* 2000 – Time and Love: The Essential Masters
* 2006 – Laura Nyro-Collections [Sony Europe]
[edit] Audio samples
Sweet Blindness
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Laura Nyro, Sweet Blindness (Columbia, 1968)
Eli's Comin
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Laura Nyro, Eli's Comin' (Columbia, 1968)
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[edit] See also
* Discussion at LGBT.wikia.com of 'Emmie' as pop's first lesbian love song
[edit] References
1. ^ a b "Laura Nyro Biography & Awards". Billboard (New York, NY: Prometheus Global Media). http://www.billboard.com/news/rock-hall-inductees-2012-guns-n-roses-beastie-1005624552.story#/artist/laura-nyro/bio/5334. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
2. ^ a b Late Laura Nyro inducted into Rock and Roll Hall
3. ^ Graff, Gary (December 7, 2011). "Rock Hall Inductees 2012: Guns N' Roses, Beastie Boys Make Grade". Billboard (New York, NY: Prometheus Global Media). http://www.billboard.com/news/rock-hall-inductees-2012-guns-n-roses-beastie-1005624552.story#/news/rock-hall-inductees-2012-guns-n-roses-beastie-1005624552.story. Retrieved December 12, 2011. "Cleveland Calls Up Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faces, Laura Nyro, Donovan"
4. ^ a b "The Divine Miss N – An Essay by Peter Rocheleau". earthlink.net. http://home.earthlink.net/~peter_rocheleau/. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
5. ^ a b Lawson, Dawn (June 2000). "Nyro, Laura". Nyro, Laura. American National Biography Online. http://www.anb.org/articles/18/18-03520.html. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
6. ^ a b "Bio". Laura's Anthology. Lauranyro.com. http://www.lauranyro.com/bio.htm. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
7. ^ "Artie Mogull (1927–2004) – Memorial". Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10004527. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
8. ^ Harrington, Joe S. Sonic Cool: The Life and Death of Rock 'n' Roll. Hal Leonard (2002), p. 231. ISBN 0-634-02861-8.
9. ^ Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, July 5, 1991, p. 10.
10. ^ Connecticut Department of Health. Connecticut Death Index, 1949–2001 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2003.
11. ^ Lady Lightning
12. ^ Cyndi Lauper, At Last, promo DVD
13. ^ Elvis Costello with Elton John, episode 1
14. ^ "Intersections: Stephen Schwartz's Musical Ghosts". NPR. May 10, 2004. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1875136. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
15. ^ "Bette Midler pays tribute to Laura Nyro" (Press release). BBC. February 27, 2005. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/02_february/27/nyro.shtml. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
16. ^ Ian, Janis. Society's Child: My Autobiography. New York: Tarcher, 2008, p. 99.
17. ^ Bill De Main, "A Conversation with Todd Rundgren", puremusic.com
________________________________________________
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
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waxburn
Old Love
USA
735 Posts |
Posted - 24/11/2012 : 03:02:41
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withour Laura Nyro there would have no David Geffen and his 10 billion dollars. he took half of tuna fish music and then sold it to columbia, and he was off to the races. Lucky for him that Nyro wasnt Dylan and he wasnt Al Grossman. Hed be broke instead of being a billionaire.
the best Phil record is Tape from California. |
Edited by - waxburn on 24/11/2012 03:05:03 |
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sometimesmylifeissoeerie
Fourth Love
198 Posts |
Posted - 26/11/2012 : 07:52:51
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They just had an "American Masters" show on David Geffen. This is how sad PBS has become; instead of doing a show on an actual creator of music like Laura Nyro, they do a show glorifying this scuzzbag bloodsucker, who screwed so many people on his way to the top, you probably can't count them. And what can he do? Nothing. Incredible.
To Geffen's disgust, Bob Harris of the Old, Grey Whistle Test mentioned Judee Sill as one of his greatest artists on Asylum in an interview with Geffen briefly shown on the special.
Geffen must have gagged on his gefilte fish. She was the first artist he signed for Asylum, and he cut all promotion for her LPs after Joni Mitchell told him she didn't want another female artist on Asylum (see the book "Hotel California" for more info on that).
Then, when Judee outed him for doing that, he dropped her from the label, and had her blacklisted from the music industry, throwing her into a depression which ended with her OD at the age of 35.
Geffen's only mention of her in his huge biography written years later was as a "prostitute/junkie". David Geffen, American Master(bator). |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9866 Posts |
Posted - 26/11/2012 : 16:10:15
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quote:
Originally posted by sometimesmylifeissoeerie
They just had an "American Masters" show on David Geffen. This is how sad PBS has become; instead of doing a show on an actual creator of music like Laura Nyro, they do a show glorifying this scuzzbag bloodsucker, who screwed so many people on his way to the top, you probably can't count them. And what can he do? Nothing. Incredible.
To Geffen's disgust, Bob Harris of the Old, Grey Whistle Test mentioned Judee Sill as one of his greatest artists on Asylum in an interview with Geffen briefly shown on the special.
Geffen must have gagged on his gefilte fish. She was the first artist he signed for Asylum, and he cut all promotion for her LPs after Joni Mitchell told him she didn't want another female artist on Asylum (see the book "Hotel California" for more info on that).
Then, when Judee outed him for doing that, he dropped her from the label, and had her blacklisted from the music industry, throwing her into a depression which ended with her OD at the age of 35.
Geffen's only mention of her in his huge biography written years later was as a "prostitute/junkie". David Geffen, American Master(bator).
Judee didn't help matters with her usual honestly...calling Geffin a "fat f#gg@t"; Judee was one of-a-kind and a genius talent.
Her troubles ran far deeper than Geffen...she wouldn't share the stage with all that sellout rock "sh#t", and she led a terribly hard life. A series of auto accidents that left her with debilitating back pain and a rap sheet that caused unfeeling doctors to deny meds for her pain, which in turn caused a backslide into her addiction & illegal pain meds, resulting in an overdose.
Judee on BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test...and as usual, the UK loved & supported our many forgotten or sadly undiscovered talents.
a brilliant live "The Kiss"...with a fine background introduction-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0feFedDW_iQ
I cherish my Judee Sill vinyl!
Judee was the first artist to record for Geffen.
________________________________________________
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 26/11/2012 16:25:17 |
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waxburn
Old Love
USA
735 Posts |
Posted - 29/11/2012 : 06:49:05
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quote:
Originally posted by sometimesmylifeissoeerie
They just had an "American Masters" show on David Geffen. This is how sad PBS has become; instead of doing a show on an actual creator of music like Laura Nyro, they do a show glorifying this scuzzbag bloodsucker, who screwed so many people on his way to the top, you probably can't count them. And what can he do? Nothing. Incredible.
To Geffen's disgust, Bob Harris of the Old, Grey Whistle Test mentioned Judee Sill as one of his greatest artists on Asylum in an interview with Geffen briefly shown on the special.
Geffen must have gagged on his gefilte fish. She was the first artist he signed for Asylum, and he cut all promotion for her LPs after Joni Mitchell told him she didn't want another female artist on Asylum (see the book "Hotel California" for more info on that).
Then, when Judee outed him for doing that, he dropped her from the label, and had her blacklisted from the music industry, throwing her into a depression which ended with her OD at the age of 35.
Geffen's only mention of her in his huge biography written years later was as a "prostitute/junkie". David Geffen, American Master(bator).
im pretty certain that Judee Sill first album was the first ever release on Asylum, David Blue being second, if my memory serves me correctly. Judee Sill was a lesbian( and so was Nyro), by the way, and i doubt she outed Geffen, it was no secret in the music industry.
both Blue and Sill were mediocre talents. Jackson Browne was the first real artist they had, and he got signed because Geffen was in love with him. browne was a major talent that is sort of forgotten nowadays. |
Edited by - waxburn on 29/11/2012 06:51:53 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9866 Posts |
Posted - 29/11/2012 : 14:24:29
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quote:
Originally posted by waxburn
quote:
Originally posted by sometimesmylifeissoeerie
They just had an "American Masters" show on David Geffen. This is how sad PBS has become; instead of doing a show on an actual creator of music like Laura Nyro, they do a show glorifying this scuzzbag bloodsucker, who screwed so many people on his way to the top, you probably can't count them. And what can he do? Nothing. Incredible.
To Geffen's disgust, Bob Harris of the Old, Grey Whistle Test mentioned Judee Sill as one of his greatest artists on Asylum in an interview with Geffen briefly shown on the special.
Geffen must have gagged on his gefilte fish. She was the first artist he signed for Asylum, and he cut all promotion for her LPs after Joni Mitchell told him she didn't want another female artist on Asylum (see the book "Hotel California" for more info on that).
Then, when Judee outed him for doing that, he dropped her from the label, and had her blacklisted from the music industry, throwing her into a depression which ended with her OD at the age of 35.
Geffen's only mention of her in his huge biography written years later was as a "prostitute/junkie". David Geffen, American Master(bator).
im pretty certain that Judee Sill first album was the first ever release on Asylum, David Blue being second, if my memory serves me correctly. Judee Sill was a lesbian( and so was Nyro), by the way, and i doubt she outed Geffen, it was no secret in the music industry.
both Blue and Sill were mediocre talents. Jackson Browne was the first real artist they had, and he got signed because Geffen was in love with him. browne was a major talent that is sort of forgotten nowadays.
Correct, WB. Judee was Geffen's first release on Asylum. Her bi-sexualness was not an issue, and it was well known about Geffen's preferences...but he didn't like how Judee put it to the public, on air. She felt betrayed as far as being promoted properly and so vented it in a nasty way; unfortunately for Judee, Geffen had the influence to use it against her with his power in the industry.
I must agree to disagree though- both Sill & Blue were unique artists and extremely talented, AND quite influential then & now!
Such artists can be hard to market though, as they don't fit everyone's tastes-my kind of music.
________________________________________________
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
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waxburn
Old Love
USA
735 Posts |
Posted - 29/11/2012 : 20:49:16
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quote:
Originally posted by lemonade kid
quote:
Originally posted by waxburn
quote:
Originally posted by sometimesmylifeissoeerie
They just had an "American Masters" show on David Geffen. This is how sad PBS has become; instead of doing a show on an actual creator of music like Laura Nyro, they do a show glorifying this scuzzbag bloodsucker, who screwed so many people on his way to the top, you probably can't count them. And what can he do? Nothing. Incredible.
To Geffen's disgust, Bob Harris of the Old, Grey Whistle Test mentioned Judee Sill as one of his greatest artists on Asylum in an interview with Geffen briefly shown on the special.
Geffen must have gagged on his gefilte fish. She was the first artist he signed for Asylum, and he cut all promotion for her LPs after Joni Mitchell told him she didn't want another female artist on Asylum (see the book "Hotel California" for more info on that).
Then, when Judee outed him for doing that, he dropped her from the label, and had her blacklisted from the music industry, throwing her into a depression which ended with her OD at the age of 35.
Geffen's only mention of her in his huge biography written years later was as a "prostitute/junkie". David Geffen, American Master(bator).
im pretty certain that Judee Sill first album was the first ever release on Asylum, David Blue being second, if my memory serves me correctly. Judee Sill was a lesbian( and so was Nyro), by the way, and i doubt she outed Geffen, it was no secret in the music industry.
both Blue and Sill were mediocre talents. Jackson Browne was the first real artist they had, and he got signed because Geffen was in love with him. browne was a major talent that is sort of forgotten nowadays.
Correct, WB. Judee was Geffen's first release on Asylum. Her bi-sexualness was not an issue, and it was well known about Geffen's preferences...but he didn't like how Judee put it to the public, on air. She felt betrayed as far as being promoted properly and so vented it in a nasty way; unfortunately for Judee, Geffen had the influence to use it against her with his power in the industry.
I must agree to disagree though- both Sill & Blue were unique artists and extremely talented, AND quite influential then & now!
Such artists can be hard to market though, as they don't fit everyone's tastes-my kind of music.
________________________________________________
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy
Judee Sill had talent, but S David Cohen aka David Blue had very little, his albums are barely listenable dylan imitations. the man just had no music in him. the only reason geffen put out david blue and that awful bobby neuwrith album(which i believe was on asylum as well) was that he wanted to sign dylan.  |
Edited by - waxburn on 29/11/2012 20:52:54 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9866 Posts |
Posted - 29/11/2012 : 22:21:50
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Only his first album is a Dylan sounding collection--not my favorite. The rest of Blue's catalog is filled with Blue's own unique folk sound and quite remarkable....try "Stories" Waxburn...you may change your mind I hope.
Blue may have been a very good friend of Dylan's, but he was not a copy...Dylan respected him and included Blue in one of his tours. If Bobby didn't like someone, he told them, & he didn't include them as a feature act in a tour.
"Looking For A Friend"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgJHnZ8hwd8
Another One Like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz46zmWqddY
House of Changing Faces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O48Dgq9TeoM
________________________________________________
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 29/11/2012 22:25:09 |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3485 Posts |
Posted - 30/11/2012 : 01:14:07
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| Can you please crawl out your window Phil! |
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sometimesmylifeissoeerie
Fourth Love
198 Posts |
Posted - 30/11/2012 : 02:20:27
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Yeah, Judee Sill was a mediocre talent.
That's probably why J.D. Souther and all of the songwriters of that period practically worshipped her. To quote Souther "Judee Sill was like school for all of us back then" "Hotel California", Barney Hoskyns.
The fact that she was married a few times would make her bi-sexual, not just a lesbian. In addition, Geffen was not openly gay at that time (1971-72), and was beyond furious about being outed, but don't let facts get in your way.
Here's an example of her mediocre talent- she composed, orchestrated, played piano, conducted, and sang on this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAT_AAEHO4 |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3485 Posts |
Posted - 30/11/2012 : 04:14:54
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| I like that song of Judy's (Till Dreams Come True) where she breaks a glass at the beginning! |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3485 Posts |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9866 Posts |
Posted - 30/11/2012 : 15:32:38
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quote:
Originally posted by sometimesmylifeissoeerie
Yeah, Judee Sill was a mediocre talent.
That's probably why J.D. Souther and all of the songwriters of that period practically worshipped her. To quote Souther "Judee Sill was like school for all of us back then" "Hotel California", Barney Hoskyns.
The fact that she was married a few times would make her bi-sexual, not just a lesbian. In addition, Geffen was not openly gay at that time (1971-72), and was beyond furious about being outed, but don't let facts get in your way.
Here's an example of her mediocre talent- she composed, orchestrated, played piano, conducted, and sang on this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAT_AAEHO4
And Geffen was also bi-sexual with some long term hetero relationships. AC-DC.... Not for me, but whatever floats your boat...is cool.
________________________________________________
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy |
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Phil Ochs
