Re: [sixties-l] Phil Ochs in 1972

From: Carrol Cox (cbcox@ilstu.edu)
Date: Wed Aug 02 2000 - 16:01:22 CUT

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    Merry Maisel wrote:

    > my favorite Phil Ochs tune was "Love me, Love me, Love me--I'm a Liberal!"
    > anyone have the words?

    Use your Web searcher and you can find all of his lyrics, including some
    non-recorded ones.

    The information given us as to his male chauvinism sort of blunts the force of
    this song.

    Carrol

    ============

    Love Me, I'm a Liberal

    By Phil Ochs

      E A E A
    I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
    E C#m
    Tears ran down my spine
       E A E
    I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
                   F#7 B7
    As though I'd lost a father of mine
         E A E
    But Malcolm X got what was coming
       G#m A
    He got what he asked for this time
       E C#m A B7 E
    So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

    I go to civil rights rallies
    And I put down the old D.A.R.
    I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
    I hope every colored boy becomes a star
    But don't talk about revolution
    That's going a little bit too far
    So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

    I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
    My faith in the system restored
    I'm glad the commies were thrown out
    of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
    I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
    as long as they don't move next door
    So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

    The people of old Mississippi
    Should all hang their heads in shame
    I can't understand how their minds work
    What's the matter don't they watch Les Crain?
    But if you ask me to bus my children
    I hope the cops take down your name
    So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

    I read New republic and Nation
    I've learned to take every view
    You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden
    I feel like I'm almost a Jew
    But when it comes to times like korea
    There's no one more red, white and blue
    So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

    I vote for the democtratic party
    They want the U.N. to be strong
    I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
    He sure gets me singing those songs
    I'll send all the money you ask for
    But don't ask me to come on along
    So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

    Once I was young and impulsive
    I wore every conceivable pin
    Even went to the socialist meetings
    Learned all the old union hymns
    But I've grown older and wiser
    And that's why I'm turning you in
    So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

    Notes:

    Lerner & Golden were both columnists with left-leaning tendencies. Harry
    Golden, a humorist, wrote
    some marvelous books and short stories. One I recall is his plan for
    integration in schools in the
    south (this was back when). Since the Southerners didn't mind blacks standing
    next to whites when
    making purchases in stores, he proposed that they take out all the chairs in
    the schools and let the
    students stand to learn. He called this "vertical integration".

    Les Crane had a talk show in the south. (Nothing virulent like the current
    ones!)

    -- SonnyOchs@aol.com

    Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon did a cover of this song with some updated lyrics.
    Mojo Nixon sang
    this updated version solo on Comedy Central during their 1996 State of the
    Union show.

    Chords supplied by Guy Matz and corrected by James Barnett.
    Last modified 20 Dec 98 by trent



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