Phil Ochs Quotes
Quotes to Explore
-
The white man made the mistake of letting me read his history books. He made the mistake of teaching me that Patrick Henry was a patriot and George Washington – wasn't nothing non-violent about old Pat or George Washington.
-
I used to watch 'Top of the Pops' when I was a kid and say 'Yeah!' or 'Boo!' at every single song. So there was nothing in the middle. You brutally put it on one side or another.
-
There's something about live players that you cannot get with machines: With live musicians, you can strike a groove, you can feed off each other... And, even though somebody might make a slight mistake, it's all real!
-
To me, there is nothing more soothing than the song of a mosquito that can't get through the mesh to bite you.
-
I fantasise about what the future could be in terms of aesthetic and psychology. It's the most difficult thing to do because you have to start from the past - your favourite architect, your favourite song - you take it all with you.
-
Very often, writing a song is a process that happens to me rather than one that I instigate. I feel a song coming on and, like a sneeze; I wait for it until it comes.
-
The first album I ever bought with my own money was 'Ten.' Every single song reminds me of my childhood.
-
It is such a gift to be able to write songs in general, but when you can share it with somebody, it is just such a pleasure. It is such a happy moment when you finish a song, and you are just like, 'Wow - that was great.'
-
I like finding that common point between another song and my music. It's like between people; you can be of religion or another, from this country or from another country, but we're all basically the same. It's just the same with songs.
-
Music's always been really cathartic. It's the best drug for me to get away from the everyday pressures just for a second via a good song.
-
At first, I did have that thought, like, 'Oh crap, what are we going to do after?' Then I realized 'Girl in a Country Song' was an honest, truthful song, and we were telling our truth, and that's all we have to do - write songs that are true and tell our stories.
-
When I was a little girl, my dream was just to hear my song on the radio. It was very fascinating to me, and I was like, 'How do I do that?' Now it's like, 'Oh my God, my song is on the radio!'
-
If someone had told me when I was a kid I'd get an ovation from Frank Sinatra! One time, I did a song called 'I Am A Singer', but I rewrote the words for Frank. I was in tears and, when he got up, so was he.
-
It usually takes me 20 to 90 minutes to write a song because once I start, I don't stop. If I start writing a song, and you try to have a conversation with me, you're a bad person.
-
Sometimes videos make a bad song very tight.
-
I'm ambitious. But if I weren't as talented as I am ambitious, I would be a gross monstrosity.
-
If the great Government of the United States were a private corporation no bank would take its name on a piece of paper, because it has cynically repudiated the words engraved upon its bonds.
-
I didn't used to do shows, because I used to be so shy. We'd perform, and I'd be at the back, thinking of another song. I was so shy, I ain't never getting in front of the camera; I would never get on stage.
-
When I was driving home after registration, I heard this song on the radio, a guy singing about not ever going to class in college and always hanging out and singing for his friends. I laughed and said, I can relate, because it was so much like me. I realized right then I would pull out of school and pursue a music career.
-
Drugs are fine for you alone at home, but when it comes to being a family, which a band is, it just messes everything up.
-
I'm not a birthday person. Maybe because I don't like to build expectations around that one day. You never know how it'll turn out to be.
-
I didn't need the insurance. I do it again if my DP tells me it didn't look good in the camera or if the actors didn't hit their marks. But if everything was working why do it again?
-
It is our actions and the soul's active exercise of its functions that we posit as being Happiness.
-
A protest song is a song that's so specific that you cannot mistake it for bullshit.
