Phil Ochs Quotes

A protest song is a song that's so specific that you cannot mistake it for bullshit.

Phil Ochs

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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.

  

  Malcolm X
  • History
  • Man
  • Mistake

• 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.

  

  Damien Hirst
  • Song
  • Single
  • Kid

• 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!

  

  Isaac Hayes
  • Live
  • Real
  • Mistake

• As a songwriter I hate this whole, 'If it's a sad song, it has to sound like a sad song thing.' And that goes all the way back to my days with the Format. I'm an insane narcissist, so if I have to get something off my chest, I'll get something off my chest.

  

  Nate Ruess Fun.
  • Song
  • Hate
  • Sad

• 'Make You Miss Me' is an important song to me. Having it go No. 1 as the fifth single off of my first record is the cherry on top of a chapter in my life I'll never forget.

  

  Sam Hunt
  • Life
  • Important
  • Song

• To me, there is nothing more soothing than the song of a mosquito that can't get through the mesh to bite you.

  

  Madison Smartt Bell
  • Song
  • Me
  • Soothing

• 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.

  

  Raf Simons
  • Future
  • Song
  • Past

• 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.

  

  Kat Edmonson
  • Writing
  • Song
  • Process

• The first album I ever bought with my own money was 'Ten.' Every single song reminds me of my childhood.

  

  Aaron Paul
  • Money
  • Song
  • Single

• 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.'

  

  Valerie June
  • Great
  • Happy
  • Song

• 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.

  

  Yael Naim
  • People
  • Music
  • Country

• 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.

  

  Ville Valo HIM
  • Good
  • Music
  • 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.

  

  Madison Marlow
  • Country
  • Truth
  • True

• 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!'

  

  Bebe Rexha
  • God
  • Dream
  • Song

• 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.

  

  Irwin Thomas
  • Song
  • Tears
  • Frank Sinatra

• 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.

  

  Halsey
  • Writing
  • Bad
  • Song

• Sometimes videos make a bad song very tight.

  

  Thebe Neruda Kgositsile
  • Bad
  • Song
  • Sometimes

• I'm ambitious. But if I weren't as talented as I am ambitious, I would be a gross monstrosity.

  

  Madonna Breakfast Club
  • Talent
  • Ambitious
  • Monstrosity

• You just do the best you can. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to get worse the more you do it. It can get better, I think... aspects of it, anyway. I mean, I don't write as much as I used to. But I don't do a lot of things as much as I used to. So that's the natural order of things, too. You're more or less living in the present. You're just trying to get that next song, whatever it is. And not think too much about what happened on the last record, or the record you made 20 years ago, because those are over with. Those are done.

  

  Loudon Wainwright III
  • Thinking
  • Writing
  • Trying

• What rare days were those, When my chief duty was to write a song.

  

  George Arnold
  • Writing
  • Song
  • Duty

• Wherever inspiration comes from, it's like I'll hear a melody and chords, almost a rough structure of the whole thing [song]. I'll just hear it and chase what's in my head. The rest comes from jamming with band, improvising, seeing what comes up as well. I'll come up with it off the top of my head, catch it, sing and hum, and if something is missing, just jam, and that's the [songwriting] process.

  

  Chris Wyse
  • Song
  • Inspiration
  • Songwriting

• Generally I just pick music that I like. That's the part I really enjoy: When I get permission for the songs I want and put them into the scenes. It's always hard when you're doing a low-budget film, so it's great when you can get all the music you want to get.

  

  Sofia Coppola
  • Song
  • Film
  • Enjoy

• I'm no lyrical stylist; you wouldn't pick me for a perfect sentence, and I certainly wouldn't describe my novels as intellectual.

  

  Joanna Trollope
  • Perfect

• A protest song is a song that's so specific that you cannot mistake it for bullshit.

  

  Phil Ochs
  • Song
  • Mistake