A Toast to Those Who are Gone

[AlienGirl]

A Toast to Those Who Are Gone
By Phil Ochs


Many's the hour I've lain by my window
and thought of the people who carried the burden
Who marched in the strange fields in search of an answer
And ended their journeys an unwilling hero

Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
And a toast of the wine at the end of the line
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

Back in the coal fields of old Harlan county
Some talked of the union, some talked of good wages
And they lined them up in the dark of the forest
And shot them down without asking no questions

Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
And a toast of the wine to the end of the line
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

And over the ocean, to the red Spanish soil
came the lincoln brigade with their dreams of a victory
But they fell in the fire of Germany's bombing
And they fell 'cause no one would hear their sad warning

Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
And a toast of the wine at the end of the line
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

In old Alabama, in old Mississippi
Two states of the union so often found guilty
They came on the busses, they came on the marches
And they lay in the jails or they fell by the highway

Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
And a toast of the wine at the end of the line
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

The state it was texas, the town it was Dallas
In the flash of a rifle a life was soon over
And nobody thought of the past million murders
And the long list of irony(?) had found a new champion

Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
And a toast of the wine at the end of the line
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

[mike_c]

1. thanks-- phil ochs and I'm off to bed....

What a great song writer.

[enigmatic]

2. My man Phil

What a songwriter; have you heard the "Gunfight At Carnegie Hall" record? It has the best version of "Pleasures Of The Harbor" on it; just Phil and a piano player...

[AlienGirl]

5. Yeah, it's beautiful!

"Pleasures of the Harbor" is one of my favorites.

Tucker

[LRSU_Ghost]

3. None better..

To absent friends...

[WCGreen]

4. I Ain't a Marchin any more.......

Phil Ochs stayed in Cleveland Hts. for about four or five years in the late 50's early 60's. His brother, from DAyton, went on to collect one of the largest rock-n-roll record copllection of all time...

He wanted to donate it to the Rock HAll of Fame but they didn't want, rumour has it, anything to do with the Ochs name connected to the Hall......

[enigmatic]

6. Michael Ochs is a great guy

Met him once in the 80's; couldn't have been nicer to me and my band.

They want nothing to do w/ Phil?? That's crazy...

[WCGreen]

7. It seems that way....

His brother want to donate all his stuff and they said no...

Don't know the back story, but there it is....