"Bracero" (by Phil Ochs, a truthteller)

[ConsAreLiars]

From: http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/bracero.html

Bracero
By Phil Ochs


Wade into the river, through the rippling shallow watter
Steal across the thirsty border, bracero
Come bring your hungry bodies to the golden fields of plenty
From a peso to a penny, bracero
Oh, Welcome to California
Where the friendly farmer will take care of you

Come labor for your mother, your father and your brother
For your sister and your lover, bracero
Come pick the fruit of yellow, break the flower from the berry
Purple grapes will fill your belly, bracero
Oh, Welcome to California
Where the friendly farmer will take care of you

And the sun will bite your body, as the dust will draw you thristy
While your muscles beg for mercy, bracero
In the shade of your sombrero, drop your sweat upon the soil
Like the fruit your youth can spoil, bracero
Oh, Welcome to California
Where the friendly farmer will take care of you

When the weary night embraces, sleep in shacks that could be cages
They will take it from your wages, bracero
Come sing about tomorrow with a jingle of the dollar
And forget your crooked collar, bracero
Oh, Welcome to California
Where the friendly farmer will take care of you

And the local men are lazy, and they make too much of trouble
Besides we'd have to pay the double, bracero
But if you feel you're fallin', if you find the pace is killing
There are others who are willing, bracero
Oh, Welcome to California
Where the friendly farmer will take care of you

[murielm99]

1. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I have that album.

Listen to The Cops of the World. All these years later, we are still doing the same, wrong things.

[ConsAreLiars]

3. And also "White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land"

(I changed my original title to indicate that, in essence, my posting of those lyrics was a tribute to Phil Ochs. His was a unique voice.)

From: http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/white-boots.html

White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land
By Phil Ochs

The pilots playing poker in the cockpit of the plane
The casualties arriving like the dropping of the rain
And a mountain of machinery will fall before a man
When you're white boots marching in a yellow land

It's written in the ashes of the village towns we burn
It's written in the empty bed of the fathers unreturned
And the chocolate in the childrens eyes will never understand
When you're white boots marching in a yellow land

Red blow the bugles of the dawn
The morning has arrived you must be gone
And the lost patrol chase their chartered(*) souls
Like cold/old(?) whores following tired armies

Train them well, the men who will be fighting by your side
And never turn your back if the battle turns the tide
For the colours of a civil war are louder than commands
When you're white boots marching in a yellow land

Blow them from the forest and burn them from your sight
Tie their hands behind their back and question through the night
But when the firing squad is ready they'll be spitting where they stand
At the white boots marching in a yellow land

Red blow the bugles of the dawn
The morning has arrived you must be gone
And the lost patrol chase their chartered souls
Like cold whores following tired armies

The comic and the beauty queen are dancing on the stage
Raw recruits are lining up like coffins in a cage
We're fighting in a war we lost before the war began
We're the white boots marching in a yellow land

And the lost patrol chase their chartered souls
like cold whores following tired armies

NOTES: (*) There has been confusion about this word. The word "chartered" is what is in the song books, and makes sense with the meaning "hired", "paid for".

[Squeech]

11. Yup

There's a William Blake poem that also uses the word "chartered" in this sense. Ochs was a smart fellow and his use of the word was undoubtedly an allusion or homage. If I were equally smart I'd remember what poem it was :blush:

But I love Phil Ochs. Great tragedy that he felt like such a failure he committed suicide. I believe if he'd only hung on another year he'd have heard the Clash and it would have given him renewed hope.

[Ilsa]

2. I wrote a paper on braceros (yes it was in the title) for a term paper

for an economics class ages ago. Geez, about 28 years ago. I had to hire a typist who used a typewriter. I don't remember the outline. I probably covered social/criminal/education/microeconomics in it, but I suspect it would no longer be valid given the expense of medical care these days which was negligible then.

[greenman3610]

4. a truthteller who committed suicide

[ConsAreLiars]

5. Yes, we lost a good soul.

If you can listen to "Pleasure of the Harbor" without tearing up, you may not understand, but if any criticism is to be made, it is just that he cared too much. The words give only a hint: http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/pleasures.html

Or "Flower Lady": http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/flower-lady.html

Or "The Passing of my Life": http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/flower-lady.html

Or even "Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends": http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/small-circle-of-friends.html

[murielm99]

6. His suicide does not invalidate his talent and his truthfulness.

He was in pain.

Have you ever known a person who attempted or succeeded at suicide? Their pain is so great they can think of no other way to stop it.

He did care too much. His suicide was probably caused by mental illness and alcoholism that he developed before his death. He was sure he had lost his voice, too.

I heard him sing live once. It was an amazing experience. Truth tellers often seem to die young.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Suicide?

or Suicided?

Ochs had started speaking out very loudly about the atrocities being committed in South America, specifically Chile, by the CIA. He was trying to do everything he could to let people know what the US was doing down there and he feared that we would be seeing the same thing in the US within a year or two.

I can't imagine why they would have wanted to shut him up? :sarcasm:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. Not suicided. Ochs was very depressed. eom

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Yes he was

I got to see his last solo performance at Avery Fisher Hall.

It was one of the most bizarre nights of my life.

Ochs was telling everyone in the hall to arm themselves. That the CIA had killed 1000's of people in Chile and that they were coming to the US next to do the same thing to us. A few people started yelling at him and that went back and forth. By the time the performance was over everyone in the room was freaked out.

So yes, it is most likely that he did commit suicide, but being 'suicided' can't be automatically ruled out either in this case.

[oasis]

7. Thanks for posting.nt

[ConsAreLiars]

8. You're welcome. Ochs' voice and words are as true and compelling

today as they were then, sad to say. Unlike many of the more famous "folk singers" of that era, he was acutely conscious of racism and the condition of the disposessed. "Bracero" is just one example.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

13. Och's words were amazing and when I saw him live I walked out on him.

His music was monotonous. Most every song sounding like the one before. I decided just to read his lyrics after that.

[obreaslan]

9. All you need to do is look at my Avatar and Sig. Line to know how I feel..

about Phil Ochs. :hi:

Sadly, there are a lot of Phil Ochs songs that are still poignant today.

Look at Knock On The Door...

In many a time, in many a land,
With many a gun in many a hand,
They came by the night, they came by the day,
Came with their guns to take us away

With a knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.

Back in the days of the roman empire,
They died by the cross and they died by the fire.
In the stone coliseum, the crowd gave a roar,
And it all began with that knock on the door

Just a knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.

The years have all passed, we’ve reached modern times,
The nazis have come with their nazi war crimes.
Yes the power was there, the power was found,
Six million people have heard that same sound

That old knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.

Now there’s many new words and many new names,
The banners have changed but the knock is the same.
On the soviet shores with right on their side,
I wonder who knows how many have died

With their knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.

Look over the oceans, look over the lands,
Look over the leaders with the blood on their hands.
And open your eyes and see what they do,
When they knock over their friend they’re knocking for you

With their knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
With their knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.