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With John Gardiner

Phil Oches: The Undiscovered Folkie

Tuesday, December 3, 2002

I consider myself to be fairly well-versed in the history of popular music over the last 30 years or so, so it was a big surprise to me when I was listening to CBC Radio this past summer and was introduced to Phil Oches. I had not heard of Mr. Oches in all my travels through the music business and it was certainly my loss.
Still, even after listening to an hour long radio show about this guy and hearing a few of his tunes, I couldn't really place him. How could he have slipped through my musical cracks to the point where I'd not even heard of him – especially when he was described on the radio program as one of the most influential people in the history of modern popular music?
Then, this past week, I was looking for something a little different to listen to. Now, the beauty of gathering up every album you can find whenever you can find them is that you always have many tunes around that you've not listened to yet. Especially when you've had a friend dump 600-800 records into your basement in the past year or so.
So, I'm digging around in Ken McLeod's records, and there are plenty of areas where I've not even begun to get into yet, and what do I find? I find not one, but two Phil Oches albums. Yes! I exclaim. What a find!
The one album is a single disc, his "Rehearsal for Retirement" album, while the other one is a two-record set of many of his "hits". I've been listening in earnest to both these records since I made the find and I've found some true gems.
Phil Oches was one of the most influential folk singers of the 1960's. Why isn't he a household name like Bob Dylan or Joan Baez? One of the reasons was because most of his tunes were so controversial that they either never made it to radio, or they were axed after a short time on the air waves.
Oches and Dylan were, in fact, friends in the early '60's, both living in Grenwich Village in New York and plying their trade. The difference between the two, and what eventually led to their falling out, was that Oches lived the part of the folkie totally and completely. Even though he once played to sold out audiences at Carnegie Hall, he could not adjust as the Decade of Love came to an end and the world became an increasingly dark and foreboding place.
He travelled the world playing as many benefit concerts as real paying gigs. He totally believed the dream of the 1960's, but as he watched the Kennedys die, saw the debacle that was Viet Nam, protested at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968 and finally saw the Ohio State National Guard kill four students at Kent State, things came unravelled. All these things troubled him greatly and led him through several dark periods in his life before his death in the mid 1970's.
It was perhaps his participation in the National Democratic Convention in 1968 that was a turning point in his life. The album he released right after the Convention, where he hurried from place to place with his guitar trying to rally the crowd, was Rehearsal for Retirement. On its cover, a tombstone that read: Phil Oches (American), his birth date and the death date listed as the date of the Convention. It was a dark commentary on how he felt about where the country was headed.
Oches did some truly weird things during his performance career, including wearing a tacky Elvis suit for several months and doing Buddy Holly cover tunes. As the '70's progressed, Oches behaviour became more and more outrageous as he seemed to try harder and harder to shock society into seeing what was happening and how it was heading toward destruction.
Phil Oches is one of my new heroes – perhaps the only guy from the '60's who refused to sell out in any way. The only guy who kept fighting the good fight until it literally killed him. After giving some of his material a good listen, I agree that he was one of the best and it's a shame that he doesn't get more attention. He deserves to be remembered.
I'm not even sure his stuff has made the jump to CD. It should be required listening for every one in our society. I feel like I should be burning CDs of his stuff and passing them out as my contribution to the future of humanity. Search this guy out – it's worth the effort.



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.