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I'm Going To Say It Now -- Phil Ochs

As promised, a more serious take on student affairs, by one of my favourite
singer/songwriters...
(Poem #1909) I'm Going To Say It Now
 Oh I am just a student, sir, and only want to learn
 But it's hard to read through the risin' smoke from the books
 that you like to burn
 So I'd like to make a promise and I'd like to make a vow
 That when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now

 Oh you've given me a number and you've taken off my name
 To get around this campus why you almost need a plane
 And you're supporting Chang Kai-Shek, while I'm supporting Mao
 So when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now

 I wish that you'd make up your mind, I wish that you'd decide
 That I should live as freely as those who live outside
 Cause we also are entitled to the rights to be endowed
 And when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now

 Oh, you'd like to be my father you'd like to be my Dad
 And give me kisses when I'm good and spank me when I'm bad
 But since I've left my parents I've forgotten how to bow
 So when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now

 And things they might be different if I was here alone
 But I've got a friend or two who no longer live at home
 And we'll respect our elders just as long as they allow
 That when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now

 I've read of other countries where the students take a stand
 Maybe even help to overthrow the leaders of the land
 Now I wouldn't go so far to say we're also learnin' how
 But when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now

 So keep right on a-talkin' and tell us what to do
 If nobody listens my apologies to you
 And I know that you were younger once 'cause you sure are older now
 And when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now

 Oh I am just a student sir, and only want to learn
 But it's hard to read through the risin' smoke from the books
 that you like to burn
 So I'd like to make a promise and I'd like to make a vow
 That when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now
-- Phil Ochs
Student activism has a long and complex history; in the United States of the
'60s it was a two-pronged affair, mainly concerning itself with the
educational system, but gaining increasing political focus and prominence.
Ochs addresses both these concerns in his typically edgy, sardonic style,
setting the tone immediately with the hard-hitting

 But it's hard to read through the risin' smoke from the books
 that you like to burn

and then throwing down the gauntlet with

 So I'd like to make a promise and I'd like to make a vow
 That when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now

An interesting thing to note about today's song is the way that Ochs's
lyrics combine deceptively simple word choices with complex metrical
patterns and strong rhymes - a combination that suits both his music and the
nature and purpose of the folk song almost ideally. Like most of the poems
in the current "Bright College Days" theme, it has achieved a certain
measure of timelessness; the song became one of the anthems of the 1960s
free speech movement, but the problems it addresses are faced by students
today no less than those of fifty years ago.

martin

[Links]

A brief clip of Ochs singing the fourth verse:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_D5yTGzACc&search=phil%20ochs

Wikipedia on student activism:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_activism

An interesting discussion of the song:
  http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0202d&L=ads-l&P=19728

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