All the News That's Fit to Sing

All The News That's Fit To Sing was Phil Ochs' first album. Recorded in 1964 for Elektra Records, it was full of many elements that would come back throughout his career. It was the album that defined his "singing journalist" phase, strewn with songs whose roots were allegedly pulled from Newsweek magazine. It is one in a long line of folk albums used to tell stories about everyday struggles and hardships.

Related Topics:
Phil Ochs - 1964 - Elektra Records - Newsweek

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Among these stories was that of William Worthy, an American journalist who traveled to Cuba in spite of an embargo on the country who was forbidden to return to the United States. Civil rights figures Medgar Evers and Emmett Till were lionized in "Too Many Martyrs" (alternatively known as "The Ballad of Medgar Evers".) Two "talking blues" using the melody to the old folk song "John Hardy" jabbed sarcastic at Vietnam and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Even a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Bells", was set to music.

Related Topics:
Medgar Evers - Emmett Till - Edgar Allan Poe

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The best song on the album, perhaps the best of Ochs' career, was "The Power And The Glory". A shining example of truly how great it is to be an American, it also warned that Americans have a duty to make sure that their fellow countrymen have a basic set of standards in which to live by. It is one of the most covered of Ochs' songs, even if some of those who have covered it (such as ultra-right winger Anita Bryant) didn't have a clue who Phil Ochs was or what he was all about.

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