Rehearsals for Retirement

Rehearsals For Retirement was Phil Ochs' sixth album, released in 1969 on A&M Records. Recorded in the aftermath of Ochs' presence at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago (where his exploits included selecting and purchasing a pig for Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies to nominate for President), it is the darkest of Ochs' albums, a fact exemplified by its cover, a tombstone proclaiming that Ochs had died in Chicago.

Related Topics:
Phil Ochs - 1969 - A&M Records - 1968 - Chicago - Abbie Hoffman - Yippies

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"Pretty Smart On My Part", the album opener, was a song in the person of a right-wing reactionary, who plans to, among other things, "assassinate the President and take over the government" (the song was noted on Ochs' lengthy FBI file). "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed" was Ochs' telling of the events that unfolded in Chicago, followed by an upbeat jaunt berating those that weren't there. "The World Began in Eden and Ended in Los Angeles" seemingly portrays Ochs' then-home as a hellhole, as all metropolises eventually end up. "Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore" is the tale of a woman seeking out her ex-lover, and finding Ochs instead, telling a tale of loneliness that permeates throughout American life.

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Perhaps the most depressing track on the album was "My Life", which stated, rather bluntly, that "my life is like a death to me". It precipitates Ochs' suicide seven years later.

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