Phil Ochs on Macdougal Sreet in Greenwich Village 1965

Phil Ochs on Macdougal Sreet in Greenwich Village 1965

Sonny Ochs History of Phil Ochs Song Nights

On April 9, 1976 my brother, Phil Ochs, ended his life by hanging himself. He was 35 years old. He had written over 100 songs, and had traveled to many countries. He suffered from manic-depression and had been experiencing a long term writer's block. Many of his songs had been recorded by artists such as John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, Ronnie Gilbert, Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Pete Seeger.

Six years after Phil's death, Ned Traynor who was then active with the musicians' cooperative which was producing concerts at the Speakeasy on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, suggested that they do a Phil Ochs Song Night. I said that I thought it was a great idea. From time to time I would call up and suggest the name of a performer I would like to see in the program. Everyone I suggested was accepted. After a while, I realized that nobody was really in charge.

Anyhow, I was at that first show and emceed a good portion of it. It was in October of '83, but I don't recall the exact date. It was quite disorganized with far too many performers. I left at about midnight, and there were still many others waiting to perform. Most of the performers were members of the Hudson River Sloop Singers who are affiliated with the Clearwater.