The Idiots Never Get It

I've covered Phil Ochs here before. One of the men of our short-lived flirtation with revolution whom I sincerely admire. Yeah, I know he snapped and his life ended on a truly long and disturbing downhill slide, but for a while he was brilliant and courageous and worth hearing.

One of the songs that he wrote was "Love Me, I'm a Liberal". It sums up what he thought of the American liberal. And when I heard it all of my own thoughts and feelings toward liberals were given voice: they're a bunch of limp cowards who accomplish nothing save preserving the status quo at the expense of standing up and actually creating a just world.

A few months ago I stumbled upon a video of Mojo Nixon singing Mr. Ochs' tune for all the wrong reasons. Mojo Nixon is a right wing rat-shit who thought his cover of the old tune was quite clever. In fact, it was wrong on every level I could possibly imagine. The fact that this cover was disseminated proves that there are no ghosts, else Phil Ochs would have returned from the dead and ripped Mojo Nixon's guts out in front of the cameras recording this travesty. In an ideal Phil Ochs kind of world, Nixon and his neo-Fascist cohorts would be in reeducation camps or hanging from a gallows. It's too bad this could not come to pass.

Here are the lyrics of Ochs' "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" without the smarmy disgusting presence of right wing shithead Mojo Nixon:

I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though I'd lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
as long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch Les Crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I read New republic and Nation
I've learned to take every view
You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I'm almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like Korea
There's no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I vote for the democratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I'll send all the money you ask for
But don't ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal


And here is a song tribute to Phil Ochs by, ironically, a liberal. But at least the song is heartfelt and not spat out by a greedy, hateful, ignorant Libertarian shithead like Mojo Nixon: