Rehearsals for Retirement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rehearsals For Retirement
Rehearsals For Retirement cover
Studio album by Phil Ochs
Released 1969
Recorded 1968 - 1969
Genre Folk
Length 38:54
Label A&M
Producer Larry Marks
Professional reviews
Phil Ochs chronology
Tape From California
(1968)		 Rehearsals For Retirement
(1969)		 Greatest Hits
(1970)

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.

"Pretty Smart On My Part", the album opener, is a song in the persona 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" is Ochs' telling of the events that unfolded in Chicago, followed by an upbeat jaunt berating those who weren't there. "The World Began in Eden and Ended in Los Angeles" seems to portray Ochs' then-home as a hellhole, as all metropoleis 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 American life.

Perhaps the most depressing track on the album is "My Life," in which Ochs states bluntly, "my life is like a death to me," which presages Ochs' suicide seven years later. He also asks the FBI to "take your tap from my phone and leave my life alone."

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side One

  1. "Pretty Smart on My Part" (P. Ochs – 3:18)
  2. "The Doll House" (P. Ochs – 4:39)
  3. "I Kill Therefore I Am" (P. Ochs – 2:55)
  4. "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed / Where Were You in Chicago?" (P. Ochs – 3:29)
  5. "My Life" (P. Ochs – 3:12)

[edit] Side Two

  1. "The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns" (P. Ochs – 4:15)
  2. "The World Began in Eden and Ended in Los Angeles" (P. Ochs – 3:06)
  3. "Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore?" (P. Ochs – 6:11)
  4. "Another Age" (P. Ochs – 3:42)
  5. "Rehearsals For Retirement" (P. Ochs – 4:09)

[edit] Participants

  • Phil Ochs - guitar, vocals
  • Larry Marks - producer
  • Lincoln Mayorga - piano, accordion
  • Bob Rafkin - guitar, bass
  • Kevin Kelley - drums (rumored)
  • Ian Freebairn-Smith - arrangements
Phil Ochs
Discography
Studio albums: All the News That's Fit to Sing • I Ain't Marching Anymore • Pleasures of the Harbor • Tape from California • Rehearsals for Retirement • Greatest Hits
Live albums: Phil Ochs in Concert • Gunfight at Carnegie Hall • There and Now: Live in Vancouver 1968 • Live at Newport
Other albums: The Campers: Camp Favorites • Interviews with Phil Ochs
Posthumous releases: Songs for Broadside • The Broadside Tapes 1 • A Toast to Those Who Are Gone • The Early Years
Posthumous compilations: Chords of Fame • The War Is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs • There But for Fortune • Farewells & Fantasies • American Troubadour • 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Phil Ochs • Cross My Heart: An Introduction to Phil Ochs
Related articles
Topical song • Protest song • Civil Rights Movement • Opposition to the Vietnam War
This box: view • talk • edit