Draft Dodger Rag

Annotation — Phil Ochs

The song "Draft Dodger Rag", on the album I Ain't Marching Anymore (Elektra Records # EKS 7287), a satirical anti-war song that became an anthem of the peace movement in the 1960s, reached a more mainstream audience than other contemporary folk anti-war tracks, and several artists covered the song (although it made little commercial impact). Before the release of this 1965 album, Ochs performed the song at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival (23-26 July) - the live recording featured on the LP Newport Folk Festival 1964: Evening Concerts - Vol. 1 (Vanguard Records # VRS-9184). Broadside subsequently published the lyrics and notation in the # 53 edition, 20 December 1964. In the song, Ochs listed every conceivable excuse available for somebody to avoid the draft. But firstly, it started with a young man expressing his hate of communism: "I knew better dead than red", and thus his patriotism: But when the draftee gets to the draftboard, the excuses started to pour out - drug addiction, enrollment in full-time education, a full-time carer for his disabled aunt, asthma, allergies, poor eyesight, working in a key defense industry, and the suggestion of being a homosexual ("I always carry a purse"). At the end, the draftee re-affirmed his hate of the communists, hoping that Chou En Lai would die (the Premier of the People's Republic of China, 1949-1976). However, he only wanted to go to "a war without any gore".Chad Mitchell Trio – Draft Dodger Rag (1964: Mercury # SR 60949) The Moonshiners – Draft Dodger Rag (1965: Village Gate # VLG 104) Denis Gibbons - National Service Blues (Draft Dodger Blues) (1965: W&G # 2594) Pete Seeger – The Draft Dodger Rag (1966: Columbia # 4-43699) Four in the Morning – Draft Dodger Rag (Crossroad # 7001) The Apples – Draft Dodgers Rag (Act 1 # 715)

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation

The song "Draft Dodger Rag" (Elektra Records # EKS 7287), a satirical anti-war song that became an anthem of the peace movement in the 1960s, reached a more mainstream audience than other contemporary folk anti-war tracks, and several artists covered the song (although it made little commercial impact). Before the release of this 1965 album, Ochs performed the song at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival (23-26 July) - the live recording featured on the LP Newport Folk Festival 1964: Evening Concerts - Vol. 1 (Vanguard Records # VRS-9184). Broadside subsequently published the lyrics and notation in the # 53 edition, 20 December 1964. In the song, Ochs listed every conceivable excuse available for somebody to avoid the draft. But firstly, it started with a young man expressing his hate of communism: "I knew better dead than red", and thus his patriotism: But when the draftee gets to the draftboard, the excuses started to pour out - drug addiction, enrollment in full-time education, a full-time carer for his disabled aunt, asthma, allergies, poor eyesight, working in a key defense industry, and the suggestion of being a homosexual ("I always carry a purse"). At the end, the draftee re-affirmed his hate of the communists, hoping that Chou En Lai would die (the Premier of the People's Republic of China, 1949-1976). However, he only wanted to go to "a war without any gore".Chad Mitchell Trio – Draft Dodger Rag (1964: Mercury # SR 60949) The Moonshiners – Draft Dodger Rag (1965: Village Gate # VLG 104) Denis Gibbons - National Service Blues (Draft Dodger Blues) (1965: W&G # 2594) Pete Seeger – The Draft Dodger Rag (1966: Columbia # 4-43699) Four in the Morning – Draft Dodger Rag (Crossroad # 7001) The Apples – Draft Dodgers Rag (Act 1 # 715)

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Draft Songs

The song "Draft Dodger Rag" (Elektra Records # EKS 7287), a satirical anti-war song that became an anthem of the peace movement in the 1960s, reached a more mainstream audience than other contemporary folk anti-war tracks, and several artists covered the song (although it made little commercial impact). Before the release of this 1965 album, Ochs performed the song at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival (23-26 July) - the live recording featured on the LP Newport Folk Festival 1964: Evening Concerts - Vol. 1 (Vanguard Records # VRS-9184). Broadside subsequently published the lyrics and notation in the # 53 edition, 20 December 1964. In the song, Ochs listed every conceivable excuse available for somebody to avoid the draft. But firstly, it started with a young man expressing his hate of communism: "I knew better dead than red", and thus his patriotism: But when the draftee gets to the draftboard, the excuses started to pour out - drug addiction, enrollment in full-time education, a full-time carer for his disabled aunt, asthma, allergies, poor eyesight, working in a key defense industry, and the suggestion of being a homosexual ("I always carry a purse"). At the end, the draftee re-affirmed his hate of the communists, hoping that Chou En Lai would die (the Premier of the People's Republic of China, 1949-1976). However, he only wanted to go to "a war without any gore".Covers: Chad Mitchell Trio - Draft Dodger Rag (1964: Mercury # SR 60949) The Moonshiners - Draft Dodger Rag (1965: Village Gate # VLG 104) Denis Gibbons - National Service Blues (Draft Dodger Blues) (1965: W&G # 2594) Pete Seeger - The Draft Dodger Rag (1966: Columbia # 4-43699) Four in the Morning - Draft Dodger Rag (Crossroad # 7001) John Berry - Draft Dodger (Sound Inc. # S1-180) The Apples - Draft Dodgers Rag (Act 1 # 715)

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" & Answer Songs

As suggested from the title of this song, "Days of Decision" (Elektra Records # EKS 7287) appears to be an answer or closely related theme to McGuire's "Eve of Destruction": "lookin' for an answer they're never gonna find... these are the days of decision" - a call to protest against the "far-reaching rockets". It also contained a Civil Rights message: "warnings of fire... from the three bodies buried in the Mississippi mud" - a reference to the murders of three Civil Rights activist, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner on 21 June 1964 by the KKK.1Songs referencing the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and SchwernerSources1Wikipedia: Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: I'm just a typical American boy from a typical American town / I believe in God and Senator Dodd and an keepin' old Castro down / And when it came my time to serve I knew better dead than red But when I got to my old draft board, buddy, this is what I said / Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen and I always carry a purse / I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat my asthma's getting worse / Consider my career, my sweetheart... / My poor old invalid aunt / Besides, I ain't no fool, and I'm goin' to school / And I'm workin' in a defense plant / I've got a dislocated disc and a racked up back / I'm allergic to flowers and bugs / And when the bombshell hits, I get epileptic fits / And I'm addicted to a thousand drugs / I got the weakness woes, I can't touch my toes... / I hate Chou En Lai, and I hope he dies / But I think you gotta see that if someone's gotta go over there, that someone isn't me... / And if you ever get a war without any gore, well, I'll be the first to go But when I got to my old draft board, buddy, this is what I said / Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen and I always carry a purse / I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat my asthma's getting worse / Consider my career, my sweetheart... / My poor old invalid aunt / Besides, I ain't no fool, and I'm goin' to school / And I'm workin' in a defense plant / I've got a dislocated disc and a racked up back / I'm allergic to flowers and bugs / And when the bombshell hits, I…

About the artist

Phil Ochs, a leading protest / topical singer, born 19 December 1940 in El Paso, Texas, USA, and died on 9 April 1976, in Far Rockaway, New York, USA. He often played songs at anti-war and civil rights rallies in the 1960s and early 1970s, including outside the Democratic National Convention in 1968. He released many anti-Vietnam War songs during the era, which included "Talking Vietnam", one of the first Vietnam songs released, on his 1964 album All the News That's Fit to Sing. Other prominent songs included "I Ain't Marching Anymore", "Draft Dodger Rag", and "Days of Decision" on I Ain't…

Themes

Anti-War · Draft · Draft Dodger · Fidel Castro · Drugs · Novelty

In collections

McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" & Answer Songs · Civil Rights Songs · Draft Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years] · Phil Ochs