Draft Dodger Rag

Annotation — Phil Ochs

As suggested from the title of this song, "Days of Decision", on the album I Ain't Marching Anymore (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. (1)Songs referencing the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

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…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

born 19 December 1940 in El Paso, Texas, USA, and died on 9 April 1976, in Far Rockaway, New York, USA

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 · Phil Ochs