William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park And Escapes Unscathed

Annotation

On this Phil Ochs album featured the song "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed", which also had the song "Where Were You in Chicago" tagged on at the end, although it's not credited, both of which referred to the 1968 Chicago demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention, and thus related to the Chicago Seven / Eight. Ochs famously performed the song "I Ain't Marching Anymore" outside the convention. Ochs appeared at the trial of the Chicago Seven as a witness, where the judge requested that he recite the song.2 The song recalled the confrontation in Lincoln Park, where the Festival of Life was held, attended by MC5, and Ochs. At the end of the song, Ochs criticised the protest movement, for the lack of people who attended the demonstration: "I didn't see you there, I didn't see them crack your head". The song contained several references to the use of tear gas by the police. See the list: Sources2Famous Trials (UMKC Law)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs

On this album (A&M Records # SP 4181) featured the song "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed", which also had the song "Where Were You in Chicago" tagged on at the end, although it's not credited, both of which referred to the 1968 Chicago demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention, and thus related to the Chicago Seven / Eight. Ochs famously performed the song "I Ain't Marching Anymore" outside the convention. Ochs appeared at the trial of the Chicago Seven as a witness, where the judge requested that he recite the song.1 The song recalled the confrontation in Lincoln Park, where the Festival of Life was held, attended by MC5, and Ochs. At the end of the song, Ochs criticised the protest movement, for the lack of people who attended the demonstration: "I didn't see you there, I didn't see them crack your head". The song contained several references to the use of tear gas by the police.Sources1Famous Trials (UMKC Law)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Phil Ochs

On this Phil Ochs album Rehearsals for Retirement (A&M Records # SP 4181) featured the song "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed", which also had the song "Where Were You in Chicago" tagged on at the end, although it's not credited, both of which referred to the 1968 Chicago demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention, and thus related to the Chicago Seven / Eight. Ochs famously performed the song "I Ain't Marching Anymore" outside the convention. Ochs appeared at the trial of the Chicago Seven as a witness, where the judge requested that he recite the song.2 The song recalled the confrontation in Lincoln Park, where the Festival of Life was held, attended by MC5, and Ochs. At the end of the song, Ochs criticised the protest movement, for the lack of people who attended the demonstration: "I didn't see you there, I didn't see them crack your head". The song contained several references to the use of tear gas by the police.Sources2Famous Trials (UMKC Law)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: As I went out one evening to take the evening air / I was blessed by a blood-red moon in Lincoln Park / The dark was turning, I spied a fair young maiden and a flame was in her eyes / And on her face lay the steel blue skies of Lincoln Park / The dark was turning, turning / They spread their sheets upon the ground just like a wandering tribe / And the wise men walked in their Robespierre robes through Lincoln Park / The dark was turning, the towers trapped and trembling / And the boats were tossed about, when the fog rolled in and the gas rolled out from Lincoln Park / The dark was turning, turning, like wild horses freed at last / We took the streets of wine, but I searched in vain, for she stayed behind, in Lincoln Park / The dark was turning, I'll go back to the city where I can be alone / And tell my friend she lies in stone, in Lincoln Park / The dark...Oh, where were you in Chicago? / You know I didn't see you there / I didn't see them crack your head or breathe the tear gas air / Oh, where were you in Chicago? / When the fight was being fought / Oh, where were you in Chicago? / 'Cause I was in Detroit I remember nothing that I memorized / The cockroach cops are crawling on a battle ground / I got my education from a black eye / The shields are in the shadows / It's a college town and they'll teach you law and orde if you dare to raise your hand / Spare the glove and spoil the man / Soldiers have their sorrow / The wretched have their rage / Pray for the aged…

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 · Chicago Seven · Demonstration

In collections

1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years] · Phil Ochs