Every day brings a new story. And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books.
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Show me a prisoner who face has gone pale
And I'll show you a young man with many reasons why
There but for fortune may go you, or I.
He started singing in New York's Greenwich Village with the likes of Bob Dylan. He numbered Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger among his musical heroes. He carried a guitar, sung at civil-rights rallies and anti-war protests throughout the land, and described himself as leftist.
While Ochs' albums generally received critical acclaim, and he was popular among the folkie crowd, he rarely received radio play, and none of his songs was a big hit. None of them ever made it into the Top Ten; indeed, his biggest hit was Small Circle of Friends, which reached No. 119 on the Billboard Charts.
Indeed, his type of protest song -- Ochs preferred the terms "topical song" -- fell in popularity in the 1970s. He tried to change gears, getting more pop-oriented, and including more than his usual accoustic guitar in this music. He even took on an Elvis swagger, wearing a gold lame jumpsuit in one concert tour and as the cover of an album.
But long standing mental health issues, along with drug abuse and alcoholism, lead to his downfall. In 1976, he hanged himself.
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