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Rehearsals For Retirement Lyrics
The days grow longer for smaller prizes
I feel a stranger to all surprises
You can have them I don't want them
I wear a different kind of garment
In my rehearsals for retirement
The lights are cold again they dance below me
I turn to old friends they do not know me
All but the beggar he remembers
I put a penny down for payment
In my rehearsals for retirement
Had I known the end would end in laughter
I tell my daughter it doesn't matter
The stage is tainted with empty voices
The ladies painted they have no choices
I take my colors from the stable
They lie in tatters by the tournament
In my rehearsals for retirement
Where are the armies who killed a country
And turned a strong man into a baby
No comes the rabble they are welcome
I wait in anger and amusement
In my rehearsals for retirement
Had I known the end would end in laughter
Still I tell my daughter that it doesn't matter
Farewell my own true love, farewell my fancy
Are you still owin' me love, though you failed me
But one last gesture for her pleasure
I'll paint your memory on the monument
In my rehearsals for retirement
I feel a stranger to all surprises
You can have them I don't want them
I wear a different kind of garment
In my rehearsals for retirement
I turn to old friends they do not know me
All but the beggar he remembers
I put a penny down for payment
In my rehearsals for retirement
I tell my daughter it doesn't matter
The ladies painted they have no choices
I take my colors from the stable
They lie in tatters by the tournament
In my rehearsals for retirement
And turned a strong man into a baby
No comes the rabble they are welcome
I wait in anger and amusement
In my rehearsals for retirement
Still I tell my daughter that it doesn't matter
Are you still owin' me love, though you failed me
But one last gesture for her pleasure
I'll paint your memory on the monument
In my rehearsals for retirement
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Along with "No More Songs," this is a pretty accurate depiction of what Phil Ochs was suffering from in the last few years of his life. These two songs bring tears to my eyes, as I think about the gentle soul who wrote them, and was ground down by a cruel and uncaring world. "The armies who killed a country" is an especially touching line, which could refer to any number of things including Vietnam, Chicago 1968, or any of the southern cities where the civil rights battles were fought.
I only hope that Phil's spirit is comforted in knowing that others have picked up the torch and are keeping it lit.
He'll be back.
He'll be back.
@Jerrybear I don't think this is all that depressing honestly. He is still trying to come out of a creative box refusing to be defeated. Maybe it is clearer in some of the poems of that period. Phil also egged on the depression and reveled in it, according to his brother, believing that he had to suffer for his art. And he did use it to create beautiful words, poems, songs and performances without playing up the victim analogy. Other people may not have had a choice in their fate but until almost the end, he did.
@Jerrybear I don't think this is all that depressing honestly. He is still trying to come out of a creative box refusing to be defeated. Maybe it is clearer in some of the poems of that period. Phil also egged on the depression and reveled in it, according to his brother, believing that he had to suffer for his art. And he did use it to create beautiful words, poems, songs and performances without playing up the victim analogy. Other people may not have had a choice in their fate but until almost the end, he did.