He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
Who's that coming down the road
D A
A sailor from the sea
D F#m
He looks a lot like me
E G E
I'd know him anywhere, had to stare
Feathers at his fingertips
D A
A halo 'round his spine
D F#m
he must have lost his mind
E G
he should be put away, right away
C#m
In the corner of the night
D Bm
he handed me his waterpipe
F#m Bm E
His eyes were searching deep inside my head
Here's what he said
Am
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
D
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
C G A E
But I'll send you a tape from California
New York city has exploded and it's crashed upon my head
I dove beneath the bed
Fighting, biting nails, turning pale
The landlord's at my window
And the burglar's at my door
I can't take it anymore
I guess I'll have to fly, it's worth a try
Someone's banging on the wall
But there's no party to recall
The singer of the shadows of his soul
So he's been told
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
But I'll send you a tape from California
D C D C
From the mirror of my mantle to the velvet on my bed
D C Am E
Trapped upon a stolen stage, a Barrymore at best(?)
A G A G
My rhymes are all repeating, ballads growing blind
G#m A F#m B7 E
Words have turned to water, the women turned to wine
The draft board is debating if they'd like to take my life
I'd sooner take a wife and have raise a child or two
Wouldn't you?
Peace has turned to poison
The flag has blown a fuse
Even courage is confused
And now all the brave are in the grave
Century is bending(?)
have a very happy ending
To the victor go the ashes of the spoils
Seeds in the soil
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
But I'll send you a tape from California
The flower-power fuller brush man
is farming out his friends
I stabbed him with my stem
And then I tapped his toes with my rose
He crawled around inside himself
Now he's crawling after me
Dropping acid in my tea
He wants to save his soul
rock and roll
One of us must understand
It's not the drug that makes the man
Then a poster of a movie star walked by
He must have been high
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
But I'll send you a tape from California
Half the world is crazy and the other half is scared
Maddonas do the minuet for the naked millionaires
The anarchists are rising while we're racing for the moon
It doesn't take a seer to see that the scene is coming soon
So who's that coming down the road
A sailor from the sea
He looks a lot like me
I'd know him anywhere
Had to stare
A fire around his fingertips
A song around his spine
He must have found his mind
He should be put away
Anyway
Surrounded by the slaughter
Now I'm boarding(?) at the border
When the echoes of my ecstacy appear
Wish I was here
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
But I'll send you a tape from California
D A
A sailor from the sea
D F#m
He looks a lot like me
E G E
I'd know him anywhere, had to stare
Feathers at his fingertips
D A
A halo 'round his spine
D F#m
he must have lost his mind
E G
he should be put away, right away
C#m
In the corner of the night
D Bm
he handed me his waterpipe
F#m Bm E
His eyes were searching deep inside my head
Here's what he said
Am
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
D
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
C G A E
But I'll send you a tape from California
New York city has exploded and it's crashed upon my head
I dove beneath the bed
Fighting, biting nails, turning pale
The landlord's at my window
And the burglar's at my door
I can't take it anymore
I guess I'll have to fly, it's worth a try
Someone's banging on the wall
But there's no party to recall
The singer of the shadows of his soul
So he's been told
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
But I'll send you a tape from California
D C D C
From the mirror of my mantle to the velvet on my bed
D C Am E
Trapped upon a stolen stage, a Barrymore at best(?)
A G A G
My rhymes are all repeating, ballads growing blind
G#m A F#m B7 E
Words have turned to water, the women turned to wine
The draft board is debating if they'd like to take my life
I'd sooner take a wife and have raise a child or two
Wouldn't you?
Peace has turned to poison
The flag has blown a fuse
Even courage is confused
And now all the brave are in the grave
Century is bending(?)
have a very happy ending
To the victor go the ashes of the spoils
Seeds in the soil
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
But I'll send you a tape from California
The flower-power fuller brush man
is farming out his friends
I stabbed him with my stem
And then I tapped his toes with my rose
He crawled around inside himself
Now he's crawling after me
Dropping acid in my tea
He wants to save his soul
rock and roll
One of us must understand
It's not the drug that makes the man
Then a poster of a movie star walked by
He must have been high
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
But I'll send you a tape from California
Half the world is crazy and the other half is scared
Maddonas do the minuet for the naked millionaires
The anarchists are rising while we're racing for the moon
It doesn't take a seer to see that the scene is coming soon
So who's that coming down the road
A sailor from the sea
He looks a lot like me
I'd know him anywhere
Had to stare
A fire around his fingertips
A song around his spine
He must have found his mind
He should be put away
Anyway
Surrounded by the slaughter
Now I'm boarding(?) at the border
When the echoes of my ecstacy appear
Wish I was here
Sorry I can't stop and talk now
I'm in kind of a hurry anyhow
But I'll send you a tape from California
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Tape from California Lyrics as written by Phil Ochs
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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He certainly did earn that reputation.
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
...and this is why Mr. Ochs was the best (or at least my favorite) singer-songwriter ever.