My Life (Phil Ochs song)

"My Life" is a 1969 song by Phil Ochs, a US singer-songwriter best known for the protest songs he wrote in the 1960s.

"My Life"
Song by Phil Ochs
from the album Rehearsals for Retirement
Published1969
Released1969
GenreFolk rock
Length3:11
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)Phil Ochs
Producer(s)Larry Marks
"My Life"
Promotional copy of "My Life"
Single by Phil Ochs
B-side"The World Began in Eden and Ended in Los Angeles"
Released1969
GenreFolk rock
Length3:11
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)Phil Ochs
Producer(s)Larry Marks
Phil Ochs singles chronology
"The War Is Over"
(1968)
"My Life"
(1969)
"One Way Ticket Home"
(1972)

"My Life" is the fifth song on Rehearsals for Retirement, an album Ochs recorded in the aftermath of the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.[1] In the song, Ochs says that his life, which had once been a joy, had become like death to him.[2]

In "My Life", Ochs sings "Take everything I own/Take your tap from my phone/And leave my life alone."[3] Years after his death, it was revealed that the FBI had a file of nearly 500 pages on Ochs.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Schumacher, Michael (1996). There But for Fortune: The Life of Phil Ochs. New York: Hyperion. pp. 208–213. ISBN 0-7868-6084-7.
  2. ^ Eliot, Marc (1989) [1979]. Death of a Rebel: A Biography of Phil Ochs. New York: Franklin Watts. pp. 168–169. ISBN 0-531-15111-5.
  3. ^ Schumacher, p. 212.
  4. ^ Blair, Eric (2007). Folk Singer for the FBI: The Phil Ochs FBI File. Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu Press. p. 4.