dvk (02/07/83)
I was doing some research on the sixties when I came across this one. It is entitled "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", and is by the late Phil Ochs. It is taken from the album "Pleasures of the Harbor", and I thought you all might find it amusing (and even timely, considering it dates from 10 years ago). "Look outside the window - there's a woman being grabbed They dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain But Monopoly is so much fun - I'd hate to blow the game... And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody Outside of a small circle of friends "Riding down the highway, yes my back is getting stiff Thirteen cars have piled up - they're hanging on a cliff Maybe we should pull them back with our towing chain But we gotta move and we might get sued and it looks like it's gonna rain... And I'm sure it wouldn't interest... "Sweating in the ghetto with the colored and the poor The rats have joined the babies who are sleeping on the floor Now wouldn't it be a riot if the really blew their tops But they got too much already and besides we got the cops... "There's a dirty paper using sex to make a sale The Supreme Court was so upset they sent him off to jail Maybe we should help the fiend and take away his fine But we're busy reading Playboy and the Sunday New York Times... "Smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer But a friend of ours got captured and they gave hime thirty years Maybe we should raise our voices, ask somebody why But demonstrations are a drag, besides we're much too high... Dan Klein, Mellon Institute, Pittsburgh