Phil Ochs — I Aint Marchin Anymore Live in Vancouver

[Spoken] I'll do you, for you now, you nice people here, a protest song. A protest song is uh, is defined as something, a song you don't hear on the radio.  And they'll say you don't hear it on the radio 'cause the guy can't sing or 'cause the words are no good, or—as they play the shit that they play these days.  But uh, but it's all got to do with the process. All, all around, all around the western trail, and that includes England, and France, and, and Canada, and America, they have, they have the media syndrome where they control everybody's mind by the use of fairly mindless and mind-distorting distortions of the facts. Which led all of us into the Vietnamese war, and led all of us into uh, the Kennedy assassinations.  So what can you do? I mean, here you are, a helpless soul, a helpless piece of flesh, amid, amid all this cruel, cruel machinery and, and terrible, heartless men. So you, all you can do is turn away from the filth and hopefully start to build something new someday. And it affects all of us, it affects the people here too.  So here's a turning away song.  [Verse 1] Oh, I marched to the battle of New Orleans At the end of the early British war The young land started growing The young blood started flowing But I ain't marchin' anymore [Verse 2] For I've killed my share of Injuns In a thousand different fights I was there at the Little Big Horn I heard many men a-lyin I saw many more a-dyin' But I ain't marchin' anymore [Bridge] It's always the old to lead us to the wars It's always the young to fall Now look at all we've won with the sabers and the gun Tell me is it worth it all [Verse 3] For I stole California from the Mexican land Fought in the bloody Civil War Yes, I even killed my brothers And so many others But I ain't marchin' anymore [Verse 4] For I marched to the battles of the German trench In a war that was bound to end all wars Oh, I must have killed a million men And now they want me back again But I ain't marchin' anymore [Bridge] It's always the old to lead us to the wars It's always the young to fall Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun Tell me is it worth it all [Verse 5] For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky Set off the mighty mushroom roar When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning That I ain't marchin' anymore [Verse 6] Now the labor leader's screamin' When they close the missile plants United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore Call it peace or call it treason Call it love or call it reason But I ain't marchin' anymore No, I ain't marchin' anymore