LyricMeaning

The Ballad Of John Henry Faulk
Phil Ochs

I'll tell you the story of John Henry Faulk.
I'll tell you of his trials and the troubled trail he walked,
And I'll tell of the tyrants, the ones you never see:
Murder is the role they play and hatred is their fee.

On the TV and the radio John Henry Faulk was known.
He talked to many thousands with a mind that was his own,
But he could not close his eyes when the lists were passed around,
So he tried to move the Union to tear the blacklist down.

His friends they tried to warn him he was headin' for a fall.
If he spoke against the blacklist he had no chance at all,
But he laughed away their warnings and he laughed away their fears:
For how could lies destroy the work of many honest years?

Then slowly, oh so slowly, his life began to change.
People would avoid his eyes, his friends were actin' strange,
And he finally saw the power of the hidden poison pen
When they told him that his job was through, he'd never work again.

And he could not believe what his sad eyes had found.
He stared in disbelief as his world came tumblin' down,
And as the noose grew tighter, at last the trap was clear:
For every place he turned to go, that list would soon be there
-- Oh, that list.

And is there any bottom to the fears that grow inside?
Is there any bottom to the hate that you must hide?
And is there any end to your long road of despair?
Is there any end to the pain that you must bear?

His wife and children trembled, the time was runnin' short,
When a man of law got on their side and took them into court,
And there upon the stand they could not hide behind their eyes,
And the cancer of the fascist was displayed before our eyes.

Hey, you blacklist, you blacklist, I've seen what you have done.
I've seen the men you've ruined and the lives you've tried to run,
But the one thing that I've found is, the only ones you spare
Are those that do not have a brain, or those that do not care.

And you men who point your fingers and spread your lies around,
You men who left your souls behind and drag us to the ground,
You can put my name right down there, I will not try to hide --
For if there's one man on the blacklist, I'll be right there by his side.

For I'd rather go hungry to beg upon the streets
Than earn my bread on dead men's souls and crawl beneath your feet.
And I will not play your hater's game and hate you in return,
for it's only through the love of man the blacklist can be burned.


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Lyrics by Phil Ochs

  A Toast To Those Who Are Gone   A.M.A. Song   All My Heroes Are Dead   Another Age   Another Country   As I Walk Alone   Automation Song   Bach, Beethoven, Mozart & Me   Bach, Beethoven, Mozart & Me   Bach, Beethoven, Mozart Me   Ballad of Alferd Packer   Ballad of Medgar Evers   Ballad Of Oxford   Ballad Of Oxford (Jimmy Meredith)   Ballad of the Carpenter   Ballad Of The Cuban Invasion   Ballad of William Worthy   Basket In The Pool   Bound For Glory   Boy In Ohio   Bracero   Bullets of Mexico   Bwatue   Cannons Of Christianity   Celia   Changes   Changes [Live]   Changing Hands   Chaplain Of The War   Chords Of Fame   Christine Keeler   City Boy   Colored Town   Cops Of The World   Cross My Heart   Cross My Heart [#][Demo Version]   Crucifixion   Crucifixion [Album Version]   Crucifixion [Live]   Davey Moore   Days Of Decision   Do What I Have To Do   Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore   Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore   Draft Dodger Rag   Draft Dodger Rag [Live]   Encores   Fallen Star   Fifty Mile Hike   Firehouse 35   First Snow   Flower Lady   Freedom Riders   Gas Station Woman   Gas Station Women   Going Down To Mississipi   Green Hills   Half A Century High   Hands   Hazard, Kentucky   Here's To The State Of Mississippi   Here's To The State Of Richard Nixon   Here's To The State Of Richard Nixon (Live)   Here's To The State Of Mississippi   Here's To The State Of Richard Nixon   Heres To The State Of Richard Nixon   Highwayman [Live]   Hills of West Virginia   How High's The Watergate   How High's The Watergate   How Long   How Long [#]   Hunger And Cold   I Ain't Marching Anymore   I Ain't Marhing Anymore   I Ain't Marching Anymore   I Aint Marching Anymore   I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night   I Kill Therefore I Am   I Like Hitler   I'll Be There   I'm Going To Say It Now   I'm Tired   I've Had Her   I'll Be There   I'm Going To Say It Now   I'm Tired   I've Had Her   If I Knew   In The Heat Of The Summer   Iron Lady   Is There Anybody Here   It's Been A Long, Long Story   It's Been A Long, Long Story   Jim Dean Of Indiana   Joe Hill   Just One Of Those Days   Kansas City Bomber   Keep The Change   Knock on the Door   Legends   Links On The Chain   Lou Marsh   Love Is A Rainbow   Love Me, I'm A Liberal   Love Me, I'm A Liberal   Maintaining Law & Order   Maintaining Law And Order   Men Behind The Guns   Miranda   Monroe Town   Morning   Morning (Experiment In Jazz Chords)   Morning [#]   My Kingdom For A Car   My Life   Never Again   New Town   Niko Mchumba Ngombe   No Christmas In Kentucky   No More Songs   On Her Hand A Golden Ring   On My Way   One More Parade   One Way Ticket Home   Outside of a Small Circle of Friends   Paul Crump   Phil   Phil Ochs   Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue &a...   Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue An...   Pleasures of the Harbor   Positively (Not) 4th Street   Power And Glory   Power and the Glory   Pretty Smart On My Part   Pretty Smart On My Part [Album Version]   Rehearsals for Retirement   Rehearsals for Retirement [Album Version]   Remember Me   Ringing Of Revolution   Rivers Of The Blood   Sailors & Soldiers   Sailors & Soldiers   Santo Domingo   Sing Along With Me   Song of My Returning   Spaceman   Spanish Civil War Song   Take It Out of My Youth   Talkin' Pay Tv   Talking Birmingham Jam   Talking Cuban Crisis   Talking Pay T.V.   Talking Plane Disaster   Talking Vietnam   Talking Vietnam Blues   Tape From California   Tape from California [Live]   Ten Cents a Coup   That Was The President   That's The Way It's Gonna Be   That's What I Want To Hear   That's The Way It's Gonna Be   That's What I Want To Hear   The Ballad of Alferd Packer   The Ballad of Billie Sol   The Ballad of John Train   The Ballad Of Sonny Liston   The Ballad Of The Carpenter   The Ballad Of U.S. Steel   The Bells   The Cannons of Christianity   The Confession   The Day   The Doll House   The Draft Dodger Rag   The Floods Of Florence   The Harder They Fall   The Highwayman   The Hills Of West Virginia   The Iron Lady   The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of Santo Dom   The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of Santo Dom...   The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of…   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Party   The Passing Of My Life   The Power & The Glory   The Power And The Glory   The Sad & Silent Song Of A Soldier   The Sad & Silent Song Of A Soldier   The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns   The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns [Album Vers...   The Shoals Of Herring   The Thresher   The Trial   The War Is Over   The World Began in Eden & Ended in Los Angeles   The World Began In Eden And Ended In Los Angeles   There But For   There but for Fortune   Thirsty Boots   This Old World Is Changing Hands   Time Was   Too Many Martyrs   United Fruit   Viet Nam   We Seek No Wider War   We Seek No Wider War [#]   What Are You Fighting For   What's That I Hear? 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