The Parade's Still Passing By Lyrics - Phil Ochs

I got the news today 

That you refused to play 

Cause you never made number one 

But it's not just the words 

It's the deeds that are heard 

When all is said and done 

Kings take their crowns 

They melt them all down 

Trying to get the gold out 

You went to hell and 

Even when you weren't selling 

You never ever sold out. 

You weren't no leader, 

You were more like a bleeder 

Who was trying to cry for us all 

You weren't no sage 

But your sense of outrage 

Sounded like a trumpet call 

Fifteen years ago 

In the old folky show 

You were just one voice in the crowd 

But now with so few singing 

Your voice would have been ringing 

Out 'bout twice as loud. 

There but for fortune 

Say a small circle of friends 

Some may see the changes 

So few see the ends 

The pleasures of the harbor 

Have come to you at last 

You may not be marching anymore 

But the parade's still going past. 

I'm not taking the blame 

That we killed you 

You know you did that to yourself 

But it was kind of a shame 

That you played that game 

You were better than anyone else 

One shot of your bottle 

Got you full throttle 

It was the friend that was always there 

But your greatest gift 

And the curse you lived with 

Was that you could always care.