All Quiet On The Western Front

By Phil Ochs

The ?? are ??
??
hear so much news
?? follow ??
the freeways ?? used
It's all quiet on the western front

The murdering missiles
they want to fly
While thousands of people
are ready to die
It's ever so lonely
to live the lie
And it's all quiet on the western front

I guess I'll join the National Liberation Front

The boys on the bases
They flay at the ball
The stock market crashes
The stock market falls
And the high school principal
is led to the wall
And it's all quiet on the western front

The civilized nations
abide by the code
They learn from the victors
to do what they're told
Even Israel's marching
down Germany's road
And it's all quiet on the western front

I think I'll join the National Liberation Front

The war babies try to crawl
back to the womb
Assassins and astronauts
race to the moon
And Eisenhower lies like a saint
in his tomb
And it's all quiet on the western front

I sit on my back porch
I sing on my song
I wait for the earthquake
to come with the dawn
If there was a God
wouldn't take him so long
And it's all quiet on the western front

I guess I'll join the American Liberation Front

Notes:

Bill Curtis supplied the lyrics and says: "In an interview with Phil in July 1969 Phil mentions a new song that he wrote called ``All Quiet On The Western Front''. He sang it at a rally following his performance at Carneige Hall that year. He mentions one line from the song "I think I'll join the National Liberation Front". The song appears to have not been released nor does it appear in Broadside. Perhaps it was never sung again."

Update: Bill said that he exchanged e-mail with a person who said that he saw Phil Ochs sing this song at a demonstration in Central Park. He also said that the record company would not allow Phil to record the song because they objected to a line in the song which Phil refused to take out.

Apparently, a recording of this was unearthed recently (though I've never heard it) since several people sent me the lyrics at about the same time. In addition to Bill, I got contributions from Rob Geller and Karl Pascal (who supplied the first two verses, though, as you can see, he couldn't quite make out the first one).