Keep The Change

By Phil Ochs

A                               A7
Now I'd like to lay here in the night
A                             Bm 
Now I'd like to linger in the light
D
Wishing not to move
       C#m 
I have nothing left to prove
    D              E             A     G  A
But did I hear you asking was it wrong or right

          D          E             F#m 
chorus    Oh, If you feel a little strange
                 Bm         E                  A  
          Please have the memory and keep the change

Now I'd like to hover in a hole
Where silence is the singer of the soul
I have no games to play
I have no lines to say
But someone's taking surveys on a passion poll

Pretending every worry has all gone
Now I'd like to drift into the dawn
As simple as it seems (?)               (Pleasures are endowed)?
Changing thoughts around to dreams (?)  (Lying lazy as a cloud)?
But did I hear the stifling of a sleepless yawn

Now I'd like to dangle in a dream
A cavalier who's courting to the queen
Hopelessly insane                 (As tender as the trees)?
Running ragged through the rain   (I only wish to please)?
But someone's directing lovers on a silver screen

Now I'd live to hide behind a hand
It's too late for leaving footprints on the sand
Willing/Chilling (?) is the wine   (Gentle as the air)?
I've surrendered to the time       (There's a stillness to be shared)?
But someone is insisting that they understand
   (But someone's disappearing into weird demand)?

Now you've heard the story of the skin
All the ashtrays have been powdered to the brim
I'd only like to fall
Watching whispers on the wall
But someone's making up the bed and defining sin

Notes:

1966

Transcribed by William Curtis

Rob Geller tells me: ``I recently discovered a different version of "Keep the Change" than you have listed on your excellent website and thought I'd pass it along. This version comes from the "Jim Glover Tapes" and I believe it pre-dates the version on your site by at least a year. There are many lyrical differences throughout [which are shown above as the words in parenthesis), most profoundly the chorus, in which "have a memory" becomes "have a cigarette." I've also added the chords, which come directly from Phil himself (he runs through them after playing the song).