For Phil Ochs

Groping through the wavebands for a time-check

On a local music station I caught the tail end of the news

Of a singer in New York who'd committed suicide

Too late to catch the name, still I knew that it was you

The way that bad news comes as no surprise

Though till you hear it, you can't think what could be wrong

In fact I thought of you just the week before

For the first time in years

When someone asked me for a song I'd learned from you

I don't know how to define what you mean to me now