Letters

UP WITH OCHS

Re: Buddy Seigal's "These Limeys Really Swing! And Merle Haggard can really sing!" (Music, March 5):

"Mama Tried" may be the best song I have heard, with the possible exception of "Pleasures of the Harbor." Listen to that and "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" before you sneer at the late, lamented Phil Ochs and other pinko icons.

-John Pritchard, San Clemente

Buddy Seigal responds: D'OH! Sneer? SNEER?!?! No one loves and respects the work of Phil Ochs more than I, dear Mr. Pritchard, although I hardly think the relatively slight "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" ranks up there with "Pleasures of the Harbor," "There But for Fortune," "Crucifixion," "Gas Station Women," "Chords of Fame," "I Ain't Marching Anymore," "I'm Going to Say It Now," "Santo Domingo," "Flower Lady," or any of the truly brilliant nuggets in the Ochs canon. It's not sneering to call Ochs a "pinko icon"; rather, I consider the term a badge of honor.