（例） Spaceman

"Spaceman" was first written by someone who, like me, was named Phil and grew up in the State of Ohio. I didn't learn about Phil Ochs (フィル　オークス) until a few years ago.

Phil Ochs was a well-known folk-singer in the 1960s who died in 1976 at the age of thirty-six. Many of his songs have political themes. He was against U.S. aggression in foreign countries and wanted the government to fight poverty and racism. He was a friend to John Lennon, and the U.S. government of Richard Nixon considered him and John Lennon to be enemies, because both singers were popular and opposed the Vietnam War.

I am impressed by the fact that the issues in Ochs' songs remain important today.

The song "Spaceman" was recorded on a simple tape recorder in Phil Ochs's kitchen. He plays guitar, whistles, and sings. Here is the only recording Phil Ochs made of this song (click to listen) and here are the original lyrics (click to read).

Please listen to Phil Ochs singing. You can also hear the sound of his kitchen chair!

When I first heard this song, I was impressed by the soft and earnest sound of the singer's voice. I then understood that he was singing about the plan by the U.S. government to send humans to the Moon. Eventually, I decided to make my own recording of the song because:

1. despite Ochs's strong singing, the recording quality of Ochs' song is low;
2. the lyrics, written in 1964, can be updated, since the Moon landing happened in 1969.

So, here is my tribute to Phil Ochs (click to listen): a rewriting of one of his lesser known songs. You might read the lyrics as you listen. The parts that I added to the lyrics are in blue. Click on the image to read.



Some remarks about the language of "Spaceman."

"Way high" is colloquial American English for "very high."

The expression "high" can also mean "crazy." In the 1960s, the expression commonly referred to a condition of being under the influence of drugs. "To be high" means to be under the influence of drugs and, therefore, "crazy."

Ochs uses a humorous image of the spaceship when he says that it is "made of steel." To have a "heart of steel" is to be cold towards others, and especially towards their suffering.

Although Ochs wrote his song in 1964, he was critical of the idea that the space mission would benefit "all of mankind." However, in 1969, that is exactly what the government claimed, and that is what the astronauts claimed, too.

Indeed, American leaders like others to think that their personal political goals are in fact goals for all of humanity.

That is why, when the Astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon in 1969, he spoke words that were carefully written beforehand:

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

Although Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon, his words do not reflect the real purpose of the mission to the Moon. Why, in fact, did the United States government send men to the Moon in 1969?



Exploring space to gain scientific knowledge for the benefit of humanity was not the main reason for the Apollo 11 mission. Rather, the U.S. President who ordered the mission, John F. Kennedy, wanted to prove that the U.S. government was stronger than the government of the Soviet Union.

In other words, the race to the Moon was like fight between two little selfish boys. It was also very expensive. This is how, in private, President Kennedy described his goals:

Everything we do ought to really be tied in to getting on to the Moon ahead of the Russians [...] otherwise we shouldn't be spending that kind of money, because I'm not interested in space [...] The only justification for [the cost] is because we hope to beat [the USSR]...(.) (Quoted here.)

The other way to make America look like the world's leading, most influential country, Kennedy thought, would be to end famine in the Third World by developing massive irrigation channels in Africa and elsewhere. However, this idea was rejected partly because the Vice President, Johnson, wanted financial benefit for his home state of Texas, where the space organization NASA is based. Johnson thought it would help him to become President if he could direct taxpayer money to the State of Texas. (This information comes from here.)



The problem was that, in 1963, only one in three Americans supported the idea of an expensive mission to the Moon. That is why President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson lied to the U.S. public about the USSR having more missiles, and why they exaggerated the scientific benefits of the mission to the Moon.

However, not everyone was fooled by the U.S. leaders.

Phil Ochs wrote "Spaceman" in 1964, at a time when the Apollo mission to land on the Moon was first debated publicly. In these lyrics, Ochs asks if so much money should be spent on space exploration when, on Earth, many children die of easily preventable diseases. Ochs seems to be aware of Kennedy's other, more humane goal of achieving U.S. leadership by fighting world hunger.

Clearly, this other goal has never been met by the U.S. or any other wealthy government. The World Health Organization estimates that about 10 million children under the age of 5 die from easily preventable diseases every year. That is why the message of Ochs' song is still important. The current U.S. government (the Bush Administration) has announced plans to send men to Mars. At the same time, 37,000,000 Americans live in poverty (貧乏).



As this Guardian article explains,

That is 12.7 per cent of the population - the highest percentage in the developed world... Each year since 2001 (the number of poor) has grown.

Philip Adamek

Documents (posted 4月27日)

Script of in-class dramatic dialogue.



In-class アンケート。