In The Heat Of The Summer (1966)

Words and Music by Phil Ochs



In the heat of the summer

When the pavements were burning

The soul of a city was ravaged in the night

After the city's sun was sinking



Now no one knows how it started

Why the windows were shattered

But deep in the dark someone set the spark

And then it no longer mattered



Down the street they were rumblin'

All the tempers were ragin'

Oh where, oh where are the white silver tongues

Who forgot to listen to the warnings



On and on came the angry

No longer following reason

And all the stores were the targets now

Where just the other day they were buying



Drunk with the mem'ry of the ghetto

Drunk with the lure of the looting

And the mem'ry of the uniforms shoving with their sticks

Asking "are you looking for trouble?"



"No, no, no," moaned the mayor

"That's not the way of the order

"Oh stay in your homes, please leave us alone

"We'll be glad to talk in the morning"



For shame, for shame wrote the papers

Why the hurry to your hunger

Now the rubble is resting on your broken streets

Oh see what your rage has unraveled



Barricades sadly were risin'

Bricks were heavily flyin'

And the loudspeaker drowned like a whispering sound

When compared to the angered emotions



And when the fury was over

And the shame was replacing the anger

So wrong, so wrong, but we've been down too long

And we had to make somebody listen

In the heat of the summer