Phillips, Utah / I've Got to Know
Album: I've Got to Know   Collection:General
Artist:Phillips, Utah   Added:Mar 2004
Label:Daemon Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2004-03-01 Pull Date: 2004-05-03
Week Ending: May 2 Apr 25 Apr 18 Apr 11 Mar 28 Mar 21 Mar 7
Airplays: 3 1 1 1 1 4 6

Recent Airplay
1. Jan 17, 2015: Music Casserole
This Here River
4. May 02, 2008: thats not bluegrass
How to Live in Peace
2. Aug 24, 2008: Sunny Side Up
Riding the Peace Train
5. Apr 19, 2006: the evil twins
I've Got to Know
3. May 27, 2008: At Your Local Dive
Rice and Beans, Ain't It Fine, Yellow Ribbon
6. May 18, 2005: Brownian Motion, Strangest Music Distillation
I Will not Obey

Album Review
Your Imaginary Friend
Reviewed 2004-03-02
Wobbly/Socialist folk hero Utah Phillips has found allies, friends, in everyone’s vocal social conscience warehouse living activists AK Press, who have re-released some of his finest work to date. And seeing as he’s been making music for upwards of 50 years, that’s saying a lot. This is FANTASTIC. Ironically, most of it was recorded in 1991 and, like the comedy of Bill Hicks, its more timely than ever, dealing with issues of global genocide, war on Iraq, and basic human, worker, rights (remember those?). Some will recognize pieces from the fantastic retooling that Ani DiFranco did of him some years back (The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere). Pieces are all poignant, intelligent, scathing, and hilarious, sometime simultaneiously. Seldom accompanied by more than his own minimal guitar strumming, a lot of this is simple story telling, a capella singing or poetry reading. Its all really really great, a true anti-war statement, anti all wars, violence. A true masterpiece. PLAY. LOTS.

I will segregate these between stories/poems, and songs:

Songs:

2) basic anti-war folk song, title track, “co-written” by Woody Guthrie
5) yellow ribbons, anti-war
9) a capella, killing ground
12) a capela, Korean war, hatred
14) simple folksong
16) wars effect on love, people
18) lord aint it sad, losing friends
20) spoken, a capela, “I will not obey” the draft, war
22) a capela, anti war
25) folksy about the Enola Gay, Hiroshima
27) police state/third world murder, corruption
28) middle American suburbia nimby
30) a capella WWI anti-war
32) with intro, folky classic, river theme

Poems, Stories:

1) brief, “I pledge allegiance…”
3) ideas, workers
4) anti military weaponry
6,7) anti-war, pacifism
8) story- military draft, dodging
10) korea, bigotry
11) story- public transpo, flying, “my car wont run on blood”, leads into next song nicely
13) “victory parades”
15) military, war’s effect on a young man
17) anti-war, taking responsibility
19) story, returning from Korea, tramping, Amon Hennisy
21) story- attending pro-war demonstrations, killing, “I support the troops”, take responsibility
23) story- Truman cactus, enola gay, only one country has used the atomic bomb on humans
24) poem
26) WWI era anti-war
29) a story
31) story, talk- how to make peace inside, throw your TV out the front window
33) brief, with great Morman joke at the end






Track Listing
1. Stupid's Pledge   17. Was It You?
2. I've Got to Know   18. Lord, Ain't It Sad?
3. Sedition   19. What Is a Pacifist?
4. General, Your Tank   20. I Will not Obey
5. Yellow Ribbon   21. The Violence Within
6. Yellow Legs & Pugs   22. Judas Ram
7. I Love My Flag   23. Truman Cactus
8. Scribner on the Draft   24. There Shall Come Soft Rains
9. Killing Ground   25. Enola Gay
10. Learning   26. Wife of Flanders
11. Riding the Peace Train   27. Rice and Beans
12. Trooper's Lament   28. Ain't It Fine
13. Victory Stuff   29. Revolt in the Desert
14. Mountain Valley Home   30. Stand to Your Glasses Steady
15. Michael   31. How to Live in Peace
16. The Soldier's Return   32. This Here River
  33. Huddled Chickens