Pre>
C f em
Oh you tell me that there's danger to the land you call your own

F em am
And you watch them build the war machine right beside your home

C f em
And you tell me that you're ready to go marchin' to the war

Dm g7 c
I know you're set for fighting, but what are you fighting for?

Before you pack your rifle and sail across the sea
Just think upon the southern part of the land that you call free
Oh, there's many kinds of slavery and we've found many more
I know you're set for fightin', but what are you fighting for?

And before you walk out on your job in answer to the call
Just think about the millions who have no job at all
And the men who wait for handouts with their eyes upon the floor
Oh I know you're set for fighting, but what are you fighting for?

[this verse is not in the sheet music]
Turn on your tv, turn it on so loud
And watch the fool a smiling there and tell me that you're proud
And listen to your radio, the noise it starts to pour
Oh I know you're set for fighting, but what are you fighting for?

Read your morning papers, read every single line
And tell me if you can believe that simple world you find
Read every slanted word till your eyes are getting sore,
I know you're set for fighting, but what are you fighting for?

And listen to your leaders, the ones who won the race
As they stand right there before you and lie into your face
If you ever try to buy them, you know what they stand for
I know you're set for fighting, but what are you fighting for?

Put ragged clothes upon your back and sleep upon the ground,
And tell police about your rights as they drag you down,
And ask them as they lead you to some deserted door,
Yes, I know you're set for fightin', but what are you fightin' for?

But the hardest thing I'll ask you, if you will only try
Is take your children by their hands and look into their eyes
And there you'll see the answer you should have seen before
If you'll win the wars at home, there'll be no fighting anymore
/pre>

• All My Heroes Are Dead
• As I Walk Alone
• Ballad of The Cuban Invasion
• Bwatue
• Chaplain of The War
• Davey Moore
• Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore
• Encores
• Fallen Star
• Fifty Mile Hike
• Firehouse 35
• First Snow
• Freedom Riders
• Green Hills
• Hands
• Here's to The State of Richard Nixon
• How High's The Watergate
• How Long
• Hunger & Cold
• I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night
• I Like Hitler
• It's Been a Long, Long Story
• Just One of Those Days
• Kansas City Bomber
• Keep The Change
• Legends
• Love is a Rainbow
• Maintaining Law & Order
• Monroe Town
• Morning
• My Life
• Never Again
• New Town
• Niko Mchumba Ngombe
• On Her Hand a Golden Ring
• Phil
• Phil Ochs
• Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue & Me
• Pretty Smart on My Part
• Rehearsals for Retirement
• Sailors & Soldiers
• Sing Along With Me
• Take It Out of My Youth
• Talking Plane Disaster
• The Ballad of John Train
• The Ballad of Sonny Liston
• The Confession
• The Day
• The Parade's Still Passing By
• The Sad & Silent Song of a Soldier
• The Shoals of Herring
• Thirsty Boots
• This Old World is Changing Hands
• United Fruit
• Viet Nam
• We Seek No Wider War
• What Are You Fighting For
• When First Unto This Country
• Where There's a Will There's a Way
• Where Were You in Chicago?
• You Can't Get Stoned Enough
• You Should Have Been Down in Mississppi