I swear it's Phil Ochs

August 14, 2011 1:59 PM

Does the Belle and Sebastian song Piazza New York Catcher share a tune with a Phil Ochs song?

When Pandora first played Piazza New York Catcher, I thought it was Phil Ochs at first and ever since I've been convinced it shares a tune with some Phil Ochs song, but I can't find it.

posted by hoyland to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

I asked my parents (certified former hippies, my father was in a folk band that got some radio play in the early 60s) and they didn't think it sounded like any Phil Ochs song they knew. Not completely out of his realm, but more like McCartney than like Ochs.
posted by katemonster at 3:45 PM on August 14, 2011

Parts of the melody remind me of Chords of Fame.
posted by nonane at 3:48 PM on August 14, 2011

I don't hear Ochs's voice at all in B&S. Like nonane, the closest melodic and tempo fit I could find was Chords of Fame, but the arrangement is so different.

Are you sure you're hearing Ochs and not a contemporary like Donovan, whose light British voice is much closer to Stuart Murdoch's?
posted by maudlin at 8:55 PM on August 14, 2011