I suppose I’ve been thinking about dying lately. It’s really hard for me to avoid such thoughts as I get older, and people around me start getting sick, getting old, and dying. So I had an idea for a song called “When I Die” and worked on it during March 2026. I’ve described the lyric-writing process in the embedded video, which ends with a live rendition of the song: just a single mic, me, and my Ibanez guitar.

Hey When I Die
Words and music © 2026 Jonathan Ochshorn

Verse 1. Hey when I die find those pictures I made as a kid
In a box that I put in the attic
I digitized most of them over the years
But I can’t seem to bury the past

You and your brother well you might want to keep one or two
I don’t know if it’s something you’re eager
To do and it certainly won’t bring me to tears
If they end up recycled or trashed

Chorus 1:
Hey when I die I know you can handle the pain
And if you try you’ll find a path through the stress and strain (over and over again)

Verse 2. Hey when I die won’t you manage my YouTube account
Yes I know that my songs won’t attract
The amount of attention of a viral sensation
But I still want to keep them afloat

And while you’re at it you’ll find that my websites contain
All my books and my papers I hope
Will remain open-access so a new generation
Can discover the stuff that I wrote

Chorus 2a:
Hey when I die you can say I’ll be setting you free
No need to cry this is the way it was meant to be (all throughout history)

Instrumental verse

Chorus 2b:
Hey when I die you won’t need me to explain
But I’ll still testify that the sun will come out after every rain (you can watch it shine again)

Verse 3. Hey when I die there’s a few things I’d never allow
Number one don’t embalm me like Lenin
Or Mao number two no mahogany coffin
And number three no big monument stone

Cause there’s way better options that are cheaper and also are green
Like that natural burial place that
I’ve seen out in Newfield you could visit me often
And watch how the meadows have grown

Chorus 3:
Hey when I die and the vessel you’re sailing’s unmoored
That tear in your eye it’s gonna end up on a minor chord (so throw it overboard)

Verse 4. And when you gather the friends that we’ve known for so long
In some place where they’re serving good food with
Good song well I already miss you so much
Just thinking bout how we’ll be so out of touch

Not to use my own dying as some sort of crutch
When its true irrevocable meaning as such
Makes it hard to imagine any plausible dogma
To clutch… Hey when I die

It’s hard enough convincing people that the form of rule associated with competing democratic states is central to the capitalist project; that calls for freedom and democracy are hardly an antidote to the insanity of the so-called market economy. Given the difficulties of explaining the relationship of democratic states to the capitalist economy, it might seem futile to write a song about it, but I’ve given it a try. Some metaphorical constructs are inevitable — after all, it’s still a song — but the rest is pretty explicit. 

Check out my website for more music and writings.

House of Straw
Words and music © 2026 Jonathan Ochshorn

1. Mervat struggles to find shelter
She’s weak with hunger and disease
In the summer she will swelter
In the winter she will freeze

2. Ahmad toils in jobs that bore him
He feels completely worn out and estranged
He knows this world has nothing for him
But he prays for something to be changed

CHORUS: But he can’t fix what isn’t broken
When it’s a feature of the system not a flaw
He needs to speak the word that’s never spoken
Blow down this house of straw

3. Bombed out neighborhoods spark a profusion
Of viral memes on the internet
While talking heads reach the conclusion
That the victims really are the threat

CHORUS: But you can’t fix what isn’t broken
When it’s a feature of the system not a flaw
You need to speak the word that’s never spoken
Blow down this house of straw

Instrumental break

CHORUS: You can’t fix what isn’t broken
When it’s a feature of the system not a flaw
You need to speak the word that’s never spoken
Blow down this house of straw

4. Don’t put your faith in politicians
Who promise you a better life
While they legislate the very conditions
That generate this constant strife

CHORUS: Cause they can’t fix what isn’t broken
You see it’s the system they’ve created under law
So you need to speak the word that’s never spoken
Blow down this house of straw
Blow down this house of straw
Blow down this house of straw

Production notes:
Music arranged and produced by Jonathan Ochshorn
Recorded with Logic Pro X software
Vocals: Jonathan Ochshorn
Background vocals: Jonathan Ochshorn
Software instruments played live on midi keyboard: Jonathan Ochshorn (piano, drums, bass, trumpets)
Recorded at home in Ithaca, NY, February 2026.

Here are two iPhone videos from my Dec. 13, 2025 performance at the Cortland Coffeehouse Plus at the Unitarian Universalist Church. The videos were edited using my own video clips for audio (taken with my iPhone mounted on a tripod near the Bose PA speakers) and using the more frontal views taken by Susan Schwartz for the video. There is just a little audio enhancement in Logic Pro, mainly to even out some of the dynamics. I selected one video from the first guitar set and one from the second digital piano set. You can find all the studio versions and official YouTube videos on my music website. And also check out the original performance announcement with links to all the songs I performed.

Additional links to live videos from the performance: A Slow-Growing Cancer and Adorno’s Golden Gate

I’ve been pretty good about making music videos for all the songs I recorded with the band, Rollo, in the 1980s. All except for “After the Dance,” the B-side of Rollo’s 45 RPM vinyl record that we recorded in 1980. The reason for this was that some unknown person had somehow purchased the record and made a YouTube video of the song (with the video showing the record player playing the record, which I guess is or was a thing), so I was able to simply create a link to this person’s video.

I discovered recently, however, that this video is no longer public, so — 45 years after making the record — I finally got around to making an actual Rollo video for “After the Dance.” Nothing fancy, just the record sleeve showing the cover graphics and lyrics. But it’s a great song, written, and with a lead vocal, by Dan Smullyan. Recorded at A-1 Sound Studios in NYC in 1980 with real musicians: Kurt Ochshorn on guitar, monophonic synthesizer, and background vocals; Julius Braunschweig on Fender bass; Ira Grable on drums; me on polyphonic synthesizer, piano, and background vocals; and, as mentioned, Dan Smullyan doing the lead vocal. Enjoy!

To mark the seventh anniversary of my prostatectomy, I wrote and recorded a two-song cycle about my experience with prostate cancer. Both songs cover a lot of the same ground, but from slightly different perspectives.

I played all instruments (some real, some Logic Pro software instruments played live on my midi keyboard) and sang all vocals; I recorded the songs using Logic Pro X and edited the videos using Final Cut Pro.

All of my music and music videos are linked from my music homepage.

This is my cover of Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach, written by Brian Elliot (although Madonna gets some songwriting credit as well). The song appears on her studio album, True Blue, from 1986.

My cover was recorded more or less live in one take, accompanied by electric piano, using Logic Pro X. I added some backup vocals, some additional Logic Pro software instruments (drums, bass, and organ), and some acoustic guitar. The underlying video was shot live and edited in Final Cut Pro. The other video that appears superimposed on my iMac incorporates excerpts from Madonna’s 1986 music video, directed by James Foley, and starring—in addition to Madonna—Danny Aiello as the father and Alex McArthur as the boyfriend mechanic.

For more of my original music and covers.

I jotted down the basic idea for this song in January, 2023, and started (and finished) writing it in July, 2025.

The song was recorded using Logic Pro X, and I made the video using Final Cut Pro. Find more song info on the song’s official homepage.

And find more links to all my music and writings.

I played three songs at the Center for the Arts of Homer open mic on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Unfortunately, their beautiful theatre was being used for rehearsals, so the open mic took place in a more ordinary community room. Still, the audio was good, and it was nice to play some songs I hadn’t performed very often — especially my 2003 adaptation of Charlie Kaufman’s idea for his movie, “Adaptation.” For the record, I also sang “Walking in Circles” and “If I Could Sing Like That.”

Studio versions of all three songs (as well as all my other songs and music videos) can be found on my music homepage.

I’ve embedded the YouTube live performance video of “Adaptation” below (audio ‘enhanced’ using Logic Pro X). The video was shot by Susan Schwartz.

I went to the Nocturnal Cafe open mic in downtown Ithaca last Wednesday, and played three songs accompanied by my classical Goya guitar (my first guitar, purchased when I was 12 years old in 1964). It’s an interesting place — very low key, in part because they don’t have alcohol but rather serve things like elixers, expressos, CBD infusions, juices, tea blends, and kava. Here’s a song from the open mic that I wrote in 1980, called Just Another Bad Dream. The iPhone video was shot by Susan Schwartz and I “enhanced” the iPhone audio using Logic Pro X.

Check out the original “studio” recording of Just Another Bad Dream, as well as all the other songs and videos on my music homepage.