Phil Ochs
The World Began in Eden and Ended in Los Angeles (Live)
[Intro]
This next song is, uh, is my apology for moving to Los Angeles
Which intrigues me like a beautiful sensual morgue
I think, I think the final, the final irony is that uh, the history of Western man
When you consider the history of Western man
And the Renaissance and, and everything else, it led up—
The final story, the final chapter of Western man I believe lies in Los Angeles
That's where it ended up
It's true
Everybody kept moving, everybody kept leaving
They left England to come here
And they kept moving west to colonize and colonize
Now this, every day thousands of people arrive in Los Angeles
To find the answer
And they're gonna find the answer

[Verse 1]
Don't you think it's time that we were leaving
For another chance, another place to start?
Desperate ones that went across the ocean
And they wondered how it would all turn out

[Chorus]
If you have to beg or steal or borrow
Welcome to Los Angeles, City of Tomorrow
[Verse 2]
They landed on the coldest of the colonies
But still they wanted better than the rest
They built highways on the houses of the homesteads
It happened that way moving west

[Chorus]
If you have to beg or steal or borrow
Welcome to Los Angeles, City of Tomorrow

[Verse 3]
So this is where the Renaissance has led to
And we will be the only ones to know
So take a drive and breathe the air of ashes
That is, if you need a place to go

[Chorus]
If you have to beg or steal or borrow
Welcome to Los Angeles, City of Tomorrow
City of Tomorrow, City of Tomorrow