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Related: About this forumBernardo de La Paz
(49,089 posts)The song also appears on Neil Young's Live at Massey Hall album, which he recorded in 1971 but did not release until 2007.
Recording
Young wrote the lyrics to "Ohio" after seeing the photos of the incident in Life Magazine.[3] On the evening that CSN&Y entered Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, the song had already been rehearsed, and the quartetwith their new rhythm section of Calvin Samuels and Johnny Barbatarecorded it live in just a few takes. During the same session, they recorded the single's equally direct B-side, Stephen Stills's ode to the war's dead, "Find the Cost of Freedom."
The record was mastered with the participation of the four principals, rush-released by Atlantic and heard on the radio with only a few weeks' delay. (This was despite the group already having their hit song "Teach Your Children" on the charts at the time.) In his liner notes for the song on the Decade retrospective, Young termed the Kent State incident as 'probably the biggest lesson ever learned at an American place of learning' and reported that "David Crosby cried when we finished this take."[4] Indeed, Crosby can be heard keening "Four, why? Why did they die?" and "How many more?" in the fade.
According to the notes to Greatest Hits, it was recorded by Bill Halverson on May 21, 1970, at Record Plant Studio 3 in Hollywood.[5]
Lyrics and reaction
An article in the Guardian in 2010 describes the song as the 'greatest protest record' and 'the pinnacle of a very 1960s genre.' while also saying 'The revolution never came.' [6]
The lyrics help evoke the turbulent mood of horror, outrage, and shock in the wake of the shootings, especially the line "four dead in Ohio," repeated throughout the song. "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming" refers to the Kent State shootings where Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four students. Crosby once stated that Young keeping Nixon's name in the lyrics was "the bravest thing I ever heard." The American counterculture took the group as its own after this song, giving the four a status as leaders and spokesmen they would enjoy to a varying extent for the rest of the decade.[7]
After the single's release, it was banned from some AM radio stations because of the challenge to the Nixon Administration in the lyrics but received airplay on underground FM stations in larger cities and college towns. Today, the song receives regular airplay on classic rock stations. The song was selected as the 395th Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone in December 2004.[8] In 2009, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[9]
marble falls
(57,647 posts)the stations I listened to: WNCR, WMMS.
JohnnyRingo
(18,702 posts)I think it was a double live. Probably in the attic.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,089 posts)lillypaddle
(9,581 posts)incredibly painful to remember this. Our government was killing our children. May we never have to witness such a thing again.
SergeStorms
(19,208 posts)was the speed with which 'Ohio' was written, recorded, and released. It seemed like only two weeks or so and the song was hitting every FM station in the country. For our younger members "FM" was a band on the radio dial which, at the time, was almost exclusively inhabited by Rock and Roll/Counter Culture stations. Strange, but true.
KG
(28,753 posts)Ohioboy
(3,250 posts)I was a paper boy, and remember seeing that famous picture of the girl crying, and the student laying on the ground, over and over. Later, when the song American Pie came out there was a line in that song talking about Buddy Holly's death which said "with every paper I'd deliver...bad news on the door step". Every time I hear it I think of how I had delivered bad news about Kent State.
marble falls
(57,647 posts)a straight shot into Kent of about 15 miles.
Ohiogal
(32,213 posts)It always was a somber day there on May 4. I always attended the May 4 memorials when I was there. I was there in the mid 70s, so it was still fresh in our minds. The parking lot next to my dorm had a statue with bullet holes in it.
marble falls
(57,647 posts)pazzyanne
(6,560 posts)I was horrified to know that our troops (National Guard) were killing our fellow US citizens. I did not feel safe in my own country for several months after that. Since the National Guard is under the command of the states, hopefully this will not happen again. At least one can hope!
MarianJack
(10,237 posts)And I remember pro war right wingers thinking it was wonderful. Donnie boy probably wishes that he could have protesters shot, too.
RESIST!
marble falls
(57,647 posts)MarianJack
(10,237 posts)I was almost 15 and that was a BIG argument.
RESIST!
marble falls
(57,647 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)they saw demonstrations as a threat to the status quo, the same attitude got Nixon elected to a second term. The country lost its way just like they have today.
lastlib
(23,393 posts)I LOATHE the f*cker with the fire of a thousand suns!
safeinOhio
(32,763 posts)from Indiana and was picked up by the police. Ended up letting me go, but I thought it strange at the time. Turned out Kent State was going on and with long hair and a guitar, I looked worth picking up.
marble falls
(57,647 posts)raging moderate
(4,319 posts)Also four dead, as I recall. And one of them was not even involved in the demonstration, but was about a block away. He was a young new father, on his way home from work to his young wife and newborn child.
lastlib
(23,393 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)that there was another war going on 49 years ago, & it could very well happen again.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,038 posts)akraven
(1,975 posts)And I still march in protest.
marble falls
(57,647 posts)JohnnyRingo
(18,702 posts)It's gotten so Star Wars Day has become more recognizable as the importance of today's date.
There are a lot of people who want this to be forgotten, including KSU and the govt.
Thanx again.
lastlib
(23,393 posts)WOW! was all I could say!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=174&v=dQOaUnSmJr8
"Teach Your Childrfen" (official video).
McKim
(2,412 posts)Thank you for this beautiful tribute to the heroes of Kent State. Tears in my eyes. This event taught me never to trust our government or their wars of choice lies.