Beth, I was a college student at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio when this happened. Miami was closed shortly after Kent State, when the same governor sent in the National Guard to our campus when the students took over the ROTC building. I can not hear this song with crying because we lost so much that day. You do us a great honor by playing this song and remembering CSNY.
I was there, too. I was in Scott typing a paper when the tear gas started to come in my room with the help of my box fan. Years later, at a reunion, Dr. Shriver spoke to the class of '72 and I came away from that meeting with even greater respect for him. He kept our great governor from using the National Guard much in the same way they were used at Kent at Miami and kept them at the Nike base outside of town. He also stated that the class of '72 had the lowest return numbers for reunion attendance because of the goings-on. I had several friends who were zip tied and placed into the back of a U-Haul truck that night. When I was typing, I was listening to music with my headphones on.....my new copy of Deja Vu by CSN&Y.
@@MrMrmmu72 4 of us had been allowed to move off campus at the time so we opened up our apt. to any who couldn't get off home in the short time given us. I also was in the crown when Dr Shriver talked.
My uncle was there. Riot police confronted him & some of his colleagues, telling them to get inside an adjacent building, or they’d be shot. They followed the orders, only to have tear gas canisters thrown into the building right after them
I am a gen x Vet who can't hear this without crying. We were so close to it again just a couple years ago. It kills me that the POTUS sanctioned murder against unarmed citizens.
Neil Young had watched a news story of the killings of students at Kent State University in Ohio and was so angry he stormed off into the woods . He came back an hour later, picked up his guitar and had this song. He called Stephen Stills in LA and told him to book a studio, he had a song they had to record right away. They recorded this and wanted it released right away. 10 days later it was released, and knocked their own song, "Teach your Children" off the charts. The Kent State protests were part of a nationwide response to the revelation that US President Richard Nixon had secretly order bombing of Cambodia, representing an illegal and surreptitious expansion of the growingly unpopular war in Vietnam. To this day, nobody knows or at least admits to knowing who gave the Ohio National Guard the order to open fire. Some of the kids killed weren't even talking part in the protests, they were just looking on. Incidently, some of the future members of Devo and future rock star Chrissy Hind were present there.
The story I heard, as told by Neil, was that one morning David Crosby drove out to Neil's ranch in the mountains to show him a copy of that week's Life Magazine where Kent State was the cover story. Neil picked up his guitar and disappeared into the woods while Crosby waited for him. When he came out of the woods he played it for Crosby. Crosby was blown away. They called Nash and Stills and told them to meet them at the recording studio. They did and they laid down the track in only three takes that afternoon.
@@dansantarsiero1526 Yea, that's what happened Crosby heard about and told Neil, Young who disappeared for a little while and had the song written, they all met a the studio and recorded it.
I was 20 when this happened in Ohio. This incident caused young people all over the US to fully unite against the war. It truly was a tragedy. Neil Young wrote this song in a matter of hours, while Crosby worked on the harmony. CSNY will always be remembered as one of the best harmony groups from the 60's and 70's. Thanks for playing one of my favorite songs. Love the review.
A late 1969 draftee, I cooperated with the Army for a while. After Kent State and this song coming out, I turned in a request to be reclassified as a conscientious objector and was immediately given orders for VN. I refused and spent a year locked up for that refusal. This was a powerful time, and this song captured the feelings of many in my generation. Some went (and died), Some went and came back wounded (physically or mentally), while others said "no" and paid the price.
Thank you for your non-service. I was eight and saw soldiers on the TV news. Asked my folks about Vietnam, and they explained it a bit but then said “but those soldiers aren’t in Vietnam, they’re in Ohio.” Didn’t understand it then, and still don’t.
Enjoyed your reaction. I was a college student in Washington when this happened. When we got the news, everybody left classes to gather at the quad. We were devastated and shared our anguish. I still cry when I see the images.
I am a Kent State graduate and I attended on an Air Force ROTC scholarship. Granted, I attended 25 years after May 4th, 1970 but the campus embraces its history to this day and you can't be a KSU student without this incident being ingrained into you. Thank you for reacting to it and for learning about this dark time in America's past.
I'm still pissed that U Akron had the nerve to name the athletic center after Rhodes instead of Judith Resnick after what that bastard did in Kent State 15 miles away. Fvck Rhodes.
This song was an almost instant reaction to the Kent State Massacre. That happened on May 4th, 1970, and this song was recorded on May 21st, and released as a single in June of 1970.
In the liner notes of his compilation album Decade, Neil wrote: "It's still hard to believe I had to write this song.... Probably the most important lesson ever learned at an American place of learning."
The reason it's less subtle than what you've heard from CSN is that it's written by, and the lead vocal is sung by Neil Young. His voice has it's own special kind of beauty, but it's very un-polished in nature, it's part of what makes him so special as a singer/songwriter, the ability to sound musical while also sounding as if his voice is on the edge of breaking.
The story was that David had gone to Neil's to tell him about the shootings. Neil didn't say much, just picked up his guitar and walked off into the woods on his property. 10 or 15 minutes later, he returned with this song virtually intact. The real horror was that nobody has ever been identified as giving an order to fire. It just seemed to happen spontaneously and indiscriminately. One of the slain students was getting into his car over 400 feet away. Another was simply walking across campus on their way to class. Another shame was that a predominantly black college, Jackson State, in Mississippi was shot up in pretty much the same manner a few days later and was barely recognized. Not one of our country's prouder moments.
The photo you paused to talk around the 4:20 point was a Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken by a man from my hometown newspaper. I was 11 years old. I remember my family driving through the area where this happened about a year later. My mom broke down in tears.
It was 1 month brefore my high school graduation. It was the day I realized my government was willing to kill me for my political views. It was the day I went from being middle-of-the-road politically to passionate liberal.
This song came out just a few days after the incident. My first year in college and I like many others attended stop the war protests and rallies. This incident really changed the atmosphere at such events. Thanks Beth for another great reaction.
I'm from Ohio. I believe this was about the Kent State Uni shootings - 1970. They were shot during a peaceful protest. I was alive, but too young to remember it. It is still talked about today in classrooms and studies. I grew up only 30 minutes away from Kent State Uni. It's a deep, sad song. 💖
My dad was in his dorm room at Kent state when the shootings took place. On his way to class he passed through the area were some of the victims where before they were takin away to the hospital. He saw them laying their and didn't yet know what had happened. Hev didn't personally know any of the four, but had talked to one of the victims on a couple of occasions.
I was a student at Michigan State University at the time. Truly enjoyed the time song and what it stood for and meant to the students across the world. When at a local at Ohio State, the song was played and people were dancing and having a great time. Still, now in my seventies it is hard for me to find joy in this song. It was just too real.
Good video. I was 14 when this happened. We covered this at Boy Scout camp in 1971 and were surprised we didn't get any crap from the very conservative camp leadership. I think this was because everyone was touched with this tragedy, Hard to believe this song was written and recorded so quickly.
Conservatives favored the shooting overwhelmingly. 58% of American did. I was 7 years-old when I realized that one party liked children being murdered. They still do. They love children being murdered. Especially the gun lobby (NRA).
Two killed at Jackson State. Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior, and James Earl Green, 17. By Police who just opened fire on a crowd. I'm sure the right wing approved of that too.
I'm from the area and live in the area. I was 12 when this happened. A lot of adults, including my family, said the students "got what they deserved". I was appalled and still am. Come to NE Ohio Beth, and I'll take you to Blanket Hill and the memorial. You can't be there and not be moved.
Those horrible, unjustified and amoral killings happened during one of the worst periods of social unrest in America in the last hundred years. The combination of this powerful song and those incredibly sad photos stirs up so many intense emotions (I'm so glad the photographers were there to document the atrocities). The Wikipedia page for this event is excellent and very detailed.
A song in a similar vein but at the same time quite different is a song called "I was only 19" by an Australian band called Redgum. It's a song about what the retuning Vietnam soldiers went through in Vietnam and how they coped (or didn't cope) with life when they got back home. It brought attention of the Vietnam returned soldiers to the forefront of conversations. There are still to this day some 40 years later grown men who served in Vietnam who still can't listen to the song because it hurts so much. Not a song to critique the singing or the melodies, but the song packs one hell of a punch.
Beth I grew up in those turbulent times of the 60s and early 70s. Almost every night watching TV, news about the war, Civil Rights, and racial tensions. Now, I am 59 and seeing things going crazy again. I thought that we should have learn from history of those times.
This made me cry. I was a young child at the time, I've never heard of this event (or forgot!). I will look this up. Thank you Beth for posting and commenting on the song.
Neil Young wrote this while seething with understandable anger the day after the event - it's not hard to understand why the typical sweet harmonies would be missing.
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Very nice choice to cover. You gave it a very dreamy quality. The original Chris Isaak video IMO is one of the sexiest combinations of vocals and video.
Beth, you've arrived! Don't apologize for the images as they BELONG with the song, "Ohio." I just graduated from high school and was a year away from being drafted when this song came out. These and other Vietnam / racial violence protest songs were listened to by me and my fellow service members as we felt lied to by Nixon. The bass and drums drove the lyrics into our souls. Every time we heard it was like the first time. Thanks for posting. Peace.
These images are important to understanding the state of our nation and that unjust war. President Bush (another draft dodger in the National Guard) understood the importance of images. After he lied us into a decades long war in the middle east, Bush wouldn't even allow photographs to be taken of returning caskets. If you don't see the images, then you don't understand the consequences of war. That makes it easy to ignore what is taking place. I remember the body count reports and "inbed" footage on every newscast of the late-60s. Blue Star and Gold Star parents (look it up) are just as responsible for ending that war as the student protests. These were 18 year old boys. Teenagers whose government considered them too irresponsible to legally drink alcohol or even vote for the next President. But our country said to them, "Throw down your books and pick up a gun..." (to quote Country Joe and The Fish), and sent them into a meat grinder to die for a remnant of 19th century global colonialism.
Its very cool you reviewed this. I was about 10-14 when this was going on. My older cousin was at Kent State where it happened. Being a huge fan of theirs i was affected by Crosby’s passing. Anyway, you even understand the protest concept. They wrote a lot of songs that were in protest but more subtle. David Crosby has a pretty good voice. Check out a song called Almost Cut My Hair. In the same time window Mississippi State had a protest in which 22 were killed. Because it was largely a black school it got almost no press. One of my college profs was arrested there. He talked to me about it. Circa 76. Music was a massive influence for people then. There was no cell phone or internet and the press was largely owned. So the younger folks wrote music with messaging. John Lennon, the Beatles, The Who, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix maybe more than a hundred bands or singers. The closet things to the times then has been the BLM marches. Anyway i just saw a review of yours the other day and you are a very good teacher. Teach Your Children well. CSNY also.
Crosby had one of the best voices of his era and his sense of harmony was unmatched. It was easy to forget his cantankerous personality when he was singing with Nash
Heres an interesting fact. The photos of the female kneeing by one of the students (Jeffrey Miller) that was killed in the shootings at 1:21 and 4:15 were of a Pulitzer Prize winning photo shown all around the world and is the photo most used to describe the Kent State shootings. Most would think that the female is one of the demonstrating students but she was in fact a 14 year old runaway from Florida that just happened to be there at the time and had nothing to do with the demonstrations. Her name is Mary Ann Vecchio and she had no idea what was going on and knelt down screaming for help beside him. Actual Kent State students that was part of the protest just look on.
You've got it wrong. The Ohio National Guard did not kill students protesting the war. The 4 dead were not protesting. They were changing classes, going to the library or going to the lab. They were doing 'normal student things.' They were 100 or more yards away from the protest. That is what made this so horrible.
The shooting of the 4 students by the Ohio National Guard happened on a Monday, and the song was on the radio the following Monday, uniting students (like me) across the country in our anger and frustration. ✌️❤️🎶
Beth, this was and I guess, still is my era. We blindly supported the war initially. We were World War II babies after all. But Beth, we were lied to. And living through that time with my hair down to my waist in the back(yes I’m a guy) we stood against the carnage. They wanted us gone. They wanted us silent. They saw us as a threat. All the while we were peaceful and loving. Just caring for the horrible destruction on both sides. My father fought in WWII. Even he came to the realization that his so-called enemy was the same as him. I am the same hippie in my head today. We are many. And for you to understand, even just to get a little inkling as you watched, you understood. We all know what is right Beth. And peace will never come as a result of violence. You’re a lovely young lady Beth. Keep up the good work and most importantly, keep that beautiful smile. We need it!
@@corbettmanley932 Miller was the only one involved in the protests, you dumb*ss. The other three were walking between classes. Schroeder was actually a ROTC student, for God's sake!
Never believed in that war. But, I felt compelled to join. I went regular Army as an 18 year old in 1977. Was in Nam in November! Just in time for the Tet Offensive in January 68. Missed most of the Summer of love! Survived and came back to protest!!
I was there. I still have a hard time listening to this song. I am an old man now. This song is like a crystal clear window into that event. It still hurts badly.
This incident happened about 1 1/2 years before I was born. However we need history like this so we won't forget and we won't repeat ourselves. Great song, a great super group.
In May 1970 I was a college freshman. At the age of 18 my government could draft me into service and ship me to die in Vietnam for no reason. Compounding our anger and frustration, we couldn’t legally consume alcohol or vote in an election until 21. Kent State pushed a lot of us over the edge. Peace.
I remember when this happen. College students protesting was popular in these times... This happen at Kent State University.. It shocked many, many people. These guy's harmonies were tight and so good..... The picture at 14: something was award winning!!! So SAD. I have been exposed to tear-gas. It sucks!!!! Take care lady.
These days, they call May 4th "Star Wars day" - as in "May the 4th be with you" - but while I love Star Wars I'm also old enough to remember that date for a very different reason and this song has been in my sets that week every year for a long time and I dont intend to stop.
I grew up in Kent Ohio. This song was written about the 4 Kent State University students killed by the national guard. I attended KSU long after this event, but my parents were in the dorms during the protests and shootings. None of this should have happened in the USA. I love this song btw, just not the inspiration behind it. Keep the reactions coming Beth Roars. We love your channel ❤ P.S. You have a beautiful voice
I remember the day that happened. I was watching the telly when the news broadcast a special bulletin telling about the shooting by the Ohio National Guard.It was a sad day.I grew up about 30 miles away from Kent,Ohio.
'Another witness was Chrissie Hynde, a Kent State student who would become the lead singer of The Pretenders. In her 2015 autobiography she described what she saw: Then I heard the tatatatatatatatatat sound. I thought it was fireworks. An eerie sound fell over the common. The quiet felt like gravity pulling us to the ground. Then a young man's voice: "They fucking killed somebody!" Everything slowed down and the silence got heavier. The ROTC building, now nothing more than a few inches of charcoal, was surrounded by National Guardsmen. They were all on one knee and pointing their rifles at ... us! Then they fired. By the time I made my way to where I could see them it was still unclear what was going on. The guardsmen themselves looked stunned. We looked at them and they looked at us. They were just kids, 19 years old, like us. But in uniform. Like our boys in Vietnam' en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings
I was 18 when this happened. This song became the anthem to what can only be called an epochal upheaval in American history. I hope that we are a better country, a better people now...
@@danquerry3436 I don't think we will ever see our military fire upon unarmed protesters again. God help us if we do. At no time in my life has the division in our country been so polarized and carried so much potential for violence. We are a nation ready to boil over. That is where we are a better people because widespread violence has NOT broken out. However, we cannot expect it to last forever. If we are better country, we all need to accept that these differences will not end but only gain in intensity.
Well they God or military stuck with their oaths to the constitution a few years ago and didn't join the attempted coup d'etat and attack on the Congress, but this sad event was much more serious than an unfortunate shooting at Kent state, probably caused just by some scared national guard troops
This is one to play whenever you hear someone moan about 'boomers'. They were the people who risked their lives to stand up and fight for what they believed. They stopped conscription, helped stop the Vietnam war, founded Greenpeace (and went on to invent the internet and give you smartphones). Thank you, Beth. (So hard to focus on vocal technique when the passion and intent of the song is so urgent and strong.)
The problem is a lot of the "boomers" went on to sell their souls for greed, and have embraced the same conservative ideals they once protested against. That's the beef Gen X, and later generations have with boomers.
A Michigan State person......I graduated from the to U of M. Loved all of it, got my degree in engineering. Math as a second but it was Metallurgy my passion.
So correct. Neil brought the bite. Seen CSN a half dozen times, only once with. Neil. Funny. He walked around whispering in each ear keeping them together throughout the concert.
Gotta remember - when they recorded this, we didn't have videos (well, rarely). Put together much later, but still effective for those of us of the era.
CSN had their famous song, Teach Your Children, from their first album re-recorded for inclusion on the CSNY album Deja Vu in 1970. At the time of the Kent State shootings, it was on the charts at No. 16 and rising when Neil Young wrote Ohio which they rushed into the studio and released as a single. It was so powerful, it knocked Teach Your Children off the charts and sat for 9 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at no. 14.
Freshman in a Calif. college that year. We really thought our government/s had gone completely Nuts and our Country was about to disintegrate right before our eyes! Dinnertime conversaton with the Old Guard (ww2 vets, etc.) was Quite Interesting to say the least !!!
DON'T apologize for the images!!! They NEED to be seen by people such as your younger viewers who don't know anything of this history. The images define the intensity of what was going on at that time in America. I was a junior in college at that time, and what happened at Kent State made us all more wary of getting out and protesting a war that was nevertheless rapidly becoming very unpopular throughout the country. Those four students woke up that day not expecting to be shot to death just because they wanted to join a protest against a war that turned out to be a MAJOR mistake by the United States policymakers. With all of the information available to young people today it seems some of the most important history has been lost or somehow just not taught. That is a tragedy, as was the Vietnam War!
Pretty sure none of the dead were even protestors, but just walking to class, the troops fired over the heads of the protestors in front of them, hitting others way behind having nothing to do with it
Beth, I was still a youngster at the time but an aware one who used to watch Uncle Walter (Cronkite) M-F on the CBS evening news and well remember the news coverage, those terrible images, the shock, the sadness, the anger, and the song when it came out. As a kid it was even harder to process how/why this could happen even after all that had already transpired in the 60's. To this day "Ohio" really still evokes a very visceral reaction in many of us. Some think Kent State is the event that truly marked the end of the 60's in rhe U.S. (although some contend the Manson murders did). I don't know if "Ohio" is the greatest protest song ever (think of all those associated with the civil rights movement, the war, and other causes in the past) but for some of us of a certsin age it sure hits very close to home. If you haven't heard it be sure to check out Country Joe singing the "Feel Like I'm Fixin to Die Rag" antiwar anthem at Woodstock on video.
Neil Young got it right. I'm of that generation, and the line "we are finally on our own", is exactly who we felt, our government didn't care about us or our concerns.
CSN and sometimes Y, as I hear them describe themselves. I had the great privilege to see CSNY in concert at the Capitol Center in Landover MD in August 1974, two weeks after Nixon’s resignation. This was their encore. Interesting historical footnote. The band was about to release “Teach Your Children” but felt so strongly about this song that they pushed it out in the spring of 1970. Of course, the other songs from Deja Vu got their time too.
I was a student at the Ashtabula Branch Campus of Kent State, (about 80 miles from the main campus, when this happened. The first reports we got were that students had shot at guardsmen. It wasn't until sometime later we heard what had actually happened. The night before this happened, student protesters had burned down the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps,) building on campus. The were protesting America's involvement in the Viet Nam War. As a result, the Ohio Governor, James Rhodes, sent the Ohio National Guard to the campus. The were on a hill overlooking some parking lots when they opened fire, using live ammo, on students congregated below.
This song was before I was born. I know it well, however. The Kent State Massacre. Never forget lest we are doomed to repeat history's mistakes. Thanks for this ❤
Crosby called Neil hours after three shootings. Niel went into the woods and wrote this in 15 minutes. They recorded this within hours...bumping there number one hit off 1st place.
Great -- folk-rock is my favorite genre. You're right we need good protest songs but getting the right "tone" is hard. It's a wonderful song yet I haven't heard it for ages, whereas "Teach Your Children" is a much-played oldie. Neil Young certainly brought the bite to this one.
One of my favorite songs for quite a long time. I was 13 when the killings occurred. My step brother was at Kent State at the time after being in the army. My stepfather was a WWII marine that fought at Pelelieu. Made for interesting conversations over the dinner table.
For a time I attended Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, the location of the student massacre. As you can imagine, that day still loomed large in campus history. I’d be willing to believe that it continues to. For the song, I believe that’s Graham Nash singing the highest part of the harmonies. And then David Crosby, Rest In Peace, takes the lead on the outro. This was said to be the last song he performed live. I’m sure my folks attended a number of their live shows. But, to return to the killings: there’s a hilltop on that campus, with a metal art sculpture on it. It was there on that day. And if you look closely, you can see there is actually still a bullet hole in it. I touched that with my fingertip once. It was simply chilling.
Neil Young's song was one of the first to call out Nixon by name and lay the blame for the killings at his feet. It was especially daring for Young and Graham Nash who were both foreign nationals in the US on work permits and could easily have been deported, but the popularity of the song and the fame of the group made the administration have second thoughts.
Great review. I was 15 when this happened. The day after the shootings my school took a group of freshman to our state capitol as a field trip to the Capitol building which was about a hundred miles from our little town. When we got there we found massive protests in the streets of Austin and at the University of Texas. I joined in one for a while and later got disciplined for doing so as my photo made it into the newspaper. My mother was a teacher and her job was threatened over it. My mother had always been politically conservative but after Kent State she voted against Nixon. She became quite liberal in the last few decades of her life. It changed my life certainly. I was much less naive after that. I’ve always felt that the Vietnam War was lost on that day. It was likely always doomed to failure but it felt like the US was just playing out the string after that. Millions died needlessly in that war just as thousands are dying needlessly in a brutal land grab in Ukraine.
Just listened to Wicked Game……I’m thinking it’s time you spent more time in the studio and performing live…just beautiful! Only thing slightly distracting was when you took deep breath, the mike was picking this up all too well. Just brilliant!
I was a senior in high school in Ohio when it happened. We were all shocked and saddened. My brother was a junior at the University of Cincinnati. Things were so tense that UC and many of the other state schools ended the term early.
I first heard this sone when I was a teenager in the early 80s. I didn't know what it was about at the time, but I liked it and I figured it was about a real event. When I found out what it was about, the context made it an even better song to me. One of the powerful moments in music appears at 5:12 in this video when the song is fading out and you hear someone (I think it's Stephen Stills) singing, "How many more?".
Thanks for the reaction. I liked what you said how people don't seem to protest the same way that we did back then. I was a freshman in college when this happened and there were frequent mass protests organized against the war by mainly by students but even older people. Also, many rock groups were also vocal in their support. Protests were advertised usually by word of mouth, handbills and/or posters, maybe radio. I guess the times were much different then; there was no social media or internet to distract us. I often wonder why we don't see young people protesting more as they have the most to loose if the world doesn't change. Our problems are even more existential now. One major reason perhaps is there is now no draft in the USA so young people aren't faced with possibly dying in a war they may not support unless they chose to join.
just a quick note: it's very clever to present this "militant" song. Of course we are interested in the way of singing but at the same time also in listening to the lyrics. And for the curious to take an interest in the historical context. On this last subject, in terms of singing we can find Joan Baez and the very friendly Country Joe McDonald, both at Woodstock (1969) 👏👏👏
![Vocal Coach reacts to The Band - The Weight [Woodstock]](/img/n.gif)
Beth, I was a college student at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio when this happened. Miami was closed shortly after Kent State, when the same governor sent in the National Guard to our campus when the students took over the ROTC building. I can not hear this song with crying because we lost so much that day. You do us a great honor by playing this song and remembering CSNY.
I was there, too. I was in Scott typing a paper when the tear gas started to come in my room with the help of my box fan. Years later, at a reunion, Dr. Shriver spoke to the class of '72 and I came away from that meeting with even greater respect for him. He kept our great governor from using the National Guard much in the same way they were used at Kent at Miami and kept them at the Nike base outside of town. He also stated that the class of '72 had the lowest return numbers for reunion attendance because of the goings-on. I had several friends who were zip tied and placed into the back of a U-Haul truck that night. When I was typing, I was listening to music with my headphones on.....my new copy of Deja Vu by CSN&Y.
I was still in high school. Horrible times - every year I think about the four dead in Ohio. Never forget!
@@MrMrmmu72 4 of us had been allowed to move off campus at the time so we opened up our apt. to any who couldn't get off home in the short time given us. I also was in the crown when Dr Shriver talked.
My uncle was there. Riot police confronted him & some of his colleagues, telling them to get inside an adjacent building, or they’d be shot. They followed the orders, only to have tear gas canisters thrown into the building right after them
I am a gen x Vet who can't hear this without crying. We were so close to it again just a couple years ago. It kills me that the POTUS sanctioned murder against unarmed citizens.
Neil Young had watched a news story of the killings of students at Kent State University in Ohio and was so angry he stormed off into the woods . He came back an hour later, picked up his guitar and had this song. He called Stephen Stills in LA and told him to book a studio, he had a song they had to record right away. They recorded this and wanted it released right away. 10 days later it was released, and knocked their own song, "Teach your Children" off the charts.
The Kent State protests were part of a nationwide response to the revelation that US President Richard Nixon had secretly order bombing of Cambodia, representing an illegal and surreptitious expansion of the growingly unpopular war in Vietnam.
To this day, nobody knows or at least admits to knowing who gave the Ohio National Guard the order to open fire.
Some of the kids killed weren't even talking part in the protests, they were just looking on.
Incidently, some of the future members of Devo and future rock star Chrissy Hind were present there.
Joe Walsh as well. He quit college as a result.
@@ricktreat thanks, I didn't know that!
The story I heard, as told by Neil, was that one morning David Crosby drove out to Neil's ranch in the mountains to show him a copy of that week's Life Magazine where Kent State was the cover story. Neil picked up his guitar and disappeared into the woods while Crosby waited for him. When he came out of the woods he played it for Crosby. Crosby was blown away. They called Nash and Stills and told them to meet them at the recording studio. They did and they laid down the track in only three takes that afternoon.
The immediacy of the song, that is was on the radio so soon after the event, is a big part of why it's so respected.
@@dansantarsiero1526 Yea, that's what happened Crosby heard about and told Neil, Young who disappeared for a little while and had the song written, they all met a the studio and recorded it.
I was 20 when this happened in Ohio. This incident caused young people all over the US to fully unite against the war. It truly was a tragedy. Neil Young wrote this song in a matter of hours, while Crosby worked on the harmony. CSNY will always be remembered as one of the best harmony groups from the 60's and 70's. Thanks for playing one of my favorite songs. Love the review.
A late 1969 draftee, I cooperated with the Army for a while. After Kent State and this song coming out, I turned in a request to be reclassified as a conscientious objector and was immediately given orders for VN. I refused and spent a year locked up for that refusal. This was a powerful time, and this song captured the feelings of many in my generation. Some went (and died), Some went and came back wounded (physically or mentally), while others said "no" and paid the price.
🙏
I'm sorry bother.
Respect
Bravo to you. You did it the bravest way! The lottery saved me from that moral choice.
Thank you for your non-service. I was eight and saw soldiers on the TV news. Asked my folks about Vietnam, and they explained it a bit but then said “but those soldiers aren’t in Vietnam, they’re in Ohio.” Didn’t understand it then, and still don’t.
Can't hear this and see those images without being brought to tears - I was 11 years old at the time... Thanks for this!
and I was a teenage Canadian - and I share your tears
I was 9. I couldn't believe it. This changed the way I saw my country.
Enjoyed your reaction. I was a college student in Washington when this happened. When we got the news, everybody left classes to gather at the quad. We were devastated and shared our anguish. I still cry when I see the images.
I am a Kent State graduate and I attended on an Air Force ROTC scholarship. Granted, I attended 25 years after May 4th, 1970 but the campus embraces its history to this day and you can't be a KSU student without this incident being ingrained into you. Thank you for reacting to it and for learning about this dark time in America's past.
For some of us May 4th can never be "Star Wars Day." May the victims rest in peace and may Gov. Rhodes rest in Hell.
Yup
I'm still pissed that U Akron had the nerve to name the athletic center after Rhodes instead of Judith Resnick after what that bastard did in Kent State 15 miles away. Fvck Rhodes.
This song was an almost instant reaction to the Kent State Massacre. That happened on May 4th, 1970, and this song was recorded on May 21st, and released as a single in June of 1970.
*Stills and Young were both in Buffalo Springfield together. A Buffalo Springfield song I hope you react to is 'For What It's Worth.'*
Classic track, flying on the ground.
Another protest song; though it was not exactly meant as one.
@@rk41gator Well, it was. Protesting the closing of a nightclub. LOL
Nope time to do their good stuff live Leave!!! Why is For What It's Worth the only thing wimps ask for
In the liner notes of his compilation album Decade, Neil wrote: "It's still hard to believe I had to write this song.... Probably the most important lesson ever learned at an American place of learning."
The reason it's less subtle than what you've heard from CSN is that it's written by, and the lead vocal is sung by Neil Young. His voice has it's own special kind of beauty, but it's very un-polished in nature, it's part of what makes him so special as a singer/songwriter, the ability to sound musical while also sounding as if his voice is on the edge of breaking.
Neil is the man. He is everything that C,S,N is not.
That opening guitar riff...every time I hear it, time just stops and I get chills. If you were alive at the time, you'll know.
Our country seems to have forgotten what we fought for and against. Look what we got for it and nothing has changed. Jim
The story was that David had gone to Neil's to tell him about the shootings. Neil didn't say much, just picked up his guitar and walked off into the woods on his property. 10 or 15 minutes later, he returned with this song virtually intact.
The real horror was that nobody has ever been identified as giving an order to fire. It just seemed to happen spontaneously and indiscriminately. One of the slain students was getting into his car over 400 feet away. Another was simply walking across campus on their way to class. Another shame was that a predominantly black college, Jackson State, in Mississippi was shot up in pretty much the same manner a few days later and was barely recognized. Not one of our country's prouder moments.
2 dead at JacksonState, but they were only "Negroes"...
The photo you paused to talk around the 4:20 point was a Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken by a man from my hometown newspaper. I was 11 years old. I remember my family driving through the area where this happened about a year later. My mom broke down in tears.
It still brings tears all these years later.
It was 1 month brefore my high school graduation. It was the day I realized my government was willing to kill me for my political views. It was the day I went from being middle-of-the-road politically to passionate liberal.
This song came out just a few days after the incident. My first year in college and I like many others attended stop the war protests and rallies. This incident really changed the atmosphere at such events. Thanks Beth for another great reaction.
I'm from Ohio. I believe this was about the Kent State Uni shootings - 1970. They were shot during a peaceful protest. I was alive, but too young to remember it. It is still talked about today in classrooms and studies. I grew up only 30 minutes away from Kent State Uni.
It's a deep, sad song. 💖
My dad was in his dorm room at Kent state when the shootings took place. On his way to class he passed through the area were some of the victims where before they were takin away to the hospital. He saw them laying their and didn't yet know what had happened. Hev didn't personally know any of the four, but had talked to one of the victims on a couple of occasions.
I was a student at Michigan State University at the time. Truly enjoyed the time song and what it stood for and meant to the students across the world. When at a local at Ohio State, the song was played and people were dancing and having a great time. Still, now in my seventies it is hard for me to find joy in this song. It was just too real.
Neil Young makes his guitar, Old Black, scream like a demon from the netherworld.
Also: Last I counted, I had some 26 of his albums, IIRC.
I've got 78 of his recordings. ✌🇨🇦
Good video. I was 14 when this happened. We covered this at Boy Scout camp in 1971 and were surprised we didn't get any crap from the very conservative camp leadership. I think this was because everyone was touched with this tragedy, Hard to believe this song was written and recorded so quickly.
Conservatives favored the shooting overwhelmingly. 58% of American did.
I was 7 years-old when I realized that one party liked children being murdered.
They still do. They love children being murdered.
Especially the gun lobby (NRA).
For me personally this was the darkest day in our nations history. And the country has the same feeling today that it did then
I don't know... AmeriKa has had a lot of very dark daze, from genocide of indigenous to enslavement of Africans and their NorthAm born decedents...
A great song. Several were killed at a dorm Jackson State in similar circumstances , which tends to be forgotten. A Neil Young classic.
Two killed at Jackson State. Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior, and James Earl Green, 17.
By Police who just opened fire on a crowd.
I'm sure the right wing approved of that too.
thanks for the remembrance.
I'm from the area and live in the area. I was 12 when this happened. A lot of adults, including my family, said the students "got what they deserved". I was appalled and still am. Come to NE Ohio Beth, and I'll take you to Blanket Hill and the memorial. You can't be there and not be moved.
Those horrible, unjustified and amoral killings happened during one of the worst periods of social unrest in America in the last hundred years. The combination of this powerful song and those incredibly sad photos stirs up so many intense emotions (I'm so glad the photographers were there to document the atrocities). The Wikipedia page for this event is excellent and very detailed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings
David Crosby was so taken with the song and its message that he actualy cried during recording it.
Young's raw voice shouting, "WHAT?" at the end gets me every time.
A song in a similar vein but at the same time quite different is a song called "I was only 19" by an Australian band called Redgum. It's a song about what the retuning Vietnam soldiers went through in Vietnam and how they coped (or didn't cope) with life when they got back home. It brought attention of the Vietnam returned soldiers to the forefront of conversations. There are still to this day some 40 years later grown men who served in Vietnam who still can't listen to the song because it hurts so much. Not a song to critique the singing or the melodies, but the song packs one hell of a punch.
A powerful song and magical performers ❤
Beth
I grew up in those turbulent times of the 60s and early 70s. Almost every night watching TV, news about the war, Civil Rights, and racial tensions. Now, I am 59 and seeing things going crazy again. I thought that we should have learn from history of those times.
This made me cry. I was a young child at the time, I've never heard of this event (or forgot!). I will look this up. Thank you Beth for posting and commenting on the song.
The live album 4-Way Street by CSNY is filled with their best work.
Neil Young wrote this while seething with understandable anger the day after the event - it's not hard to understand why the typical sweet harmonies would be missing.
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Very nice choice to cover. You gave it a very dreamy quality. The original Chris Isaak video IMO is one of the sexiest combinations of vocals and video.
A bit late responding but yes a very haunting interpretation beautifully done. I have subscribed to you on Spotify.
Beth, you've arrived! Don't apologize for the images as they BELONG with the song, "Ohio." I just graduated from high school and was a year away from being drafted when this song came out. These and other Vietnam / racial violence protest songs were listened to by me and my fellow service members as we felt lied to by Nixon. The bass and drums drove the lyrics into our souls. Every time we heard it was like the first time. Thanks for posting. Peace.
These images are important to understanding the state of our nation and that unjust war. President Bush (another draft dodger in the National Guard) understood the importance of images. After he lied us into a decades long war in the middle east, Bush wouldn't even allow photographs to be taken of returning caskets. If you don't see the images, then you don't understand the consequences of war. That makes it easy to ignore what is taking place. I remember the body count reports and "inbed" footage on every newscast of the late-60s. Blue Star and Gold Star parents (look it up) are just as responsible for ending that war as the student protests. These were 18 year old boys. Teenagers whose government considered them too irresponsible to legally drink alcohol or even vote for the next President. But our country said to them, "Throw down your books and pick up a gun..." (to quote Country Joe and The Fish), and sent them into a meat grinder to die for a remnant of 19th century global colonialism.
Yeah...rough as it is in vocal delivery, this song still brings tears to my eyes.
Their song 'Find the Cost of Freedom' I believe was the first Vietnam protest song. Very simple and powerful.
Its very cool you reviewed this. I was about 10-14 when this was going on. My older cousin was at Kent State where it happened. Being a huge fan of theirs i was affected by Crosby’s passing. Anyway, you even understand the protest concept. They wrote a lot of songs that were in protest but more subtle. David Crosby has a pretty good voice. Check out a song called Almost Cut My Hair.
In the same time window Mississippi State had a protest in which 22 were killed. Because it was largely a black school it got almost no press. One of my college profs was arrested there. He talked to me about it. Circa 76. Music was a massive influence for people then. There was no cell phone or internet and the press was largely owned. So the younger folks wrote music with messaging. John Lennon, the Beatles, The Who, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix maybe more than a hundred bands or singers. The closet things to the times then has been the BLM marches.
Anyway i just saw a review of yours the other day and you are a very good teacher. Teach Your Children well. CSNY also.
Crosby had one of the best voices of his era and his sense of harmony was unmatched. It was easy to forget his cantankerous personality when he was singing with Nash
The Massey Hall (Canada) performance, live, is worth checking out.
Excellent description of the spirit of the song. (as usual, Beth) thank you, PJ
Heres an interesting fact. The photos of the female kneeing by one of the students (Jeffrey Miller) that was killed in the shootings at 1:21 and 4:15 were of a Pulitzer Prize winning photo shown all around the world and is the photo most used to describe the Kent State shootings. Most would think that the female is one of the demonstrating students but she was in fact a 14 year old runaway from Florida that just happened to be there at the time and had nothing to do with the demonstrations. Her name is Mary Ann Vecchio and she had no idea what was going on and knelt down screaming for help beside him. Actual Kent State students that was part of the protest just look on.
You've got it wrong.
The Ohio National Guard did not kill students protesting the war.
The 4 dead were not protesting. They were changing classes, going to the library or going to the lab. They were doing 'normal student things.'
They were 100 or more yards away from the protest.
That is what made this so horrible.
You're right. Thank you for clarifying.
One of the greatest protest songs of any era rip David Crosby . You are now "8 miles high"
The shooting of the 4 students by the Ohio National Guard happened on a Monday, and the song was on the radio the following Monday, uniting students (like me) across the country in our anger and frustration. ✌️❤️🎶
Beth, this was and I guess, still is my era. We blindly supported the war initially. We were World War II babies after all. But Beth, we were lied to.
And living through that time with my hair down to my waist in the back(yes I’m a guy) we stood against the carnage.
They wanted us gone. They wanted us silent. They saw us as a threat. All the while we were peaceful and loving. Just caring for the horrible destruction on both sides.
My father fought in WWII. Even he came to the realization that his so-called enemy was the same as him.
I am the same hippie in my head today. We are many. And for you to understand, even just to get a little inkling as you watched, you understood. We all know what is right Beth. And peace will never come as a result of violence.
You’re a lovely young lady Beth. Keep up the good work and most importantly, keep that beautiful smile. We need it!
RIP Allison Krause, Jeffrey Glenn Miller, Sandra Lee Scheuer, William Knox Schroeder.
Play silly games win silly prizes !
@@corbettmanley932 Get bent
@@corbettmanley932 Miller was the only one involved in the protests, you dumb*ss. The other three were walking between classes. Schroeder was actually a ROTC student, for God's sake!
@@corbettmanley932 Dude, at least one of those kids was just going to class.
Never believed in that war. But, I felt compelled to join. I went regular Army as an 18 year old in 1977. Was in Nam in November! Just in time for the Tet Offensive in January 68. Missed most of the Summer of love! Survived and came back to protest!!
The b-side of this 1970 release is also great, Find the Cost of Freedom is the short b-side❤
Beautiful song. Gets me every time 😢
It was okay but need their Live ELECTRIC stuff
Hi Beth! The song is beautiful but the images are heart breaking. Keep it up. Be blessed.
still brings tears to my eyes...
I was there. I still have a hard time listening to this song. I am an old man now. This song is like a crystal clear window into that event. It still hurts badly.
This incident happened about 1 1/2 years before I was born. However we need history like this so we won't forget and we won't repeat ourselves. Great song, a great super group.
Hi Beth. Your cover of Wicked Game is amazing and beautiful. I send you lots of love from Sweden ❤❤❤❤
In May 1970 I was a college freshman. At the age of 18 my government could draft me into service and ship me to die in Vietnam for no reason. Compounding our anger and frustration, we couldn’t legally consume alcohol or vote in an election until 21. Kent State pushed a lot of us over the edge. Peace.
I remember when this happen. College students protesting was popular in these times... This happen at Kent State University.. It shocked many, many people. These guy's harmonies were tight and so good..... The picture at 14: something was award winning!!! So SAD. I have been exposed to tear-gas. It sucks!!!! Take care lady.
These days, they call May 4th "Star Wars day" - as in "May the 4th be with you" - but while I love Star Wars I'm also old enough to remember that date for a very different reason and this song has been in my sets that week every year for a long time and I dont intend to stop.
Even though I was a couple thousand miles away I still feel the scar from this incident. It was my 17th birthday present. 5-4-70
I grew up in Kent Ohio. This song was written about the 4 Kent State University students killed by the national guard. I attended KSU long after this event, but my parents were in the dorms during the protests and shootings. None of this should have happened in the USA. I love this song btw, just not the inspiration behind it. Keep the reactions coming Beth Roars. We love your channel ❤
P.S. You have a beautiful voice
Being of that time I find myself now coming to tears when I hear this. Wooden Ships from CS&N is another one worth a listen.
I remember the day that happened. I was watching the telly when the news broadcast a special bulletin telling about the shooting by the Ohio National Guard.It was a sad day.I grew up about 30 miles away from Kent,Ohio.
such a tragedy! I live maybe 20 mins from Kent State. Been to the memorial 😪
Beth - This song makes us all want to cry. Need to cry....
'Another witness was Chrissie Hynde, a Kent State student who would become the lead singer of The Pretenders. In her 2015 autobiography she described what she saw:
Then I heard the tatatatatatatatatat sound. I thought it was fireworks. An eerie sound fell over the common. The quiet felt like gravity pulling us to the ground. Then a young man's voice: "They fucking killed somebody!" Everything slowed down and the silence got heavier.
The ROTC building, now nothing more than a few inches of charcoal, was surrounded by National Guardsmen. They were all on one knee and pointing their rifles at ... us! Then they fired.
By the time I made my way to where I could see them it was still unclear what was going on. The guardsmen themselves looked stunned. We looked at them and they looked at us. They were just kids, 19 years old, like us. But in uniform. Like our boys in Vietnam' en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings
A good example of the 'punch' that Neil Young brought to the trio.
Quartet.
@@chrisb8075 He brought punch to the trio and simultaneously made them a quartet.
I love how those jangling guitars and stamping rhythms all works with the angry vocals. The whole song says: how f ckin DARE you?
I was 18 when this happened. This song became the anthem to what can only be called an epochal upheaval in American history.
I hope that we are a better country, a better people now...
It's not looking good.
@@danquerry3436 I don't think we will ever see our military fire upon unarmed protesters again. God help us if we do.
At no time in my life has the division in our country been so polarized and carried so much potential for violence. We are a nation ready to boil over.
That is where we are a better people because widespread violence has NOT broken out. However, we cannot expect it to last forever.
If we are better country, we all need to accept that these differences will not end but only gain in intensity.
Well they God or military stuck with their oaths to the constitution a few years ago and didn't join the attempted coup d'etat and attack on the Congress, but this sad event was much more serious than an unfortunate shooting at Kent state, probably caused just by some scared national guard troops
This is one to play whenever you hear someone moan about 'boomers'. They were the people who risked their lives to stand up and fight for what they believed. They stopped conscription, helped stop the Vietnam war, founded Greenpeace (and went on to invent the internet and give you smartphones).
Thank you, Beth. (So hard to focus on vocal technique when the passion and intent of the song is so urgent and strong.)
The problem is a lot of the "boomers" went on to sell their souls for greed, and have embraced the same conservative ideals they once protested against. That's the beef Gen X, and later generations have with boomers.
A Michigan State person......I graduated from the to U of M. Loved all of it, got my degree in engineering. Math as a second but it was Metallurgy my passion.
So correct. Neil brought the bite. Seen CSN a half dozen times, only once with. Neil. Funny. He walked around whispering in each ear keeping them together throughout the concert.
Gotta remember - when they recorded this, we didn't have videos (well, rarely). Put together much later, but still effective for those of us of the era.
I love the music in this song!!
CSN had their famous song, Teach Your Children, from their first album re-recorded for inclusion on the CSNY album Deja Vu in 1970. At the time of the Kent State shootings, it was on the charts at No. 16 and rising when Neil Young wrote Ohio which they rushed into the studio and released as a single. It was so powerful, it knocked Teach Your Children off the charts and sat for 9 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at no. 14.
Freshman in a Calif. college that year. We really thought our government/s had gone completely Nuts and our Country was about to disintegrate right before our eyes! Dinnertime conversaton with the Old Guard (ww2 vets, etc.) was Quite Interesting to say the least !!!
DON'T apologize for the images!!! They NEED to be seen by people such as your younger viewers who don't know anything of this history. The images define the intensity of what was going on at that time in America. I was a junior in college at that time, and what happened at Kent State made us all more wary of getting out and protesting a war that was nevertheless rapidly becoming very unpopular throughout the country. Those four students woke up that day not expecting to be shot to death just because they wanted to join a protest against a war that turned out to be a MAJOR mistake by the United States policymakers. With all of the information available to young people today it seems some of the most important history has been lost or somehow just not taught. That is a tragedy, as was the Vietnam War!
Pretty sure none of the dead were even protestors, but just walking to class, the troops fired over the heads of the protestors in front of them, hitting others way behind having nothing to do with it
Beth, I was still a youngster at the time but an aware one who used to watch Uncle Walter (Cronkite) M-F on the CBS evening news and well remember the news coverage, those terrible images, the shock, the sadness, the anger, and the song when it came out. As a kid it was even harder to process how/why this could happen even after all that had already transpired in the 60's. To this day "Ohio" really still evokes a very visceral reaction in many of us. Some think Kent State is the event that truly marked the end of the 60's in rhe U.S. (although some contend the Manson murders did). I don't know if "Ohio" is the greatest protest song ever (think of all those associated with the civil rights movement, the war, and other causes in the past) but for some of us of a certsin age it sure hits very close to home. If you haven't heard it be sure to check out Country Joe singing the "Feel Like I'm Fixin to Die Rag" antiwar anthem at Woodstock on video.
I was in the military service at the time of this event and it changed me greatly. I really started questioning the direction our country was going.
Neil Young got it right. I'm of that generation, and the line "we are finally on our own", is exactly who we felt, our government didn't care about us or our concerns.
CSN and sometimes Y, as I hear them describe themselves.
I had the great privilege to see CSNY in concert at the Capitol Center in Landover MD in August 1974, two weeks after Nixon’s resignation. This was their encore.
Interesting historical footnote. The band was about to release “Teach Your Children” but felt so strongly about this song that they pushed it out in the spring of 1970. Of course, the other songs from Deja Vu got their time too.
Thanks for reacting to this, i was kind of young then, but i remember. Thanks for sharing for thoes who didgital know.
This is the original, but the best version of this song is from the 1971 live from massey hall album where Young does this song solo acoustic.
I was a student at the Ashtabula Branch Campus of Kent State, (about 80 miles from the main campus, when this happened. The first reports we got were that students had shot at guardsmen. It wasn't until sometime later we heard what had actually happened. The night before this happened, student protesters had burned down the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps,) building on campus. The were protesting America's involvement in the Viet Nam War. As a result, the Ohio Governor, James Rhodes, sent the Ohio National Guard to the campus. The were on a hill overlooking some parking lots when they opened fire, using live ammo, on students congregated below.
This song was before I was born. I know it well, however. The Kent State Massacre. Never forget lest we are doomed to repeat history's mistakes. Thanks for this ❤
Crosby called Neil hours after three shootings. Niel went into the woods and wrote this in 15 minutes. They recorded this within hours...bumping there number one hit off 1st place.
We absolutely protest here in the states. It is apart of our rights as citizens to speak up when we feel we aren't being heard.
Great -- folk-rock is my favorite genre. You're right we need good protest songs but getting the right "tone" is hard. It's a wonderful song yet I haven't heard it for ages, whereas "Teach Your Children" is a much-played oldie. Neil Young certainly brought the bite to this one.
One of my favorite songs for quite a long time. I was 13 when the killings occurred. My step brother was at Kent State at the time after being in the army. My stepfather was a WWII marine that fought at Pelelieu. Made for interesting conversations over the dinner table.
Neil wrote this song right after he heard about Kent State and it was recorded and on the radio days later.
Young wrote the music and words in less then an hour. Song was out in less then two weeks and took out their own song Teach Your Children.
For a time I attended Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, the location of the student massacre. As you can imagine, that day still loomed large in campus history. I’d be willing to believe that it continues to. For the song, I believe that’s Graham Nash singing the highest part of the harmonies. And then David Crosby, Rest In Peace, takes the lead on the outro. This was said to be the last song he performed live. I’m sure my folks attended a number of their live shows. But, to return to the killings: there’s a hilltop on that campus, with a metal art sculpture on it. It was there on that day. And if you look closely, you can see there is actually still a bullet hole in it. I touched that with my fingertip once. It was simply chilling.
Kent State happened when I was a little kid of 10 years old. It is as important a moment as 9-ll to my age group.
Neil Young's song was one of the first to call out Nixon by name and lay the blame for the killings at his feet. It was especially daring for Young and Graham Nash who were both foreign nationals in the US on work permits and could easily have been deported, but the popularity of the song and the fame of the group made the administration have second thoughts.
Great review. I was 15 when this happened. The day after the shootings my school took a group of freshman to our state capitol as a field trip to the Capitol building which was about a hundred miles from our little town. When we got there we found massive protests in the streets of Austin and at the University of Texas. I joined in one for a while and later got disciplined for doing so as my photo made it into the newspaper. My mother was a teacher and her job was threatened over it. My mother had always been politically conservative but after Kent State she voted against Nixon. She became quite liberal in the last few decades of her life. It changed my life certainly. I was much less naive after that. I’ve always felt that the Vietnam War was lost on that day. It was likely always doomed to failure but it felt like the US was just playing out the string after that. Millions died needlessly in that war just as thousands are dying needlessly in a brutal land grab in Ukraine.
Just listened to Wicked Game……I’m thinking it’s time you spent more time in the studio and performing live…just beautiful! Only thing slightly distracting was when you took deep breath, the mike was picking this up all too well. Just brilliant!
I was a senior in high school in Ohio when it happened. We were all shocked and saddened. My brother was a junior at the University of Cincinnati. Things were so tense that UC and many of the other state schools ended the term early.
I first heard this sone when I was a teenager in the early 80s. I didn't know what it was about at the time, but I liked it and I figured it was about a real event. When I found out what it was about, the context made it an even better song to me. One of the powerful moments in music appears at 5:12 in this video when the song is fading out and you hear someone (I think it's Stephen Stills) singing, "How many more?".
Thanks for the reaction. I liked what you said how people don't seem to protest the same way that we did back then. I was a freshman in college when this happened and there were frequent mass protests organized against the war by mainly by students but even older people. Also, many rock groups were also vocal in their support. Protests were advertised usually by word of mouth, handbills and/or posters, maybe radio. I guess the times were much different then; there was no social media or internet to distract us. I often wonder why we don't see young people protesting more as they have the most to loose if the world doesn't change. Our problems are even more existential now. One major reason perhaps is there is now no draft in the USA so young people aren't faced with possibly dying in a war they may not support unless they chose to join.
just a quick note:
it's very clever to present this "militant" song.
Of course we are interested in the way of singing but at the same time also in listening to the lyrics.
And for the curious to take an interest in the historical context.
On this last subject, in terms of singing we can find Joan Baez and the very friendly Country Joe McDonald, both at Woodstock (1969)
👏👏👏
14 Bis, Brazilian band recorded a version of this song called "Donos do Mundo".