Today marks an important date in the history of the U.S., the 53rd anniversary of the brutal slaying of four students by National Guardsmen on the campus of Kent State University on 04 May 1970. I offer up this song as a remembrance of that horrific day … and a wish that we could learn from our past so as not to keep repeating those same mistakes.
Neil Young wrote Ohio shortly after seeing a news report on the tragedy, and it was released by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young just 10 days after the shootings.
The Kent State shootings had a profound effect on some of the students who later became prominent musicians. Chrissie Hynde was a student at the time, and eventually formed The Pretenders. Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale were also on campus, and after the shootings, they developed the band Devo based on the concept of “De-Evolution,” meaning the human race was regressing. Said Casale …
“It refocused me entirely. I don’t think I would have done Devo without it. It was the deciding factor that made me live and breathe this idea and make it happen. In Chrissie Hynde’s case, I’m sure it was a very powerful single event that was traumatic enough to form her sensibility and account for a lot of her anger.”
Mothersbaugh added, “It was the first time I’d heard a song about something I’d been a participant in. It effected us. It was part of our life.”
This song became a protest anthem as Americans became fed up with the war in Vietnam. Providing a firsthand account of the shootings and the effect of this song, Alan Canfora relates:
“On May 4, 1970, I was waving a black protest flag as a symbol of my anger and despair 10 days after I attended the funeral of my 19-year-old friend killed in Vietnam. I was about 250 feet away from the kneeling, aiming guardsmen from Troop G – the death squad – minutes before they marched away up a hillside. They fired 67 shots from the hilltop during 13 seconds of deadly gunfire, mostly from powerful M1 rifles. I was shot through my right wrist. I survived because I jumped behind the only tree in the direct line of gunfire. About a week later, I was riding in the Ohio countryside with other Kent State massacre survivors when WMMS radio played the song ‘Ohio’ for the first time. We were deeply moved and inspired by that great anti-war anthem.”
Ohio
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in Ohio
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
Na na-na-na, na-na na-na
Na na-na-na, na-na na
Na na-na-na, na-na na-na
Na na-na-na, na-na na
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio (Four dead)
Four dead in Ohio (Four)
Four dead in Ohio (How many?)
Four dead in Ohio (How many more?)
Four dead in Ohio (Why?)
Four dead in Ohio (Oh!)
Four dead in Ohio (Four)
Four dead in Ohio (Why?)
Four dead in Ohio (Why?)
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Neil Young
Ohio lyrics © Universal Music – Z Tunes Llc, Almo Music Corp., Sony/atv Tunes Llc, Drop Your Pants Publishing, Zomba Enterprises Inc., Silly Fish Music, Zac Maloy Music, Broken Arrow Music, Almo Music Corporation, Universal Music-z Tunes, Broken Arrow Music Corp., Rondor Music Corp, Sony/atv Tunes Llc Obo Zac Maloy Music, Universal Music-z Tunes Obo Drop Your Pants Publishing, Almo Music Obo Silly Fish Music
Filosofa's Word 
I can recall not being surprised. Not so much because it happened in the USA, but because it’s what troops do when placed in riot control, as the UK was going to find out in 1972 with ‘Bloody Sunday’.
It was noteworthy these were National Guards with no true combat experience ; can’t help but wonder what would have happened if for some reason it had been a unit of Vietnam War veterans (could have gone either way I suppose)
There was a BBC documentary in the aftermath examining how folk in the USA viewed it. Support for the action was not uncommon.
There was another song I know quite well, by Steve Miller ‘Jackson-Kent Blues’ never made a single off his album ‘Number Five’.
Good choice Jill
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You make a good point … these were National Guardsmen with no combat experience. Would experienced soldiers have reacted differently? Maybe … it’s hard to say. But Mick made a good point when he said that if this happened today, it would be chalked up as just another mass shooting. Sigh. We are moving backward, methinks.
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And some things don’t change that much.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army
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Wow … I never heard of that one before! What’s that saying … “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
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That’s correct.
And note that two soon to be national heroes (MacArthur and Patton) played prominent parts in stamping out the protest.
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Why am I not suprised?
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MacArthur was complex, as de facto ruler of Japan after WWII his regime was geared to lifting up Japan and having (or trying to have) occupying troops treat the populations reasonably. At War, he was ‘variable’.
Patton is very easy to dislike. Much is made of his operational prowess, otherwise he was a class jerk.
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Agreed on both counts. I don’t know a whole lot about Patton, but from what I’ve read and seen, he was indeed a grade-A jerk.
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As a general arguably good at his trade (Though I suspect overrated in legend as more than a few have been by their nations or fans) – otherwise not a guy you would want around now, he would definitely attract the wrong sort.
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Pingback: ♫ OHIO ♫ (Redux) | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News
Probably the most important song Neil Young ever wrote.
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I fully agree.
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Of course, I was too young – actually born three days later – to experience this. The song is also new to me. But reading about the background story and the happenings on May 4th, 1970 is moving and shocking.
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Ahhhhh … you are just 5 months older than my daughter, born in October 1970! It was one of those things that … if you were of a certain age at the time, you’ll never forget where you were or what you were doing when you heard the news. This, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and 9/11 are three such everlasting events for me, and all three can still make me choke up.
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Yes, I can relate to that well. I know where I was when I heard of the meltdown in Tschernobil, 9/11, and other incisive happenings.
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And yet … I walk into the kitchen for something, and by the time I get there (it’s about 12-15 steps) I’ve forgotten what I went in there for! 🤣
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Uhm… I same over here. the problem is that I am thinking about too many other things while I get there 😂
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Yep, brain overload!
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I left this on Rawgod’s post: ‘It shocked us over here. We were angry on their behalf but you’re right in that protest fell away at that point. I think we were shocked that the state would willingly kill it’s own children for daring to protest its policies and felt helpless.’
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It was shocking and I still feel the shock when I listen to this song, remember the news that day. It still brings a tear, too. And today? We’re no better, really. Today, police kill unarmed Black people simply because they are Black and in the wrong place at the wrong time. We have daily mass shootings, while gun laws are being erased from the books. Sigh.
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Yes. If it happened today, people would just shrug and think ‘Oh, another one.’
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Much as I hate to admit it, I think you’re right. The nation has become largely inured to such. Sigh.
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Pingback: A DAY THE WORLD CHANGED – Ideas From Outside the Boxes
Thanks, rg!
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Even from more than 3,000 miles away this was headline news, as it was just so shocking. The world has become an even worse place since then: you have mass shootings just about every day, and here the government is enacting laws which restrict rights and give them the power to call in the army to break protests up. This is the best protest song I know – you can feel the anger in the way Neil Young spits out the words.
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Yes, we have gone from bad to even worse. In addition to the mass shootings, we have police killing unarmed people simply for the crime of being Black, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And with more guns than people already and gun laws being basically erased from the record … what else could possibly go wrong? I agree that this is the best protest song I know of. Sigh.
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I will never understand how soldiers and police and fire to kill on their own people, when it is not in self-defence. Just because somebody says so. They are paid by our taxes, not out of the private pockets of politicians.
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I wish I could say that we have learned since then, that things are better, but all one has to do is look at all the people who have been killed by police in the past 10-15 years simply for the crime of being Black. Sigh.
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I was nowhere near Kent State that day, but when I heard about the tragedy I knew it would have far-reaching effects on society. But instead of waking America, and the world, up, it mostly had the opposite effect. Combined with the useless murder of a young man at Altamont, it scared many of the flower children of my generation into giving up on changing the society we had been “fighting” to make better.
The Man was too powerful, too willing to kill. Where we believed in peace and love, a lot of us just gave up, and went back home with our tails between our legs. This was the end of the hippie movement, though we did not know it at that time.
The response I was expecting never happened, our fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters did not join us, but silently faded into the shadows.
We failed ourselves that day, we failed the USA, and we failed all humanity.
And now we have almost daily mass shootings. The Ohio National Guard set an example that day, it was okay to shoot students where they went to learn.
Neil Young, a Canadian, took a real close look at American culture, unafraid to speak the truth that he saw. But even that did not help. The sheep did not look up!
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Thank you for remembering, Jill.
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Just happened that I came across this a couple of days ago, checked the date, and immediately put in on the schedule before I could forget!
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I’m glad you did. I stopped paying attention. That’s on me.
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I really need to set up a calendar of such important dates! Ellen used to keep me apprised, but … alas … she somehow decided we could no longer be friends.
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Uh, whatever happened? Email me if you want confidentiaity. Her and Benjamin were your biggest fans????? I was wondering where she went.
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I wish I knew! I will email you, though.
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I suspect you are right, that it was the beginning of the end of the hippie movement. So much for “Peace and Love”, eh? And yes, today we have daily mass shootings, unlimited guns, and it takes nothing for one person to open fire on others.
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Jill, this is one of the best protest songs ever written in terms of the music matching the important message. It is Neil Young at his finest, in my view. It still amazes me the president called out the national guard on students which made a the situation worse. Keith
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I agree, Keith. Even today this can bring a tear, and when I hear the song, I feel as if it is happening all over again.
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