Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song)
Encyclopedia
"Ohio" is a protest song
written and composed by Neil Young
in reaction to the Kent State shootings
of May 4, 1970, and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
. It was released as a single, backed with Stephen Stills
's "Find the Cost of Freedom," peaking at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100
. Although a live version of the song was included on the group's 1971 double album
Four Way Street, the studio versions of both songs did not appear on an LP until the group's compilation So Far
was released in 1974. The song also appeared on the Neil Young compilation album Decade
, released in 1977.
It also appears on Young's Live at Massey Hall
album, which he recorded in 1971 but did not release until 2007.
in Life
Magazine. On the evening that CSN&Y entered Record Plant Studios
in Los Angeles
, the song had already been rehearsed, and the quartet with their regular rhythm section recorded 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." Indeed, Crosby can be heard keening
"Four, why? Why did they die?" and "How many more?" in the fade.
According to the notes to Neil Young Greatest Hits, released in 2004, it was recorded by Bill Halverson on May 21, 1970, at Record Plant Studio 3 in Hollywood.
who killed the student protesters and Young's attribution of their deaths to the President of the United States
, Richard Nixon
. 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 varying extent for the rest of the decade
.
After the double'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 on both FM and on Sirius XM's various channels. The song was selected as the 385th Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone
in December 2004.
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
written and composed by Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
in reaction to the Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...
of May 4, 1970, and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)
Crosby, Stills & Nash is a folk rock supergroup made up of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, also known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young when joined by occasional fourth member Neil Young...
. It was released as a single, backed with Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...
's "Find the Cost of Freedom," peaking at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. Although a live version of the song was included on the group's 1971 double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
Four Way Street, the studio versions of both songs did not appear on an LP until the group's compilation So Far
So Far (album)
-Personnel:*David Crosby - vocals, guitar*Stephen Stills - vocals, bass, guitar, organ, piano, percussion*Graham Nash - vocals, guitar, organ, piano*Neil Young - vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano-Additional personnel:*Dallas Taylor - drums...
was released in 1974. The song also appeared on the Neil Young compilation album Decade
Decade (Neil Young album)
Decade is a triple album compilation by Neil Young, released in 1977, now available on two compact discs. It contains 35 of Young's songs recorded between 1966 and 1976, among them five tracks that had been unreleased up to that point...
, released in 1977.
It also appears on Young's Live at Massey Hall
Live at Massey Hall 1971
Live At Massey Hall 1971 is a live album by Neil Young. Released in 2007, the album features a solo, acoustic performance from Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada on 19 January 1971 during the Journey Through the Past Solo Tour. It is the second release in Young's Archives Performance Series.. It...
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 incidentMary Ann Vecchio
Mary Ann Vecchio was the subject of a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by photojournalism student John Filo in the aftermath of the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970....
in Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
Magazine. On the evening that CSN&Y entered Record Plant Studios
Record Plant Studios
The Record Plant was a series of three famous recording studios which were founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, beginning in New York City in 1968. The next year, Kellgren and Stone opened a second studio in Los Angeles. In 1972, the company expanded again with a third location in Sausalito,...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, the song had already been rehearsed, and the quartet with their regular rhythm section recorded it live in just a few takes. During the same session they recorded the single's equally direct B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
, Stephen Stills's
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...
ode to the war's dead, "Find the Cost of Freedom."
The record was mastered
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
with the participation of the four principals, rush-released by Atlantic
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
and heard on the radio with only a few weeks delay. (This was despite the group already having their hit song "Teach Your Children
Teach Your Children
"Teach Your Children" is a song by Graham Nash. Although it was written when Nash was a member of The Hollies, it was never recorded by that group, and first appeared on the album Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released in 1970. The recording features Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar...
" on the charts at the time.) In his liner notes for the song on the Decade
Decade (Neil Young album)
Decade is a triple album compilation by Neil Young, released in 1977, now available on two compact discs. It contains 35 of Young's songs recorded between 1966 and 1976, among them five tracks that had been unreleased up to that point...
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
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
cried when we finished this take." Indeed, Crosby can be heard keening
Keening
Keening is a form of vocal lament associated with mourning that is traditional in Scotland and Ireland.-Etymology:"Keen" as a noun or verb comes from the Irish/Scots Gaelic term "caoineadh" and references to it from the seventh, eighth and twelfth centuries are extensive.-History:Written sources...
"Four, why? Why did they die?" and "How many more?" in the fade.
According to the notes to Neil Young Greatest Hits, released in 2004, it was recorded by Bill Halverson on May 21, 1970, at Record Plant Studio 3 in Hollywood.
Lyrics and reaction
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 Ohio National GuardsmenUnited States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
who killed the student protesters and Young's attribution of their deaths to the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. Crosby once stated that Young keeping Nixon's name in the lyrics was "the bravest thing I ever heard." The American counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
took the group as its own after this song, giving the four a status as leaders and spokesmen they would enjoy to varying extent for the rest of the decade
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
.
After the double's release, it was banned from some AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
radio stations because of the challenge to the Nixon Administration in the lyrics, but received airplay on underground FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
stations in larger cities and college towns. Today, the song receives regular airplay on classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
stations on both FM and on Sirius XM's various channels. The song was selected as the 385th Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
in December 2004.
Covers
Notable covers of the song:- 1971
- The song was recorded by the Isley BrothersThe Isley BrothersThe Isley Brothers are a highly influential, successful and long-running American music group consisting of different line-ups of six brothers, and a brother-in-law, Chris Jasper...
on their 1971 album Givin' It Back.
- The song was recorded by the Isley Brothers
- 1993
- Paul Weller recorded a cover during the sessions for Wild WoodWild WoodWild Wood was Paul Weller's second solo record, released in September 1993. It made it to number 2 in the UK charts, and contained three UK hits: "Wild Wood", which reached #14 in the UK charts, "Sunflower", which reached #16 and "Hung Up", which reached #11.The original 1993 UK and European CD...
, and it was released as a B-side to his single "The Weaver."
- Paul Weller recorded a cover during the sessions for Wild Wood
- 1998
- The song was included as a hidden track on the album Thirty Days Out by the Montrose Avenue.
- 2001
- ZegotaZegota (band)Zegota is an American hardcore punk and post-hardcore band originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, formed in 1997.-History:Zegota formed in Greensboro around brothers Jon and Will Ridenour, respectively the group's guitarist and drummer, bassist Brian and singer Eric Moe...
, an American punk rock band, released a 9-minute-long cover of the song.
- Zegota
- 2002
- The song was later covered by DevoDevoDevo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
on the 2002 album When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You'd Hear. The song was of particular significance to this group. Two of its founding members, Jerry CasaleGerald CasaleGerald Vincent Casale , often known as Jerry Casale, is a vocalist, bass guitar/synthesizer player, and a founding member of the new wave band Devo...
and Mark MothersbaughMark MothersbaughMark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician, composer, singer and painter. He is the co-founder of the new wave band Devo and has been its lead singer since 1972. His other musical projects include work for television series, films, and video games....
, were students at Kent State during the killings, Casale having witnessed the shooting and known two of the victims. Casale was not impressed by it at the time, seeing it as an opportunist song by "rich hippies...making money off of something horrible...that they didn't get." In the liner notes of Decade, Young reflected in 1976, "It's ironic that I capitalized on the death of those American students."
- The song was later covered by Devo
- 2003
- A live version of the song was included as a bonus track on the first album by Mott the HoopleMott the HoopleMott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...
.
- A live version of the song was included as a bonus track on the first album by Mott the Hoople
- 2004
- The Dandy WarholsThe Dandy WarholsThe Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994. The band was founded by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström, with keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford later joining. Hedford left in 1998 and was replaced by...
placed a version of the song on their 2004 B-sides and covers album Come on Feel the Dandy Warhols, available only through the band's website.
- The Dandy Warhols
- 2007
- The song was covered by DalaDala (band)Dala is a Canadian acoustic-folk two-piece musical group, made up by Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther, both of Scarborough, Ontario.-Early history :...
on the Canadian Borrowed Tunes II: A Tribute to Neil YoungBorrowed Tunes II: A Tribute to Neil YoungBorrowed Tunes II is a tribute album to Neil Young, released October 16, 2007. The album features a variety of Canadian musicians covering songs written by Neil Young. All proceeds from album sales will benefit two not-for-profit organizations selected by Neil Young: The Bridge School and...
tribute album. Their recording later appeared on the 2008 tribute album Cinnamon Girl – Women Artists Cover Neil Young.
- The song was covered by Dala
Personnel
- Neil YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
: guitar, lead vocal on "Ohio" - Stephen StillsStephen StillsStephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...
: lead guitars, vocals - David CrosbyDavid CrosbyDavid Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
: guitar, vocals - Graham NashGraham NashGraham William Nash, OBE is an English singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer...
: organ, vocals
Additional personnel
- Calvin Samuels, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
("Ohio" only) - John BarbataJohn BarbataJohn Barbata is an American drummer, born in Passaic, New Jersey, active especially in pop and pop/rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s, both as a band member and as a session drummer.-Biography:...
, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
("Ohio" only)