Neil Young - Ohio

Forty years ago today on the campus of Kent State University, Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four students. Several days prior to the shooting, Richard Nixon announced that US forces had invaded Cambodia in order to cut-off supplies for the Viet Cong. There were protests aplenty at Kent State over the weekend before the shootings. Governor Jim Rhodes had called out the National Guard to quell the protests, but by the time May 4th came around, student anger over the Cambodian incursion had subsided. The students were angry at the continued presence of the National Guard on their campus and things got ugly. There was to be a rally at noon on May 4th, but the rally was banned by the National Guard. This ban was met with a violent reaction – students started throwing rocks at the Guardsmen, the Guardsmen reacted to the rocks with teargas. The teargas dispersed the students, but some students threw more rocks and some spent teargas cannisters. The wind shifted directions and blew the teargas back at the Guardsmen. Shortly thereafter, the Guardsmen, who had already been ordered by their Commanding General to lock and load their weapons, opened fire. Sixty-seven rounds and thirteen seconds later, four young men and women lay dead on the campus of Kent State.

Allison Krause - Age: 19
William Schroeder - Age: 19
Jeffrey Miller - Age: 20
Sandra Scheuer - Age: 20

Neil Young and David Crosby were staying at a house near San Francisco when these events took place. Shortly thereafter Neil Young started looking through a copy of Life Magazine and he saw the iconic photo of a young lady kneeling over a dead student screaming “Why?” Neil started writing “Ohio” immediately. Crosby called Stephen Stills and Graham Nash and told them to book the studio for that same night and that he and Neil would be down in LA as soon as they could.

To quote David Crosby:

It’s very personal with him. He’s not very political in the sense of “politics.” He doesn’t like them, he doesn’t trust politicians very much. But if you show him a picture of that girl kneeling over that kid in the pool of blood at Kent State, then he writes “Ohio.” It’s very personal, I watched him do it. He was pissed…and sad.

Neil Young wrote this in the liner notes for Decade:

It's still hard to believe I had to write this song. It's ironic that I capitalized on the death of these American students. Probably the most important lesson ever learned at an American place of learning. David Crosby cried after this take.

Of note, Crosby Stills Nash & Young had a single [Teach Your Children] that was climbing the charts, but the guys wanted to put out the single as quickly as possible. They killed their own single with another, but they didn’t care about those consequences. Neil Young had called out Richard Nixon by name. What happened at Kent State was a terrible tragedy, and Neil pointed the finger of blame right at Nixon. That stuff just wasn’t done in those days, but Neil Young did it when no one else would. That's just another reason to like Neil Young.