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  #1  
Old 04-10-2021, 08:12 AM
Slothead56 Slothead56 is offline
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Default Ohio by Neil Young

I’m 64 which means I have very clear memories of Woodstock, Moon landings, civil rights marches, Kennedy and MLK assassinations, protests and the televised hell that was Viet Nam. I’ve tried over the years to imbue my grown children with a feeling of what it was like growing up during those turbulent times. Sometimes I think I’ve been successful.

I heard Ohio on the radio yesterday for the first time in a while and it struck me-the four kids killed that day at Kent State, had they lived, might be in their early 70’s now. Maybe they would have had happy, productive lives, maybe not. We can’t know of course. But the memories of that time, of those lost lives, live on, at least for now, in song.

Like my Father’s war-really every generations war-so many young people gave of themselves. Some physically, some emotionally, some with the greatest sacrifice of all.

It’s that line in the song that tears at me...”What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground...”

Please don’t turn this political. That’s not my intent. Just the musings of a soon to be retired thinker and dreamer who’s grateful everyday for the life and times I’ve lived in....
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Old 04-10-2021, 08:49 AM
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As someone only in my mid-fifties but born and living in the UK, that song was one of the reasons I started researching the era. I think every now and then a song just encapsulates a moment in time and the 60s were a decade when people wrote songs with meaningful lyrics which strove to educate people. I would argue 'Ohio' should be on everyone's history curriculum, along with Richard Farina's 'Birmingham Sunday', Zappa's 'Trouble Every Day', Janis Ian's 'Society's Child', Country Joe's 'Fixin To Die Rag' and the musical 'Hair'. I do wonder what the majority of today's musical "stars" will teach future generations.
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Old 04-10-2021, 09:03 AM
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I sometimes find myself musing about all the musicians and actors I used to enjoy when I was young who died well before my current age (67). Whether from drugs and/or alcohol, or plane crashes, or accidents, or as the result of some violence...I feel some sorrow when I think of what they missed in life, and what they might have contributed to others’ enjoyment of life that was lost.

So many valuable things are available in one’s later years, and it is sad when anyone misses out on the later years, whatever the cause of death. But some causes seem more poignant or tragic....and Kent State deaths are among those.
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Old 04-10-2021, 09:30 AM
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At 75, I certainly remember the 60's.

The day after I received my college degree I was drafted for Vietnam. I served and survived injury free. Four close buddies of mine came home in body bags.

The Kent State tragedy never should have happened. It was a very dark day in our great country's history.

At the time all of those things were going on, some of the greatest music of all time was being crafted. It certainly helped me and others to see there was a light at the end of the tunnel and it wasn't an oncoming train.
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Old 04-10-2021, 09:59 AM
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Joe Walsh is an Ohio State alum. He was on the campus that day when he heard gunshots. He ran over and was on the site within a couple of minutes.

Bob
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Old 04-10-2021, 10:26 AM
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Other people who were in the area during the events depicted in the song were members of Devo and Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders).

Here's an article with some quotes from the Devo folks and others who founded bands soon afterward:

Kent State helped give birth to punk rock
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Old 04-10-2021, 10:28 AM
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I have mixed feelings about that song. I was on campus when it happened.
I don’t care to listen to it anymore.
Let’s just say that the whole situation at Kent State that day was a mess and there was plenty of blame to go around for that tragedy.
I too don’t want to go there.
If you do honest research you’ll discover all the facts.
Neil didn’t have all the facts when he wrote the song, so while that isn’t his fault,
it is only how he saw it.
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Old 04-10-2021, 10:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Womack View Post
Joe Walsh is an Ohio State alum. He was on the campus that day when he heard gunshots. He ran over and was on the site within a couple of minutes.

Bob
Actually...

When Joe was still young, he and his family moved to Ohio, Chicago, New York City, and then Montclair, New Jersey. In 1965, Joe landed back in Ohio where he attended Kent State University. His professional music career began then, in coffee shops and bars.

Walsh majored in English and minored in music; he was present during the Kent State massacre in 1970. Walsh commented in 2012: "Being at the shootings really affected me profoundly. I decided that maybe I don't need a degree that bad." After one term, he dropped out of college to pursue his musical career.
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Old 04-10-2021, 11:47 AM
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I was born in '59 and was only 10 when Kent State happened - I might have just turned 11. So I was a little young for it to be directly relevant, but I had a much older brother and sister who were early 20's and they were definitely in the middle of all of the domestic conflict over the war. I mostly remember being scared to death of my brother getting drafted and getting killed, so I was kind of radicalized as a little kid before I understood any of it.

Regardless of the facts of the situation, Neil definitely captured a mood among a lot of younger people in the country in those days. For me, it was strictly an emotional response - I was barely reading the newspapers and probably understood a small percentage of what I did read, but I was already a CSNY fan and I loved that song the first time I heard it. I still like to play it but I often take liberty with the lyrics because there's plenty of stuff happening today that the basic song feels right for and the original event WAS over 50 years ago. But it was a great song in it's moment. And there's something about the performance of it that had some real bite, as it was intended to.

-Ray
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Old 04-10-2021, 12:06 PM
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Being born in 1950 I was 20 when Kent state happened And I am also a first hand witness to some of things that happened to marchers during anti war protests in the late 60"s early 70's, admittedly sometimes self caused,, and very definitely sometimes not
That is all I will say on that.

I also find the song a bit uneasy to listen to , But not because the numerous and complex facts involved in the timeline of events of that particular situation as well as a number of preceding events, that are not addressed in the song...
Nor should they be .... In fact what I find uneasy is that the very few facts that are highlighted in the song and are not in any kind dispute. The national guard did in fact open fire on unarmed students and 4 were killed and regardless of why that may or may not have happened,,, does nothing to dispel the tragedy of that event
Which should not be forgotten simply because it's uncomfortable. Many historians feel that Kent State may well have been the beginning of a wedge of division in this country that has festered and gotten worse ever since.

Not to mention the thought provoking prophetic inklings and timely nature of this Stills song (46 years later) "Stop children what's that sound, everybody looks what's going down"

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Last edited by KevWind; 04-10-2021 at 12:30 PM.
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Old 04-10-2021, 04:03 PM
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Love the song and the double drop D tuning.
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Old 04-10-2021, 04:22 PM
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“The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”

And as Bruce Hornsby so aptly put it “that’s just the way it is.”
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Old 04-10-2021, 04:56 PM
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I am 71 and remember it all.
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Old 04-10-2021, 06:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevWind View Post

Not to mention the thought provoking prophetic inklings and timely nature of this Stills song (46 years later) "Stop children what's that sound, everybody looks what's going down"


When I watched the film "Echo In The Canyon" there was a video clip with Stills explaining how he came to write this song...he said he drove down from Laurel Canyon, and saw that something was going on, and he wanted no part of it...he turned his car around and drove back home...

After he learned that what was going on was the Sunset Strip Curfew riots, he sat down and wrote the song...

Someone also mentioned in the movie about the time the cops busted into Joni Mitchell's house and Stills ran in the bathroom and jumped out the window to get away...

He was a great songwriter, but apparently not one to put himself in any harm's way for his art or any other reason...
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Old 04-11-2021, 01:57 AM
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I like to think that the music of my youth contained some soul-searing messages. Even though modern day events (Freddy Gray, George Floyd, Brianna Taylor and more) have provided opportunities for more soul-searching music, I do not find artists on the current generation who are able such a searing message to today's young people. And for sure the old-people have already been written off.
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