History: Ohio

Neil Young: Ohio

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On May 4, 1970 a posse of Ohio National Guardsmen began shooting into a crowd of student anti-war protesters at Kent State University. In thirteen seconds, the guardsmen had fired sixty-seven rounds and four students lay dead. Immediately after the Kent State shooting Neil Young composed the song Ohio, after he´d seen pictures of the massacre in Life magazine. In the liner notes to his Decade compilation, Neil said about Ohio: "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."

This is not the original studio version with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, which is impressive too, but the haunting live acoustic performance from Live At Massey Hall 1971. "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we're finally on our own, this summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio."