Kent / Jackson State Songs

Also in: ▤ 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]▤ US Military & Veteran Songs ▤ Draft Songs ▤ Mexican-American / Hispanic Songs

#7 Maxima Four Dead in Ohio 1970 · Single · Together Again / Four Dead in Ohio · GWS # TRG-42 · USA

Annotation

The psychedelic garage rock song "Four Dead in Ohio" (GWS # TRG-42), released in 1970, covered the well-known Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song Ohio composed by Neil Young: "Nixon's coming...I here the drumming, four dead in Ohio" . This version started out with a spoken-word anti-war, revolutionary narrative. The speaker refused to "watch as a tide of apathy" took over. He declared that if the authorities wanted war, then "the revolution is what they will have" . It also contained a possible reference to the My Lai Massacre (March 1968), kept secret for over a year until reported in the US press between September and November 1969: "how dare they hope that genocides will slip by us unnoticed" . It could also refer to the indiscriminate bombing of Cambodia and the large number of Vietnamese deaths during the war. Released in Miami, Florida, Kevin McManus produced the record and Roger Hatfield worked on the arrangements.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

GWS Recording Corp. of America, "World of Hits", 1175 N.E. 125th Street, Suite 413, North Miami, Florida; TRG-42 B; "Four Dead in Ohio", credited on the label to (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young); produced by Kevin McManus and D. Hieronymus; arranged by Roger Hatfield. Yellow label with globe logo. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

No longer can I sit idly by why the heirs of outrageous indifference pierce the lungs of my brothers

Nor can I watch as a tide of apathy sweeps the ideas of a generation into the sea

How dare they think that fire will not be met with fire

How dare they hope that genocides will slip by us unnoticed

How dare they infect, and abduct, seduce and induce, hatred...

If it's peace they want, then they shall have it

But if war is what they want, the revolution is what they will have

Themes: Anti-War Kent State My Lai Nixon Anti-Calley My Lai-Type

Genres: ♪ Garage Rock Psychedelic Garage Rock

Also in: ▤ Garage Rock Songs ▤ My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#8 Coast Why (A Peace Medley) 1970 · Single · Massive # M-1001 · USA

Annotation

As mentioned above, their are dozens of cover versions of the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song Ohio. This included the track "Why (A Peace Medley)" (Massive Records # M-1001), one of the more interesting interpretations. Released by the obscure soul group Coast in New York, in 1971. Produced and directed by Martin Brummer and Gene Busnar. In fact, the medley also featured John Lennon's peace / anti-war anthem Give Peace a Chance (by the Plastic Ono Band), and Neil Young's Helpless. Furthermore, it included spoken-word extracts, such as from Vice-President Spiro Agnew: "Yippies, Hippies, Yahoos, Black Panthers, Lions and Tigers alike, I would swap the whole damn zoo for a single platoon of the kind of young Americans I saw in Vietnam" - this 1970 speech, A Challenge to Hippies, featured on the album Speaks Out. Also in the song, an unknown teenage soldier expressed fear about going to war and a mother wanted to know why her son died in Vietnam.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Massive Records M-1001 (1001-A-BW), promotion copy; "Why (A Peace Medley)" by "Coast", time 2:41; produced and directed by Martin Brummer and Gene Busnar, arranged by Gene Busnar, concept by Richard Brumer; distributed by A. A. Records, Inc., New York, N.Y. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

Four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio

Well he's five-foot-two, and he's six-foot-four

He fire his gun, and he fires his spears..

And he's only seventeen

He's been a soldier for a thousand, thousand years

We were ashamed of the acts we've been forced to commit

We were helpless, helpless, helpless

'I'm only nineteen and I'm so very clean

So seargent, please be patient for I've never killed before'

'Son, with a gun in your hand you can do anything'

'Yippies, Hippies, Yahoos, Black Panthers, Lions and Tigers alike

I would swap the whole damn zoo for a single platoon of the kind of young Americans I saw in Vietnam'

'Who's gonna tell me why my son died'

'Be the first on your block to have your son shipped home in a box'

All we are saying, is give peace a chance

Show full lyrics (16 lines) ▾

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Nixon Agnew

#9 The Last Press Conference #10 The Army of the Young #11 Four Children Are Still Dead #12 Hair #13 Hard Hats and Cops #14 Introduction #15 No Symphony for the Devil #16 USA Allaway

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]▤ Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

#9–16 Rosko Murder at Kent State University 1970 · Album · Flying Dutchman # FDS-127 · USA

All 8 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection

Annotation

A spoken word release (Flying Dutchman # FDS-127) in which Rosko narrated the newspaper articles of Pete Hamill - an American journalist who in the 1960s wrote for the New York Post, reporting from Vietnam.¹ It took a highly critical view of the Vietnam War, the military, and the politicians of the era, such as President Eisenhower and President Nixon. Produced by Bob Thiele, founder of Flying Dutchman, it featured background music from Ron Carter (bass) and James Spaulding (flute). Nat Hentoff, music critic and historian, wrote the linear notes to the record. Hamill also wrote the words for the 1970 record Massacre at My Lai (Flying Dutchman # FDS-118). On the front cover appeared a painting of John Filo's photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling next to Jeffrey Miller's body.

Billboard wrote an article about the album on 6 June 1970, reporting that "Bob Thiele's Fluing Dutchman label is releasing...a documentary album compiled from the columns of New York Post writer, Pete Hamill. This is the fourth album in a series of social comment LP's....Said Thiele: 'I also have tape of the Richard Nixon remark about 'student bums' and some comments by Vice President Agnew, including the 'intellectual snobs' remark. I think the new album is the most provocative of all - it show the gap between the administration and the young people today'".² One of those other albums was A Night at Santa Rita (Flying Dutchman # FDS-111), about the People's Park protest at the University of California in Berkeley in May 1969, from the perspective of the journalist Robert Scheer.

So Hamill sought to establish the general context of the protests throughout the US, such as the Cambodia invasion and the history of the Vietnam War. The track "The Last Press Conference" started by quoting Richard Nixon, talking about the war as the Vice-President on 16 April 1954: "If to avoid communist expansion in Asia and Indochina...we must put our boys in, I think the executive...has to do" . Hamill then noted "There are four dead Americans at the campus of Kent State University, gunned down by other Americans...from Indochina we hear news...of moving into Cambodia. Burning, and shooting, and destroying" . In the track "The Army of the Young" , Hamill focused on the aftermath of a demonstration in Washington, in which the young had all gone home, with their "style, energy, sweetness, outrage, and courage" . He condemned the Washington political elite, and said that the Capitol had "sold itself to the lies and crimes of old men" .

Sources

1 Pete Hamill: Biography ↩
2 Billboard, 6 June 1970 ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →

#9 Rosko The Last Press Conference 1970 · Album · Murder at Kent State University · Flying Dutchman # FDS-127 · USA

Credited on the record as Pete Hamill, narrated by Rosko.

Annotation

Sources

1 Pete Hamill: Biography ↩
2 Billboard, 6 June 1970 ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

There is still a taste of tear gas in the air

But the weekend is now over

The army of the young has gone home, taking with it, its style, energy, sweetness, outrage, and courage

It might never come back...

They came screaming into town early on Friday and by Saturday

There were thousands of them...

Invading the privileged sanctuaries of the old...

Washington has always seemed a dull...town filled with grey bureaucrats...

But on this weekend it seemed something far worse

Now it feels like a town whose confidence has cracked

The capitol of a nation...has sold itself to the lies and crimes of old men

English

There it was on television, that makes it true doesn't it

I mean if they say it on television it has to be right...

But it can't be right, nobody would shoot on a campus...

Kids in the National Guard are just kids who aren't in Vietnam

They're not different, they're not shoot-em-uppers...

Maybe if I close my eyes I will think I heard wrong

I close my eyes, four children still are dead

Four mothers now must learn to teach a child to say please and thank you is no longer enough

Children now must learn that bullets kill and when the National Guard shoots, you have to duck

Four father are not fathers anymore...

In this, a world of mourning, I weep for the children that died and for the children that killed them

Show full lyrics (25 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Narration Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#10 Rosko The Army of the Young 1970 · Album · Murder at Kent State University · Flying Dutchman # FDS-127 · USA

Credited on the record as Pete Hamill, narrated by Rosko.

Annotation: see “The Last Press Conference” above (same release).

Lyrics

English

There is still a taste of tear gas in the air

But the weekend is now over

The army of the young has gone home, taking with it, its style, energy, sweetness, outrage, and courage

It might never come back...

They came screaming into town early on Friday and by Saturday

There were thousands of them...

Invading the privileged sanctuaries of the old...

Washington has always seemed a dull...town filled with grey bureaucrats...

But on this weekend it seemed something far worse

Now it feels like a town whose confidence has cracked

The capitol of a nation...has sold itself to the lies and crimes of old men

There it was on television, that makes it true doesn't it

I mean if they say it on television it has to be right...

But it can't be right, nobody would shoot on a campus...

Kids in the National Guard are just kids who aren't in Vietnam

They're not different, they're not shoot-em-uppers...

Maybe if I close my eyes I will think I heard wrong

I close my eyes, four children still are dead

Four mothers now must learn to teach a child to say please and thank you is no longer enough

Children now must learn that bullets kill and when the National Guard shoots, you have to duck

Four father are not fathers anymore...

In this, a world of mourning, I weep for the children that died and for the children that killed them

Show full lyrics (23 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Narration Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#11 Rosko Four Children Are Still Dead 1970 · Album · Murder at Kent State University · Flying Dutchman # FDS-127 · USA

Credited on the record as Pete Hamill, narrated by Rosko.

Annotation

The final track, "Four Children Are Still Dead" , a poem composed by Lois Wyse, expressed disbelief that the National Guard - "just kids who aren't in Vietnam" - had gunned down the four students: "it can't be right" . She watched television in shock at the events, which made it more real. She also said that from now on, it was not enough for parents to teach their children to say 'please' and 'thank you'. Now they had to be taught how to duck bullets.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

There it was on television, that makes it true doesn't it

I mean if they say it on television it has to be right...

But it can't be right, nobody would shoot on a campus...

Kids in the National Guard are just kids who aren't in Vietnam

They're not different, they're not shoot-em-uppers...

Maybe if I close my eyes I will think I heard wrong

I close my eyes, four children still are dead

Four mothers now must learn to teach a child to say please and thank you is no longer enough

Children now must learn that bullets kill and when the National Guard shoots, you have to duck

Four father are not fathers anymore...

In this, a world of mourning, I weep for the children that died and for the children that killed them

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Narration Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#12 Rosko Hair 1970 · Album · Murder at Kent State University · Flying Dutchman # FDS-127 · USA

Credited on the record as Pete Hamill, narrated by Rosko.

Annotation: see “Four Children Are Still Dead” above (same release).

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Narration Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#13 Rosko Hard Hats and Cops 1970 · Album · Murder at Kent State University · Flying Dutchman # FDS-127 · USA

Credited on the record as Pete Hamill, narrated by Rosko.

Annotation: see “Four Children Are Still Dead” above (same release).

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Narration Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#14 Rosko Introduction 1970 · Album · Murder at Kent State University · Flying Dutchman # FDS-127 · USA

Credited on the record as Pete Hamill, narrated by Rosko.

Annotation: see “Four Children Are Still Dead” above (same release).

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Narration Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#15 Rosko No Symphony for the Devil 1970 · Album · Murder at Kent State University · Flying Dutchman # FDS-127 · USA

Credited on the record as Pete Hamill, narrated by Rosko.

Annotation: see “Four Children Are Still Dead” above (same release).

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Narration Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#16 Rosko USA Allaway 1970 · Album · Murder at Kent State University · Flying Dutchman # FDS-127 · USA

Credited on the record as Pete Hamill, narrated by Rosko.

Annotation: see “Four Children Are Still Dead” above (same release).

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Narration Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#17 Michael J. Brody, Jr. The War Is Over 1970 · Single · The War Is Over / You Ain't Going Nowhere · RCA Victor # 74-0309 · USA

Annotation

Contemporary folk artist Michael James Brody, born 1948 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He died 26 January 1973, in Shokan, New York, USA. He released the anti-Vietnam war song "The War Is Over" (RCA Victor # 74-0309) which referenced Richard Nixon, criticising him for ignoring the protesters and prolonging the war. It also noted a protester being killed: "let your secret service kill me if that's what you want" , which may be a small reference to the those killed at Kent / Jackson State. Additionally, the narrator said that the had been to D.C. in protest, possible a reference to the well-known Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, a massive demonstration across the US on 15 October 1969, followed up by a march on Washington on 15 November 1969.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

RCA Victor 74-0309 (ZPKS-5304), stereo, orange label; "The War Is Over" (Michael J. Brody, Jr.), 2:34, Dunbar Music Inc., BMI; made in U.S.A. RCA company sleeve with rainbow-and-clouds design, © 1971 RCA Records. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

I met you on the battlefields, saw you in Vietnam

Lost in Nam, she was young and free then

I was searching for freedom

President Nixon if you had seen me in Washington D.C. last week we could have ended it all

I'm really not freak, I'm just trying to do my thing

And end the war in Vietnam

I've no bitterness against you for locking my friends away too

Let your secret service kill me if that's what you want

Makes no difference, I'll be reborn

Theme: Anti-War

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#18 Tommy Tate Let Us Be Heard (A Prayer for Peace) 1970 · Single · Let Us Be Heard (A Prayer for Peace) / Peace Is All I Need · Jackson Sound # JS-1005 · USA

Notes

Let Us Be Heard (A Prayer for Peace) (Tate, Tommy)
Peace Is All I Need

Vietnam War: Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

Notes

Yellow Jackson Sound label with gramophone-and-sunflower logo, JS-1005, "P.O. Box 1037, Phone 982-4964, Jackson, Miss. 39205"; "Let Us Be Heard (A Prayer for Peace)" (Judith Russell), Cupboard Music BMI, CM-1002, time 2:38; flip "Peace Is All I Need" (Judith Russell), Cupboard Music BMI, CM-1003, time 2:45. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes: Anti-War Soldier's Perspective Kent State

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]▤ Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

#19 Tommy Tate Peace Is All I Need 1970 · Single · Let Us Be Heard (A Prayer for Peace) / Peace Is All I Need · Jackson Sound # JS-1005 · USA

Annotation: see “Let Us Be Heard (A Prayer for Peace)” above (same release).

Themes: Anti-War Soldier's Perspective Kent State

#21 A Å Sentab Å Ja #22 Befria Södern #23 Richard Dollarhjärta

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]▤ Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

#20 Roxy (We Gotta) Stop the War 1970 · Single · Elektra # PEACE-1 · USA

Notes

(We Gotta) Stop the War (Roxy)

Folk rock, anti-war.
How do we stop the war?
Who called the national guard? (Kent State reference)

Notes

Elektra PEACE-1, "For radio station use only", Elektra Records, 1855 Broadway, New York; "(We Gotta) Stop the War" (Segarini/Bishop), Paradox Music/Happiedayle Music, BMI, time 2:55; produced by Roxy, engineering Fritz Richmond. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes: Anti-War Kent State National Guard Demonstration

Genres: ♪ Rock Folk Rock Psychedelic Rock

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#21–23 Freedom Singers Antiimperialistiska Sånger 1970 · Album · Befria # BS 2 · Sweden

3 of the 15 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection

Annotation

"Rickard Dollarhjärta" ( "Richard Dollar Heart" ) - protest against Nixon and Vietnam. Kent State reference

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →

#21 Freedom Singers A Å Sentab Å Ja 1970 · Album · Antiimperialistiska Sånger · Befria # BS 2 · Sweden

Notes

Swedish. Anti-war. All songs refer to Vietnam

Befria Södern # BS-2

Notes

BS 2 A-B, issued by De Förenade FNL-grupperna, Husargatan 13, 411 22 Göteborg; printed by Miletryck AB.

The front cover reads "Antiimperialistiska sånger" and "Freedom Singers 1970" on a red, white, blue and black grid, with a drawing of a blindfolded horse in a stars-and-stripes band beside a caricatured figure, captioned "Nu har det amerikanska monopolkapitalet tvingats byta ut en enögd häst mot en blind" [now American monopoly capital has had to swap a one-eyed horse for a blind one], and a red-toned photograph of an armed woman wading through water.

The back, headed "Bekämpa USA-imperialismen", shows photographs captioned as Britta Calamnius, a teacher on Gotland selling the Vietnambulletinen and collecting for the FNL in Slite with her son, and 10,000 demonstrators outside the US embassy in Stockholm on 6 May 1970 protesting the US move into Cambodia, "Sweden's largest Vietnam demonstration to date". The text describes the FNL groups' work (the Vietnambulletinen at 50,000 copies, the Vietnam collection for the FNL at over 2,700,000 kr, only 0.92 per cent going to administration) and states that the song groups exist in Stockholm and Gothenburg and that all their songs on the record were written by FNL activists.

Tracklist under "Freedom Singers 70": Sida A "Wall Street", "Å sentab å ja", "Visan om Gunnar Myrdal", "Vårt sagoland", "Rövarvisan", "Vi sår vårt ris", "Visan om Ho Chi Minh"; Sida B "Befria Södern", "Bläckfisken", "Hur ser friheten ut?", "Visa om Olof Palme", "Kafferepet", "En liten quisling", "Richard Dollarhjärta", "CIA-visan". [From the record sleeve and labels]

Theme: Anti-War

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#22 Freedom Singers Befria Södern 1970 · Album · Antiimperialistiska Sånger · Befria # BS 2 · Sweden

Annotation: see “A Å Sentab Å Ja” above (same release).

Theme: Anti-War

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#23 Freedom Singers Richard Dollarhjärta 1970 · Album · Antiimperialistiska Sånger · Befria # BS 2 · Sweden

Annotation

"Rickard Dollarhjärta" ( "Richard Dollar Heart" ) - protest against Nixon and Vietnam. Kent State reference

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Themes: Anti-War Nixon Kent State Napalm

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#24 Kathy Gregory After Cambodia 1970 · Album · Myself · Project 3 # PR 4007SD · USA

Notes

"After Cambodia"

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Demonstration Cambodia

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#25 Third Condition Monday in May (A May Day of Hell) 1970 · Single · Sundi # SR-6815 · USA

Notes

Themes: Anti-War Kent State

Genre: ♪ Garage Rock

Also in: ▤ Garage Rock Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#26 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Ohio 1970 · Live · 4 Way Street [Disc 2] [Live] · Atlantic # SD 2-902 · USA

Notes

The pictured disc is the Atlantic 45 rpm single 45-2740, red and black label, Mfg. by Atlantic Recording Corp., 1841 Broadway, New York, N.Y.: "Ohio" (Neil Young), A-19330-PL, Cotillion, Broken Arrow, BMI, 3:00, and "Find the Cost of Freedom" (Stephen Stills), A-19331-PL, Gold Hill, BMI, 1:57, both produced by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

The picture sleeve (Atlantic 2740) prints the lyrics of both songs in white on black, credited "Neil Young — © 1970 Cotillion/Broken Arrow" and "Stephen Stills — © 1970 Goldhill Music", and its other side reproduces the Bill of Rights, Article I: "Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble …". [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming

We're Finally On Our Own

This Summer I Hear the Drumming

Four Dead in Ohio

Genres: ♪ Rock Folk Rock

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#27 Gläns Över Sjö Och Strand Ohio 4 Maj 1970 1970 · Album · Är Du Lönsam Lille Vän · MNW # 13P · Sweden

Notes

Ohio 4 maj 1970 (Gläns Över Sjö Och Strand)

Swedish. Kent State shootings.

Themes: Anti-War Kent State

Also in: ▤ 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs ▤ Blues songs ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#28 Spiro T. Agnew Campus Violence and Faculty Agitators / Four Days After Kent State 1970 · Album · The Speeches That Stirred America · Podium # PODIUM 72 · USA

Notes

Patriotic speeches and press conferences
Vietnam, the draft dodgers, hippies, Kent State shooting

Notes

Side B track 1: "April 28th, 1970: Campus Violence And Faculty Agitators (Kingman Brewster, Yale University) / May 8th: Four Days After Kent State". Compiled speeches with narration by Fred Himes; producer Sondra Bianca; engineer Noel Edward Smith. Playing time side A 29:30, side B 29:10. Topics on the LP: Vietnam, the draft dodgers, hippies, the Kent State shooting.

Themes: Kent State Anti-Protest Demonstration Agnew

Genres: ♪ Spoken Word Speech

Also in: ▤ US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]

#29 Bruce Springsteen Where Was Jesus in Ohio 1970 · Unreleased · Unreleased (live, The String Factory, Richmond, VA, June 1970) · Not On Label # none · USA

Credited on the record as Bruce Springsteen (with Steel Mill).

Annotation

Live performance, never appeared on a studio album¹

Sources

1 Springsteen Lyrics: Where Was Jesus in Ohio ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Written in May or early June 1970 in response to the Kent State shootings of 4 May 1970. Sung solo on acoustic guitar during a Steel Mill set at The String Factory, Richmond, Virginia, most likely 19 or 20 June 1970 (exact date unconfirmed); never on a studio album. The only circulating recording is an audio clip of that show posted on YouTube on 10 November 2013. [springsteenlyrics.com]

Lyrics

English

Will the sun ever shine again

Will the moon ever smile again

Don't you ask me now 'cause I don't know how they can

And hurry, we'll be late for the show

And where was Jesus in Ohio?

Will we run through the fields again

Oh will the barbed wires cut our legs again

Don't you ask me now 'cause I don't know how we can

And hurry, we'll be late for the show

Where was Jesus in Ohio?

Themes: Kent State Religion Anti-War

Genre: ♪ Rock

Also in: ▤ Bruce Springsteen Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#30 Memphis Slim Chicago Seven 1970 · Single · Chicago Seven / Boogie Woogie 1-9-7-0 · Warner Bros. # 7500 · USA

Annotation

The song "Chicago Seven" (Warner Bros. Records # 7500) by Memphis Slim (born Pete Chapman) - a highly regarded blues piano player from Memphis, Tennessee (1915-1988), who moved to Chicago in the late 1930s - dealt with political protest during the Vietnam War and Civil Rights. It appeared on the 1971 album Blue Memphis (Warner Bros. Records # WS 1899).¹

The title referred to several people arrested outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968 for inciting riots. Originally eight people stood trial, all high profile activists - Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin from the hippie movement, the Black Panther leader Bobby Seale, political activists Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Tom Hayden (married to Jane Fonda - together they released a documentary in 1973 about their visit to North Vietnam, called Introduction to the Enemy). The trial began on 24 September 1969, but soon after the Judge, Julius Hoffman, ordered Bobby Seale to be bound and gagged for contempt of court. He was tried separately, and thus the eight became seven (see the 1970 album Gagged and Chained: The Sentencing of Bobby Seale for Contempt).²³⁴⁵⁶

The lyrics suggested that large coverage of the Chicago Seven, as well as the "four dead in Ohio" - a reference to the Kent State shootings on 4 May 1970 - was because those involved were white: "nobody seems worried about all the black blood spilled" , and thus a Civil Rights message. The song ended with a guitar solo and police siren sound-effects in the background. The guitar was played by Peter Green.

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Warner Bros. Records 7500 (NA19565)S, white "Promotion – not for sale" label; "Chicago Seven" (Memphis Slim), 3:49; WB Music Corp. – ASCAP; produced by Philippe Rault, arranged by Jerry Long; "From the Warner Bros. album WS 1899 'Blue Memphis'"; made in U.S.A. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

Everybody is talking about Chicago Seven

Four dead in Ohio, that makes eleven

Nobody seems worried about all the black blood spilled

They'd begun to take notice when some of their own got killed

Now I'm from Chicago, but I'm not bragging

Just can't stand that police nagging

Because in Chicago there is one big grudge

Oh Chicago Seven, had a name like a judge...

What goes up and down...

People have gone back to the underground

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Jackson State Civil Rights Chicago Seven Demonstration

Genres: ♪ Blues Piano Blues Boogie Woogie

#31 Ruth Warrick 41,000 Plus 4 (The Ballad of the Kent State Massacre) 1970 · Single · Ruth Warrick Enterprises # 146568 · USA

Annotation

The song "41,000 Plus 4 (The Ballad of the Kent State Massacre)" by Ruth Warrick took a strong anti-war position, attacking the US Congress and the president. She referenced the the Kent State shootings, Jackson State killings, and the Augusta, Georgia race riot. The title referred to the number of US combat deaths in Vietnam at the time of release, in 1970, plus the four student killed in Ohio. The total number would eventually rise to over 58,000.¹ Warrick (1915-2005), born in St. Joseph, Missouri, starred in over 30 Hollywood films in the 1940s and 50s, such as Citizen Kane.² She took an active role on political and social issues in the 60s and 70s, including on the Vietnam War, resulting in this single. She worked and helped to promote Operation Bootstrap, a Los Angeles cooperative economic development agency, which aimed to make African-Americans economically self-sufficient.³

Entertainment World reported in 1970 (Volume 2, Part 2) that: "The Ballad of the Kent State Massacre, or 41,000 Plus 4 has been released as a single by actress / singer Ruth Warrick as her contribution to the May 27 strike for peace. Miss Warrick, co-founder of the Operation Bootstrap project in Los Angeles, wrote and sang the song. She was recently pictured in the New York Times wearing a sign saying 'I'm waaaay over 30. I'm a taxpayer. I'm no bum. I dissent".⁴Broadcasting magazine also reported on the release of this single in 1970: "Remembering Kent State - A folk ballad called "41,000 plus 4 — the ballad of the Kent State massacre" sung by actress-singer Ruth Warrick is being distributed to radio stations — mostly underground FM stations — around the U.S."⁵

The first half of the song provided a detailed narrative of the events at Kent State, starting with "Alison, Jeffrey, and Sandra and Bill" walking "in the grass" as the protest built-up "against a war that is hell" . Then the National Guard moved in, with "fixed bayonets" , "tear gas" and "bullets death spray" . She questioned if the authorities had planned the action against "the bums, radicals, elite snobs" (quoting President Nixon and Vice-President Spiro Agnew).

The second half of the song focused on broader anti-war comments, describing the actions of the US in Vietnam as "senseless killing, destruction and shame" . She called on people to act at the ballot box, and for Congress to confront the White House (at a time of increasing executive power): "time for Congress to take back its rights, time for the people to vote peace...elect those who are wise" . She wanted "the war machine stopped" and "our boys...back home" . Finally, at the end of the song she referenced the killing of African-Americans at Jackson State, and the very rarely mentioned six killed in Augusta, Georgia, on 12 May 1970, during a race riot.⁶.

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Ruth Warrick Enterprises #146568A, cream label printed in blue, Side 1, time 4:34, headed "PEACE", "41,000 Plus 4 – The Ballad of the Kent State Massacre", marked "Rated X", 45 RPM, © Ruth Warrick Enterprises. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

Alison, Jeffrey, and Sandra and Bill

Walked in the grass, walked up the hill

Heard the loud peel of the liberty bill

Strike, go on strike, against a war that is hell

An army jeep roared with it loud bull horn blather

'Leave here, leave!...it's illegal to gather

They started to run from the fixed bayonets

The tear gas exploded, eyes were wet...

Walk someone shouted, thousands obeyed

In ordered retreat, though their hearts were dismayed

But the guardsmen kept coming, shooting gas...

Towards the top of the hill marched the soldiers...

A few there, threw rocks at the faceless invaders

Like hail stones they fell, brushed aside by the raiders

All at once guardsmen knelt in battle array

Fire point blank at the crowd

There bullets death spray...

Did they plan it in hate at the students

The president reviled, the bums, radicals, elite-snobs, Agnew smile

Someone shouted 'they're blanks, only blanks, don't get manic'

Splintered trees and smashed cars meant real bullets caused panic

What sound does a bullet make entering flesh

The sound of a nations guilt in violence and mesh

English

41,000 lie dead from this war

Plus four from the massacre at Kent, a sad score

Killing, senseless killing

Destruction and shame

Can our country every redeem its good name?...

It's a stain that boggles the mind and baffles the brain

What kind of leaders believe this is gain?

Violence breeds violence and brands us with shame

Patriots strike and reject foolish leaders

The sins of the fathers

The greedy war breeders are washed with the blood of the students from Kent

Power back to the people, let the people consent...

Time for Congress to take back its rights

Time for the people to vote peace and light

If lawmakers are lax, elect those who are wise

The silent have lost their right to franchise...

The war machine stopped, our boys all brought back home

Let the people begin to rebuild our home...

41,000 plus 4

Now two more bullets rip Jackson state

Smear it with gore

Then Augusta with six, the body counts rise

Show full lyrics (48 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Narration Folk

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

1971

#32 Quicksilver Messenger Service What About Me 1971 · Single · What About Me / Good Old Rock and Roll · Capitol # 3046 · USA

Annotation

Written by Dino Valente, aka Jesse Oris Farrow, the track "What About Me" (Capitol Records # 3046), released as a single in February 1971, dealt with wider political and social issues, and included a reference to violence at demonstrations. It featured on the album What About Me (Capitol Records # ST-630) - released in December 1970, it charted at # 26 in Billboard magazine.¹ The psychedelic rock group, based in San Francisco, California, formed in 1965, and had a revolving membership throughout its history. In 1970, for this album, the line-up featured Dino Valente (vocals, guitar), Gary Duncan (vocals, guitar), John Cipollina (guitar), David Freiberg (bass), Greg Elmore (drums), and Nicky Hopkins (piano). The lyrics criticised media coverage: "your newspapers...never tell the whole story" , and the treatment of youth culture: "put your young ideas down...fill your penitentiaries and your military too" . It contained several anti-war messages, such as "I smoke marijuana, but I cant get behind your wars" and the line "if you stand up...be prepared to be shot down" - largely interpreted as a reference to the Kent and Jackson state killings.

Sources

1 Bay Area Bands: Quicksilver Messenger Service (Record Collector article) ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Capitol 3046 (S45-76109), stereo, red and orange target label, mfd. by Capitol Records, Inc., a subsidiary of Capitol Industries, Inc.; "What About Me" (Jesse Oris Farrow), 2:59, Quicksilver Music, Pending; produced by Quicksilver Messenger Service. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

Your newspapers, they just put you on, they never tell you the whole story

They just put your young ideas down

I was wonderin' could this be the end of your pride and glory?

Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?

I work in your factory, I study in your schools, I fill your penitentiaries and your military too

And I feel the future trembling as the word is passed around

If you stand up for what you do believe be prepared to be shot down...

And I feel like a stranger in the land where I was born

And I live like an outlaw and I'm always on the run

And I'm always getting busted and I got to take a stand

I believe the revolution must be mighty close at hand...

I smoke marijuana, but I can't get behind your wars

And most of what I do believe is against most of your laws

I'm a fugitive from injustice but I'm goin' to be free

Cause your rules and regulations they don't do the thing for me

Oh, oh, what you gonna do about me?

And I feel like a stranger in the land where I was born and I live just like an outlaw

Show full lyrics (18 lines) ▾

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Jackson State

Genres: ♪ Rock Psychedelic Rock

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#33 The Isley Brothers Ohio / Machine Gun 1971 · Album · Givin' It Back · T-Neck # TNS 3008 · USA

Annotation

A lengthy 8-minute social medley of two famous political / social songs of the 60s by two major rock artists - the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song Ohio and the Jimi Hendrix track Machine Gun. The Isley Brother called the track "Ohio - Machine Gun" (T-Neck Records # TNS 3008). This album of covers included tracks by several white song-writers, and is thus considered important in crossing over racial barriers, appealing to both their established black audience and new white audiences. The "Ohio" part of the song partly covered the lyrics written by Neil Young, the most famous song about the Kent State shootings: "tin soldier I hear them coming...four dead in Ohio" . This may also have reminded the listener of the Jackson State killings in Mississippi on 15 May 1970, when the police shot dead two African-American students, but it is not mentioned in the lyrics. The Hendrix version of "Machine Gun", largely thought to be a protest against the Vietnam War, also provided a commentary on war in general, with the guitars mimicking the sounds of bullets, bombs and helicopters. In this version, the Isley Brothers also took an anti-war perspective, singing about people running from the war: "bullets flying, children run, mothers screaming...tell me why" , followed by some religious content: "forgive them, they no not what they do" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Can't you see the soldier, I see them marching

A whole lot of soldiers, I see them marching

I see tin soldier I hear them coming

We're finally on our own

This summer I hear the drumming

Four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio...

Machine gun, bullets flying, children run

Mothers screaming, machine guns, bullets flying

Children screaming, fellows screaming, mothers crying

Father forgive them, they shall inherit the earth

Forgive them, they no not what they do

Don't you shoot me, I've seen you, tell me why

#34 What a Good Time for a Kent State #35 Sing Me a Song of Songmy, Part I #36 Sing Me a Song of Songmy, Part II

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]▤ Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

#34–36 Freddie Hubbard & Ilhan Mimaroglu Sing Me a Song of Songmy 1971 · Album · Atlantic # SD 1576 · USA

All 3 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection

Annotation

A very experimental jazz album (Atlantic # SD 1576) from Freddie Hubbard and Ilhan Mimaroglu, it tackled the themes of war, violence, and Civil Rights, and included spooky monologues and Vietnamese poetry recited by Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca. The title of the album referred to the mass killings of Vietnamese civilians in two hamlets in the village of Song My, known at the time as the Massacre at Songmy, currently called the My Lai massacre. The front cover is Pablo Picasso's painting "Massacre in Korea" (1951), which protested American involvement in that conflict and was a strong anti-war piece. Recorded September 14–16, 1971, at Regent Sound Studios, New York City.

The song "What a Good Time for a Kent State" (Atlantic # SD 1576) began with sparse piano playing with a poem. Then the trumpets and saxophones entered with a bang, and a choir sung the names of those killed at the Kent State demonstration - as mentioned above, only a few other tracks did this.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →

#34 Freddie Hubbard & Ilhan Mimaroglu What a Good Time for a Kent State 1971 · Album · Sing Me a Song of Songmy · Atlantic # SD 1576 · USA

Annotation

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Section of the side-long "Sing Me a Song of Songmy" suite; a choir sings the names of the four Kent State dead. Recorded July-August 1970, Regent Sound Studios, New York.

Lyrics

English

When you say two don't be so happy to exist by killing one time and again

William Knox Schroeder

Allison Krause

Jeffrey Glen Miller

Sandra Lee Scheuer

Words are better than bullets

Themes: Anti-War Kent State My Lai Anti-Calley

Genre: ♪ Jazz

Also in: ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#35 Freddie Hubbard & Ilhan Mimaroglu Sing Me a Song of Songmy, Part I 1971 · Album · Sing Me a Song of Songmy · Atlantic # SD 1576 · USA

Annotation: see “What a Good Time for a Kent State” above (same release).

Themes: Anti-War Kent State My Lai Civil Rights Anti-Calley

Genres: ♪ Jazz Avant-Garde Jazz

Also in: ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#36 Freddie Hubbard & Ilhan Mimaroglu Sing Me a Song of Songmy, Part II 1971 · Album · Sing Me a Song of Songmy · Atlantic # SD 1576 · USA

Annotation: see “What a Good Time for a Kent State” above (same release).

Themes: Anti-War Kent State My Lai Civil Rights Anti-Calley

Genres: ♪ Jazz Avant-Garde Jazz

Also in: ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#37 The Beach Boys Student Demonstration Time 1971 · Album · Surf's Up · Brother # RS 6453 · USA

Annotation

The track "Student Demonstration Time" (Brother Records # RS 6453) is an adaptation of the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller classic R&B song "Riot In Cell Block #9", covered by many artists. Mike Love re-wrote the lyrics, making it one of the most political songs performed by the Beach Boys. It took an interesting look at the overall protest movement, one of the few to chronicle several events, almost as an observer explaining what happen, displaying the views of each side of the debate.

But it also sent out mixed signals - on the one hand Mike Love encouraged people to "stay away" during a riot even though people were "fed up with useless wars" . Why? Because of the threat of violence? Or did Mike Love agree with Nixon that the "bums" were causing havoc on campuses? At the same time, it also displayed its opposition to "useless wars" , and the violence perpetrated by the National Guard and police forces. A look at the verse on Kent State Ohio displays this tension. The narrator suggested that the "students scared the Guard" , yet the "troops were battle dressed" - thus presenting both sides of the story. The narrator concluded that the "four martyrs earned a new degree: the Bachelor of Bullets" - an ambiguous statement, it implied that the students got what was coming to them for demonstrating: "earned" the "bullets" .

The other high profile demonstrations and riots referenced in the lyrics were the Berkeley Free Speech Movement (August 1964), People's Park (May 1969), rioting in Isla Vista, California (June 1970), and a rare mention of the Jackson State killings (15 May 1970): "violence spread down South to...Jackson State brothers" . According to Love, they "learned not to say nasty things" to the police, which either implied that they had been provocative, and even disrespectful to the police, or that they now knew the futility of demonstrating against the might of the police. Putting aside the detailed analysis, the overall impression given by the narrator, the chronicler of events, to those listening as the song came on over the radio, was to display a degree of sympathy with the protest movement, while not actually wanting to participate in demonstrations himself, mixed with a hint of criticism of the protesters for disturbing the peace and aggravating confrontations.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Starting out with Berkeley Free Speech and later on at People's Park

The winds of change fanned into flames, student demonstrations spark

Down to Isla Vista where police felt so harassed

They called the special riot squad of the L. A. County Sheriff...

The violence spread down South to where Jackson State brothers learned not to say nasty things about southern policemen's mothers...

America was stunned on May 4, 1970

When rally turned to riot up at Kent State University

They said the students scared the Guard, though the troops were battle dressed

Four martyrs earned a new degree, the Bachelor of Bullets

I know we're all fed up with useless wars and racial strife

But next time there's a riot, well you best stay out of sight

Stay away when there's a riot going on

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Jackson State Demonstration FSM

Genres: ♪ Rock Sunshine Pop Baroque Pop

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#38 Eve Plumb How Will It Be? 1971 · Single · How Will It Be? / The Fortune Cookie Song · RCA # 409 · USA

Annotation

Eve Plumb, born on 29 April 1958, in Burbank, California, a childhood star of the TV program The Brady Bunch (playing the role of middle sister Jan Brady) released the single "How Will It Be" (RCA Records # 0409) at the age of 12. Her father Neely Plumb (a jazz saxophonist) arranged, conducted, produced and co-wrote the record. On 20 February 1971 Billboard reported on the new single below a picture of Plumb: "KMPC's Jim Lange introduced new RCA artist, Eve Plumb, on a remote broadcast from Universal Studios in Hollywood, with the young performer coming out to talk about her single, 'How Will It Be' and her role in the TV series The Brady Bunch".¹

The single took an anti-war position. The narrator, who had just turned twelve, imagined what the world would look like when she entered her twenties, including the possibility of being recruited to fight in a war: "by 22 I could be a soldier, when they run out of boys I guess they'll have to start taking girls too" - which reflected the high number of US deaths in Vietnam by the time of this record in 1971. She then recalled seeing her sister's friend on TV protesting the war: "I saw...Carrie...on TV once carrying a big sign, it said 'give peace a chance'" . Unfortunately Carrie died, killed in a protest, a parallel to the Kent State demonstrations: "why didn't they give Carrie a chance, in six days she would have been 22" . She concluded by questioning whether she wanted to bring children into the world because of all the violence and hate.

Sources

1 Billboard, 20 February 1971 ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

childhood star of the TV program The Brady Bunch (playing the role of middle sister Jan Brady) RCA 74-0409 (ZPKS-9140), stereo, yellow "Not For Sale — Plug" promotional label; "How Will It Be?" (Kramer-Plumb), 3:25, intro :06, end: cold, E. H. Morris & Company Inc., ASCAP; arranged, conducted and produced by Neely Plumb; IMC Productions, Inc.; "RCA Corporation — Made in U.S.A." [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

I had a birthday the other day, I'm 12 years old

Julie, Diane and I, they're my best friends

We made a secret promise that on my 21st birthday we would all get together right here on this very spot

No matter how far we had to travel, boy a lot can happen...

How will it be when I'm 21, what will the future bring

Will everybody love everybody or will it be a ? dream

Will I be any fun when I'm 21

How about when I'm 22

By 22 I could be a soldier

When they run out of boys I guess they'll have to start taking girls too

Of course, then again, I might be in college when I'm 22

My sister's friend Carrie was in college until last year

I saw her on TV once carrying a big sign, it said 'Give peace a chance'

Why didn't they give Carrie a chance

In six days she would have been 22

How will it be when I'm 23

What will the years reveal

Will there be flowers and summer shadows...

And then I'll be 24, boy that is nearly middle-aged

I could have ten children by then, well, two at least

Of course right now I wouldn't want to have any children

There's too much bad in the world for children to see

But maybe when I'm 24 people will be friends again

They better be friends, they better learn to share as well...

How will it be when I'm 25, will anyone still be alive?

Show full lyrics (26 lines) ▾

Themes: Child Anti-War Demonstration Kent State

Genre: ♪ Pop

Also in: ▤ Children on Record ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#39 Dick Gregory Write the History of Kent State (The Shot Heard Around the World) 1971 · Live · Dick Gregory at Kent State · Poppy # PYS 5600 · USA

Annotation

Dick Gregory - an American comedian and social activist, who in 1968 ran for president for the Freedom and Peace Party. He was born 12 October 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, and died 19 August 2017 in Washington, DC, USA.¹² He released a bunch of political comedy and spoken-word records, many of which referred to the Vietnam War. A series of spoken word and comedy sketches about Kent State appeared on this record in 1971, such as the track "Write the History of Kent State (The Shot Heard Around the World)" (Poppy # PYS 5600). Gregory suggested throughout the record that the 'Establishment', which traditionally attacked the minorities, such as African-Americans, Native Americans, and people of Italian, Irish, Jewish descent, were starting to turn there attention to white Americans who challenged traditional values.³

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

2LP recorded at Kent State University; distributed by United Artists; design Milton Glaser (Push Pin Studios); producers Dennis and Kevin Eggers; engineer John Sadler.

Lyrics

English

It's a short history, let's write it today...

May 4th, 1970....

National Guardsmen moved upon the college campus

Some white folk decided the soldiers should not be on campus so they marched on the soldier

They threw sticks and stones

They didn't believe the soldiers would shoot

The soldiers shot and four of them fell

Themes: Kent State Civil Rights Anti-Government Demonstration

Genres: ♪ Spoken Word Comedy

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#40 Pete Atkin Driving Through Mythical America 1971 · Album · Philips # 6308 070 · USA

Annotation

Pete Atkin, British singer/songwriter, born 22 August 1945 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK, performed the track "Driving Through Mythical America" (Philips # 6308 070), written by Clive James, which looked at the Kent State killings, weaved together with references to American popular culture: "four students watched the soldiers load and aim...across the set and through the cardboard hills" - so presenting the killings as a surreal Hollywood film set, as the students became part of American mythology. It continued to quote famous film characters, actors, and directors, such as Orsen Welles, John Wayne, Bogart, and Gatsby. The lyrics also focused on the sudden nature of being shot "out of the blue" , and that the students never saw it coming.¹² Atkin also released the Vietnam War song "All the Dead Were Strangers" on the 1973 album A King at Nightfall, about the My Lai Massacre.

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Four students never guessed that they were through

Their history had them covered

Like a gun it hit them like a bolt out of the blue

Too quick to grasp and far too late to run

They crashed and died together in the sun

They were driving through mythical America....

Four students had to take it in their stride

And couldn't feel the road beneath the wheels of the car

They didn't know they rode inside

Across the set and through the cardboard hills....

Four students never knew that this was it

There isn't much a target needs to know

Already Babyface had made the hit

And Rosebud was upended in the snow....

Four students watched the soldiers load and aim

And never tumbled they were on the spot....

Four students blinked at ordinary skies...

They crashed and died together in the sun

They were driving through mythical America

Show full lyrics (20 lines) ▾

Theme: Kent State

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#41 Everyone Don't Get Me Wrong 1971 · Album · Everyone · B&C # CAS 1028 · UK

Annotation

Folk rock group Everyone formed in London, UK, in 1969/70. They only released this 1971 album, led by the singer-songwriter Andy Roberts, and featuring Bob Sargeant and John Porter, well-known British musicians and producers. Roberts said that the song "Don't Get Me Wrong" (B&C Records # CAS 1028) addressed the Kent State student demonstration. He had actually performed at Kent State back in 1969, with the Liverpool Scene, as a support act to Sly & The Family Stone.¹²³ The narrator sung that the "masters" in power wanted to "burn the house of reason down" , while "strangers shoot you as you stand" . The narrator hoped that "you" - i.e. the protesters - "don't change" and "stick around" , despite the threat of violence and what happened on the university campuses. The narrator also seemed to apologies for composing this about protesters being killed: "please don't get me wrong...you don't need a song" .

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

This is my song for you alone hoping that you don't change

Although the mist inside the room hides the sadness in your eyes

When I need to talk to you you're always out of rain

This is my song for anyone who tried to stick around

Though the masters of your life burn the house of reason down

Pin your shoulders to the wall and drive you under the ground

This is my song for everyone, please don't get me wrong

Cause when the tide has cut you up and strangers shoot you as you stand

A flower held in either hand, you don't need a song

This is my song for you alone, hoping that you don't change

Although the mist inside the room...conceals the acid in your eyes

Themes: Anti-War Kent State

Genres: ♪ Rock Folk Rock

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#42 Neil Young Ohio 1971 · Live · Live At Massey Hall 1971 · Reprise # 9362-43328-2 · USA

Annotation

Super-group, formed in 1969 in Bethel, New York, USA, featuring David Crosby (vocals, guitar), Stephen Stills (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass), Graham Nash (vocals, guitar, keyboards), and Neil Young (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica). As a group, their most famous Vietnam War-related track was the Ohio / Find the Cost of Freedom single about the Kent State shooting in Ohio, where four students were killed, with the famous line: "tin soldiers and Nixon coming...I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio" . As individual, solo artists, they released a number of Vietnam War songs, including: "What Are Their Names" on Crosby's album If I Could Only Remember My Name; "Relaxing Town" on Still's album Stephen Stills 2, discussed below; "Military Madness" and "Chicago" on Nash's Songs for Beginners, and "Oh! Camil (The Winter Soldier)" on Nash's Wild Tales; "Lookout Joe" on Young's Tonight's the Night. Also note that Buffalo Springfield, feauturing Young and Stills, released the song "For What It's Worth", added to the 2nd pressing of their debut Buffalo Springfield.

This album included a live version of "Ohio" , as well as "Chicago" , which started with the intro: "here's a song for Mayor Daley" - a reference to Richard J. Daley and the 1968 Chicago demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention. Also on this album was the medley "49 Bye-Byes / America’s Children" , which included Buffalo Springfield's famous song about demonstrations "For What It's Worth". The spoken-word section called on people to take to the streets, to speak out to President Richard Nixon, VP Spiro Agnew, and Chicago's Mayor Richard J. Daley. The reference to "how many is it that they shot down already?" is presumably including the four in Ohio, at the Kent State demonstration on 4 May 1970.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Cause they got the guts to get out in the streets and tell the truth every day...

Making it a little hot for them

You know all right, but you know that we're all just out there proving to Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew and Richard Daley

And all them other, well whatever you want to call them

That America is still the home of the brave oh yes it is

And you got to be brave children, how many is it that they shot down already?

Something like seventeen of us

#44 Vier Studenten aus Kent #45 So nah ist dieses Land #46 Die USA-Kompanie von Son My

Genres: ♪ Rock Americana Singer Songwriter

Also in: ▤ 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#43 Genesis The Knife (Part 2) 1971 · Single · The Knife / The Knife (Part 2) · Charisma # CB 152 · UK

Annotation

"In the final verse, the action moves to the campus of Kent State. As the student protesters chant, "we are only wanting freedom," the National Guardsmen plot out their attack. "OK, men," you hear as sirens blare in the background. "Fire over their heads." (That exact command was heard by several people on the ground at Kent State that day and it appears in an extensive after-action report that was issued to the public."¹

Sources

1 genesisfan.net ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Charisma CB 152, May 1971; written by Genesis; producer John Anthony; publishers Stratsong / Carlin. A-side "The Knife" (from Trespass).

Themes: Kent State National Guard Demonstration

Genres: ♪ Rock Progressive Rock

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#44–46 Various Artists Schützt diese Welt - Lieder und Chansons 1971 · Compilation · NOVA # 8 85 009 · Germany

3 of the 5 songs from this compilation in the archive are in this collection

Notes

Compilation from German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Many Vietnam War songs, including My Lai massacre, and Kent State shooting.
Also LBJ and MLK.

Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →

#44 Gisela May Vier Studenten aus Kent 1971 · Compilation · Schützt diese Welt - Lieder und Chansons · NOVA # 8 85 009 · Germany

Credited on the record as Various Artists.

Notes

Compilation from German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Many Vietnam War songs, including My Lai massacre, and Kent State shooting.
Also LBJ and MLK.

Notes

NOVA 8 85 009 (VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin), stereo LP, 1971 (Ag 511/01/71); Musikregie Dagmar Vorwerk; sleeve essay by Helge Jung (1971); design Gerd Semder, photo H. Hoffmann; full lyrics printed on the inner sleeve.

Also on the LP: "Willst du, daß wir weinen" (Asriel/Kahlau, Gisela May) — the 1967 Kämpfendes Vietnam song. Orchester Henry Krtschil, conducted by Henry Krtschil. GDR compilation of political songs/chansons. Design Gerd Semder; Tonregie Eberhard Richter, Horst Kunze; Musikregie Dagmar Vorwerk. Print code Ag 511/01/71; retail 10.10 M; printed VEB Gotha-Druck; rights AWA.

Track A2 of the compilation. Song about the four students killed at Kent State, from the GDR compilation Schützt diese Welt - Lieder und Chansons. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

Take a look at them, Mr. President!

Each of the dead was a student,

A student from Kent, Ohio!

German

Sieh sie dir an, Mister President!

Jeder der Toten war ein Student,

ein Student aus Kent in Ohio!

Themes: Kent State Demonstration Anti-War Peace Protest

Genres: ♪ Cabaret Kabarett

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#45 Gisela May So nah ist dieses Land 1971 · Compilation · Schützt diese Welt - Lieder und Chansons · NOVA # 8 85 009 · Germany

Credited on the record as Various Artists.

Annotation: see “Vier Studenten aus Kent” above (same release).

Lyrics

English

You read in the press over your morning coffee

The names Thai Bao, Hong Thai, and Hue.

You read of flights carrying napalm and gas...

It takes only seconds for your heart to reach out to Vietnam!

German

Du liest in der Presse beim Morgenkaffee

die Namen Thai Bao, Hong Thai und Hue.

Du liest von den Flügen mit Napalm und Gas...

Dein Herz braucht Sekunden nur nach Vietnam!

Themes: Anti-War Protest Anti-Imperialism Peace

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#46 Gisela May Die USA-Kompanie von Son My 1971 · Compilation · Schützt diese Welt - Lieder und Chansons · NOVA # 8 85 009 · Germany

Credited on the record as Various Artists.

Annotation: see “Vier Studenten aus Kent” above (same release).

Lyrics

English

The total number of dead? Around three hundred and seventy!

No, not from resistance—the company remained unharmed.

German

Die Gesamtzahl der Toten? Dreihundertsiebzig rund!

Nein, Widerstand nicht – Kompanie blieb gesund.

Themes: My Lai Civilian Casualties Anti-War Anti-American Anti-Soldier

Genres: ♪ Cabaret Kabarett

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#47 Gisela May & Orchestra Henry Krtschil So nah ist dieses Land 1971 · Compilation · ETERNA # 8 15 063 · Germany

Credited on the record as Gisela May, Orchester Henry Krtschil.

Notes

GDR - German. Same song as immediately above.
Gisela May & Orchestra Henry Krtschil - Vier studenten aus Kent

Notes

Also on 1971 compilation "Schützt diese Welt - Lieder und Chansons" [NOVA / 8 85 009] ETERNA 8 15 063, stereo, AWA, VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin DDR; black ETERNA labels. Various East German performers (Gisela May, Gerry Wolff, Horst Schulze, Angelica Domröse); unless otherwise noted, arrangements by Gerd Natschinski, accompanied by the Orchester Gerd Natschinski.

Credits on the back: "So nah ist dieses Land" (Komposition und Arrangement: Wolfram Heicking; Text: Hans Krause), Gisela May with Orchester Henry Krtschil; "Wenn dieser Morgen kommt" (Komposition und Text: Dieter Süverkrüp; Arrangement: Henry Krtschil), Gisela May und das Ensemble Henry Krtschil; "Vier Studenten aus Kent" (Komposition und Arrangement: Manfred Schmitz; Text: Chris Hornbogen), Gisela May with Orchester Henry Krtschil; "Die USA-Kompanie von Son My" (Komposition und musikalische Einrichtung: Paul Dessau; Text: Horst Heitzenröther), Gisela May with Walter Olbertz, piano, and Wolfgang Preissler, drums.

Other Vietnam songs include "Dschungellied", "Saigoner Kinder" (Malvina Reynolds), "Mekong-Ballade", "Vietnamesisches Liebeslied" and "Reisbauern, Kämpfer, Genossen". Design by Rudolf Grüttner; cover photo by Thomas Billhardt of a Vietnamese mother in a conical hat holding a small boy.

Sleeve print code "Ag 511/01/72"; price 12.10 M. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Theme: Anti-War

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#48 Gisela May & Orchestra Henry Krtschil Vier Studenten aus Kent 1971 · Compilation · So nah ist dieses Land · ETERNA # 8 15 063 · Germany

Credited on the record as Gisela May, Orchester Henry Krtschil.

Annotation: see “So nah ist dieses Land” above (same release).

Themes: Anti-War Kent State

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#49 Jaramago Ohio 1971 · Single · It Ain't Been Easy / Ohio · Markus # DM 3846 · USA

Notes

Markus DM 3846-B, 45 rpm, green label; "Ohio" (N. Young), 3:45, BMI; "Trademark of DM Records 1971". [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes: Anti-War Demonstration Kent State Nixon

Genres: ♪ Rock Folk Rock

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#50 Charles Kuralt Cambodia and the Campus 1971 · Album · 1970: A Record of the Year · CBS News # none · USA

Notes

Vietnam, P.O.W., Nixon, Agnew, Chicago 7, Kent State shooting, My Lai massacre, Cambodia incursion. Also Civil Rights, Space Race, Middle East, ecology, Edward Heath (UK)

Notes

CBS News LP, mono, matrix XTV 222690; producer Peter Wells. Tracks: Dawn of a Decade; Unlucky Apollo 13; Earth Day; Cambodia and the Campus; The Eventful Middle East; End of the Year; Epilogue. The year-review covers Vietnam, P.O.W.s, Nixon, Agnew, the Chicago 7, the Kent State shooting, the My Lai massacre and the Cambodia incursion, as well as civil rights, the space race, the Middle East, ecology and Edward Heath.

Themes: Kent State Cambodia Demonstration Nixon

Genres: ♪ Spoken Word Field Recordings

Also in: ▤ US Domestic Perspective Songs [War Years]

1972

#51 Harvey Andrews Hey Sandy 1972 · Single · Hey! Sandy / Friends of Mine · Cube Hifly # 2016 033 · UK

Annotation

Harvey Andrews, from Birmingham, UK, addressed the song "Hey Sandy" (Cube Records # 2016 065) to Sandra Lee Scheuer, one of the students killed by Ohio National Guardsmen at Kent State. It featured on the 1972 album Writer of Songs (Cube Records # Hifly 10). Harvey said that "I actually wrote it within a day or two of the shootings and had not heard Young's song", although it was released a few years afterwards.¹² The song displayed sympathy with the demonstrators, and presented Scheuer as one of the protesters. But it later transpired, through an interview given by her friend Bruce Burkland, that "at the time this most unfortunate incident happened, Sandy was walking with one of her speech and hearing therapy students across the green".³

The narrator provided a detailed narrative of the events, placing the listener at the demonstration, and in Scheuer's shoes. It recalled the build-up to the clash: "the marching men came" as the students stood "in the college square...with flag" . This square would be mentioned again at the end of the track: "the square ran red" , effectively displaying the change that took place. The narrator wondered how Scheuer felt when the National Guard attacked: "did you feel the burn of the bullets?" . The narrator also commented that "no one cared for another campus bum" - a reference to President Nixon's remarks on 30 April 1970.

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

2016 033, Side 1, stereo, brown-and-cream label; "Hey Sandy" (Harvey Andrews), 4.20, Essex; produced by John Worth; "From the forth-coming album 'Writer of Songs' 2326 011"; ℗ 1972 Cube Records Ltd.; made in New Zealand by Polygram Records. A dealer sticker from The Music Box, 83 Cathedral Square, Christchurch, is on the label. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

Hey Sandy, hey Sandy why were you the one?

All the years of growing up are wasted now and gone

Did you see them turn, did you feel the burn of the bullets as they flew?

Hey Sandy, hey Sandy just what did you do?

Well the sun was hot and the air was heavy as the marching men came by

And you ran to the door and you watched then pass and you asked the soldiers "Why?"

The sound of the steel and the black boot's heel were pounding in your head

And your freedom's past, they have come at last, with the blessings of the dead....

In the college square they were standing there with flag and with the drum

And the whispered word as the young ones stirred was "now at last they've come"

And the air was still with the lonely thrill...

Now the hour is near and the smell of sweat was better yet than the awful stench of fear....

Through the air they shout as you all ran out was "why are these things done?"

And you stood and you stared but no one cared for another campus bum

And your songs were dead and the hymns instead were to the burning pyre

And the words of youth, like love and truth, just ashes in the fire....

Did you throw the stone at the men alone with their bayonets fixed for hire?

Did you doubt that they would, say no one could

Did you scream when they opened fire?

As the square ran red and your bloodstain spread and the darkness round you grew

Through the fear and the pain did you call the name of the man you never knew?

Show full lyrics (23 lines) ▾

Themes: Anti-War Kent State

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#52 Don Sanders Kent State 1972 · Album · Don Sanders · Not On Label · USA

Annotation

Don Sanders, a singer-songwriter, focused his career in the Houston, Texas contemporary folk scene.¹ In 1972 he recorded and released the song "Kent State History Play" (No label or #) at the H&S Studios, Houston, engineered by Rock Romano. In 2011 he reissued his 1970s vinyls on the compilation Heavy Word User (The Vinyl Years 1971-1975) (Red Boot Music), which renamed the song "Kent State" . The lyrics attacked the Vice-President Spiro Agnew, hoping that he would "recognise his own guilt and he'll confess" , and then astonishingly hoping that he would "kill himself in view of hungry TV cameras" . The narrator took exception to Agnew's claim that the Kent State demonstrators had acted violently which resulted in their deaths: "those that turn to violence are the cause of tragedy, they brought it on themselves, they got what they deserved" .

Sources

1 houstonchronicle.com ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

There are four students dead

Ready for their pagan rite

Thousands out there form a kind

Had aging thoughts last night

The VP bravely steps up to the insistent microphones

Let the men of business know what they've always known

Those who turn to violence are the cause of tragedy

They brought it on themselves, they got what they deserved

He paused, perhaps I thought, to watch his words bounce back apart

Himself and all the work...

Lucky he ran down to the Pentagon

And perhaps he'll recognise his own guilt

And he'll confess and will kill himself in view of hungry TV cameras

For those who live by violence they bring it on themselves

They are the cause of tragedy, they get what they deserve

But he sucked in a breath and exhaled more words

Designed to pull contributions from the uneasy business minds

And the four unlearned students used to registration lies

Waited patiently a day, the funeral ceremony tie

Show full lyrics (20 lines) ▾

Themes: Anti-War Kent State

Also in: ▤ Australian & New Zealand Songs ▤ My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#53 The Last Poets Hands Off 1972 · Album · Chastisment · Blue Thumb # BTS 39 · USA

Annotation

Artist background

Formed on 19 May 1968, the anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X, The Last Poets pioneered jazz poetry with social and political raps and rhythms, paving the way for the emergence of hip-hop. The collective, based in Harlem, New York, had several line-ups. Their debut 1970 album The Last Poets had two Vietnam War-related protest songs: "Run, Nigger" and "Surprises". The 1971 album Right On! featured "Die Nigga", referencing Vietnam and the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. The 1972 album Chastisment contained "Black Soldier" and "Hands Off". Their 1977 album Delights of the Garden included the song "Ho Chi Minh" about Vietnam and 1970s protests.

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Here's to you black soldier, fighting in Vietnam

Helping your oppressor oppress another man

Here's to you who volunteer your precious lives to give

While here in the ghetto are struggling to live

Here's to you, gun in hand, another land

While National Guardsmen terrorise the ones you've left at home

We hope and pray that you've been spared when casualties are high

We demonstrate for your return and we mourn you when you die

We've watched you grow up from a child

We know your strength and might

It is no news for us to hear how gallantly you fight

It is a sin for you to be upon some foreign shores when you are needed right here

At home protecting what is yours

To know the use of weaponry, I must admit, that is good

There is an occupation force in our neighbourhood, they call themselves 'peace officers' and 'law enforcement groups'

But from the actions they commit, we know they are troops

The government is cracking down...

They have the dream of stamping out resistance...

But our determination grows and widens with the days

We'll fight them from the rooftops and the alley ways...

We'll free the prisoners from their jails with calculated raids

Just one desire burns in our heart, our bonds and chain to bust

We only wish that with your skills you were here with us

Here's to you black soldier in some far off distant land

Sometimes the question does arise on which side do you stand

They called it a riot in Newark, when the people arose as one

In Detroit and Boston, in Cleveland and Watts, they fought back with fire bombs and guns

What's the matter with these Niggers they said...

When will the promises be fulfilled, that they have made to us...

Where is the pay we have not received, for our blood and sweat and tears

Where's the employment that we need

The decent salary, welfare payments will not do to feed a family

They say conditions are this way because we don't have skills

So instead they offer us extermination pills

So we sound a warning, they better change their tune

Show full lyrics (36 lines) ▾

Themes: Protest Napalm Civil Rights

Genres: ♪ Jazz Jazz Poetry

Also in: ▤ Jody Songs ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#54 The Last Poets Black Soldier 1972 · Album · Chastisment · Blue Thumb # BTS 39 · USA

Annotation

Artist background

This album (Blue Thumb Records # BTS 39) featured Jalal (aka Lightnin' Rod), and Suliaman El Hadi. It has been written that Jalal went to prison for refusing to fight in Vietnam.¹Billboard reviewed this album on 8 July 1972: "very interesting LP from the Last Poets. It really is a 'chastisement' with comment on their war, the ghettos, stealing and other casualties of modern life. The subjects are well handled on a musical level...much social comment here with musical interpretation".²

The song "Black Soldier" dealt with the Vietnam and Civil Rights, while also making references to demonstrations, National Guard violence, and the "jody" theme. The song started with a military cadence, which warned the soldiers that there "ain't no need in going back" to the US, because "Jody got our Cadillac" - the mythical man in blues, jazz and soul tunes who seduced the wives and girlfriends of soldiers, prisoners, and those away from home.³ This featured in dozens of soul and blues songs.

The next part of the song strongly criticised African-Americans who fought in Vietnam "helping your oppressor oppress another man" . While the narrator hoped for their safe return, demonstrated against the war for them, and mourned their deaths, he thought that the "question does arise on which side do you stand" . The narrator believed that they should be in the US helping to fight for equal rights. He referenced a series of civil right demonstrations in several cities - Boston, Detroit, Newark - labelled as "riots" . Furthermore, the lyrics mentioned confrontations with the National Guard - "National Guardsmen terrorise the ones you've left at home" - possibly referring to the death of students, at Kent or Jackson state, or maybe at Civil Rights demonstrations.

Sources

1 dmcworld.net: Jalal of the last poets (archived copy) ↩
2 Billboard, 8 July 1972 ↩
3 Wordorigins.org (archived copy) ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Here's to you black soldier, fighting in Vietnam

Helping your oppressor oppress another man

Here's to you who volunteer your precious lives to give

While here in the ghetto are struggling to live

Here's to you, gun in hand, another land

While National Guardsmen terrorise the ones you've left at home

We hope and pray that you've been spared when casualties are high

We demonstrate for your return and we mourn you when you die

We've watched you grow up from a child

We know your strength and might

It is no news for us to hear how gallantly you fight

It is a sin for you to be upon some foreign shores when you are needed right here

At home protecting what is yours

To know the use of weaponry, I must admit, that is good

There is an occupation force in our neighbourhood, they call themselves 'peace officers' and 'law enforcement groups'

But from the actions they commit, we know they are troops

The government is cracking down...

They have the dream of stamping out resistance...

But our determination grows and widens with the days

We'll fight them from the rooftops and the alley ways...

We'll free the prisoners from their jails with calculated raids

Just one desire burns in our heart, our bonds and chain to bust

We only wish that with your skills you were here with us

Here's to you black soldier in some far off distant land

Sometimes the question does arise on which side do you stand

They called it a riot in Newark, when the people arose as one

In Detroit and Boston, in Cleveland and Watts, they fought back with fire bombs and guns

What's the matter with these Niggers they said...

When will the promises be fulfilled, that they have made to us...

Where is the pay we have not received, for our blood and sweat and tears

Where's the employment that we need

The decent salary, welfare payments will not do to feed a family

They say conditions are this way because we don't have skills

So instead they offer us extermination pills

So we sound a warning, they better change their tune

Show full lyrics (36 lines) ▾

Themes: Anti-War Civil Rights Demonstration Kent State Jackson State Jody

Genres: ♪ Jazz Jazz Poetry

Also in: ▤ Jody Songs ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#55 Clive Brandy Sam, You Made the War Too Long 1972 · Single · Suffer the Children / Sam, You Made the War Too Long · Polydor # 2079 014 · Australia

Annotation

The song "Sam, You Made the War Too Long" (Polydor # 2079 014) - adult contemporary / easy listening, Australian, anti-war song, referencing the My Lai Massacre and Kent State shooting. The narrator said the US had it all after World War II, strong dollar etc. But got stuck in Asia, then Kent State at home, and the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

B-side (A-side "Suffer the Children"). Label: written by Garrick, produced and arranged by Sandy Garrick; publisher Mountain Music; (P) 1972; distributed by Phonogram Recordings Pty Limited, made in Australia. Polydor 2079 014 (side 2079 014 B), 45 R.P.M., red label; "Sam, You Made the War Too Long" (Garrick), 2:42, Mountain Music; produced and arranged by Sandy Garrick; ℗ 1972; distributed by Phonogram Recordings Pty Limited, made in Australia. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes: Anti-War My Lai Kent State WW2 ANZUS

Genre: ♪ Easy Listening

#56 Dave Brubeck Truth Is Fallen 1972 · Album · Atlantic # SD 16060 · USA

Annotation

In the linear notes of this album (Atlantic # SD 16060), Brubeck said that "this music is dedicated to the slain students of Kent University and Mississippi State, and all other innocent victims caught in the cross-fire between repression and rebellion".¹² The album cover depicted dead, blood-stained people, painted by Elizabeth Eddy. The title of the album came from the Book of Isaiah: "truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot rise".

Sources

1 jazztimes.com ↩
2 journals.chapman.edu (archived copy) ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Linear notes said "this music is dedicated to the slain students of Kent University and Mississippi State, and all other innocent victims caught in the cross-fire between repression and rebellion".

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Jackson State

Genres: ♪ Jazz West Coast Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#57 Gore Vidal A Foot in the Mouth Trilogy: Mai Lai / Kent State / Manson 1972 · Album · An Evening With Richard Nixon · Ode # SP-77015 · USA

Notes

Foot In The Mouth Trilogy: Mai Lai / Kent State / Manson, A (Vidal, Gore)

Comedy.
My Lai / Calley. Kent State, Ohio shooting

Notes

Original cast recording of Vidal's play (Shubert Theatre, 30 April-13 May 1972), Nixon played by George S. Irving; cast includes Susan Sarandon. Segment timings: Mai Lai 2:00 / Kent State 2:37 / Manson 2:01. "Mai Lai" spelling as printed.

Lyrics

English

- Foot In The Mouth Trilogy: Mai Lai

Kent State

Manson, A (Vidal, Gore)

- Comedy

- My Lai

Calley. Kent State, Ohio shooting

Themes: My Lai Kent State Nixon Satire LGBTQ+

Genre: ♪ Spoken Word

Also in: ▤ My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#58 Neil Young Ohio 1972 · Album · Journey Through The Past · Reprise # 2XS 6480 · USA

Genres: ♪ Rock Americana Singer Songwriter

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

1973-1975: Paris Peace Accords to the Fall of Saigon

Historical marker of 4 May 1970 shooting, near the Taylor Hall parking lot on the Kent State campus.

Key EventsThe Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam was signed at the International Conference Centre in Paris on 27 January 1973. The final US troops left Vietnam, and the draft was official ended. American Prisoners of War (POWs) also started to return to the US under Operation Homecoming. The Congress passed further legislation to prevent the use of US military forces in Southeast Asia, even if North Vietnam violated the ceasefire agreement. Throughout 1974 North Vietnam breaks the peace agreement, but the US expressed reluctance to get involved. A final offensive by the North in 1975 sees the North and South unified.

23 January 1973: Nixon announces peace agreement: 'peace with honor'.
27 January 1973: Paris Peace Accords signed.
27 January 1973: Draft official ended in favour of voluntary enlistment.
12 February 1973: Operation Homecoming.
29 March 1973: Final US troops leave Vietnam.
30 April 1973: Halderman and Ehrlichman resign over Watergate.
19 June 1973: Case-Church Amendment.
14 August 1973: Cambodia bombing halted, in compliance with Congressional ban.
7 November 1973: Congress passed War Powers Act.
9 August 1974: Richard Nixon's resigns as president. Gerald Ford takes over.
13 December 1974: North Vietnam violates peace agreement.
10 March 1975: North Vietnamese offensive on South.
30 April 1975: US Embassy in Saigon fully evacuated.

1973

#59 Barbara Dane The Kent State Massacre 1973 · Album · I Hate the Capitalist System · Paredon # P-1014 · USA

Annotation

The track "Kent State Massacre" (Paredon Records # P-1014), with words credited to Jack Warshaw and Barbara Dane, to the melody of "Murder of Harry Simms" (by Jim Garland), was an angry, and revolutionary, account of the Kent State University protest. It firstly set the scene and referenced the four students killed: "Allison Krause and Sandra Scheuer marched and sang a peaceful song, like Bill Schroeder and Jeffrey Miller" - one of the few Vietnam songs to mention the four by name. The lyrics then moved to the actual confrontation: "the air was filled with tear gas, the troops did advance" . Dane concluded that the four died for "those in Vietnam" and all the protesters. She vowed to keep the fight going, and called on people to organise in order to "sink this murdering system" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Going to sing of four young people who are now dead and gone

Two of them were twenty and two were just nineteen

Just stepping out to meet the world...

It was in Kent state Ohio on a Monday afternoon...

Allison Krause and Sandra Scheuer marched and sang a peaceful song

Like Bill Schroeder and Jeffrey Miller, they did not think it wrong

No warning were they given, no mercy, no chance

The air was filled with tear gas, the troops did advance

They fired, the students fled, 15 fell at that moment and four were dead

On the campus they were murdered in the springtime of their lives...

They died for those in Vietnam also for you and me

We must teach ourselves to organise and see the struggle through

Until we sink this murdering system in the darkest pits of hell

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Demonstration

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#60 Children of the Morning Hey America, America 1973 · Single · Hey America, America / Children of the Morning · Hansa # 12 632 AT · Germany

Annotation

The obscure psychedelic rock group Children of the Morning, formed in Italy, released the song "Hey America, America" (Hansa # 12 632 AT) which criticised the US government for the Kent State killings. Shel Shapiro, who led the group, composed the song. He had previously played with the British beat group The Rokes (1950s-60s). The narrator questioned the validity / plausibility of the argument that the National Guard fired in self defense: "government pretends that it was self defense" . The lyrics then suggested that the killings harmed the reputation of the US: "America you're fucking up" , which could have repercussions: "hey America don't push you luck" . The song ended with a general anti-war message, complaining that the "war in Vietnam continues" , in which the soldiers "kill woman and children" . Note that the group released the song after the signing of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

At the Kent State university, what is going on

For the people on the ground who've done nothing wrong

The government pretends that it was self defense

We just can't believe that it was self defense

Hey America, hey America what is going

Hey America, hey America don't push you luck

Hey America, hey America you're fucking up...

All the information shows us he tried to run

And the war in Vietnam continues everyday

Kill woman and children over there, it's okay

Themes: Anti-War Kent State

Genres: ♪ Rock Psychedelic Rock

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#61 The Bill Dobbins Jazz Orchestra The Balcony 1973 · Album · Textures · Advent # 5003 · USA

Annotation

The Balcony According to sleeve notes: dedicated to the Kent State shooting. Album commissioned by The John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts in 1969. (1)

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Side A is the suite 'Textures' (Points / Shapes / Lines), commissioned by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 1969. The Balcony soloists: Chas Baker (trombone), Lorm Weitzel (trumpet). All compositions Bill Dobbins; published by Downbeat Music Workshop Publications (ASCAP); (p) Advent Records. Discogs style: Big Band.

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Jazz Big Band

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

1974

#62 Holly Near It Could Have Been Me 1974 · Live · A Live Album · Redwood # 3700 · USA

Annotation

In 1974 Holly Near, Californian born singer/songwriter recorded live the song "It Could Have Been Me" (Redwood Records # 3700), a response to the Kent State shooting. Holly Near had frequently taken part in anti-war demonstrations, and in 1971 joined the FTA Tour ("Free the Army"), and anti-Vietnam War roadshow. Organised by Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and Fred Gardner, it was seen as a response to Bob Hope's USO tour (On the Road to Vietnam). The footage resulted in the 1972 film F.T.A. [Fuck the Army], as well as featuring in the 2005 documentary Sir! No Sir!¹²³ In the lyrics Holly Near described the clash between the students and the National Guard: "shot down by a nameless fire" . As anybody could have been killed that day ( "it could have been me" ), she vowed to "keep doing the work you were doing" . This song also featured on the 1975 album What Now, People? (Paredon Records # P-2001).

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

In May 1974, I was invited to sing at a memorial event for the four students who were killed at Kent State Ohio

As I stood there in the field and listened to this bell toll...

It could have been me, but instead it was you

So I'll keep doing the work you were doing...

I'll be a student of life, a singer of songs

A farmer of food and a righter of wrongs

But if you can, work for freedom

Students in Ohio, 200 yard away

Shot down by a nameless fire, one early day in May

Some people cried out angry:

'Your should have shot more of them down'

But you can't bury youth my friend

Youth grows the whole world around

Themes: Anti-War Kent State LGBTQ+

Also in: ▤ 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs ▤ Jazz Songs ▤ My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#63 Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson H20 Gate Blues 1974 · Album · Winter in America · Strata-East # SES-19742 · USA

Annotation

The track "H20 Gate Blues" (Strata-East Records # SES-19742) took an 8 minute plus look at social / political issues in Nixon's America, especially regarding the Watergate scandal as suggested in the title. It also addressed the Vietnam War, arguing that it was an unjustified conflict against a "people determined to be free" , involving the unnecessary destruction of the land, and causing starvation amongst the population. He questioned why the US, a nuclear power, was "afraid of shoeless, undernourished Cambodians" , and why the US sought to hide "the economics of war" as a motivator. Scott-Heron then referred to several specific episodes. This included the shootings at the Kent and Jackson State protests in May 1970, the bombing of North Vietnam, and the "chaining and gagging" of Bobby Seale (one of the Chicago Eight, arrested outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 1968). Finally, he asked the listener to remember the My Lai massacre: "just how blind America...remember...William Calley's executive interference" - referring to Nixon's presidential pardon.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Just how blind, America?

Just as Vietnam exploded in the rice, snap, crackle, and pop (Uh Oh!)

Could not stop people determined to be free

Just how blind will America be? (Yes Sir!)

The shock of a Vietnam defeat sent Republican donkeys scurrying down on Wall Street...

Ask them what we're fighting for and they never mention the economics of war

Ecological Warfare! Above all else destroy the land!

If we can't break the Asian will we'll bomb the dykes and starve the man!...

Plundering the Asian countryside...

Afraid of shoeless, undernourished Cambodians

While we strike big wheat bargains with Russia, our nuclear enemy

Just how blind America?...

Remember...William Calley's executive interference...

Kent State, Jackson State, Southern Louisiana

Hundreds of unauthorized bombing raids

The chaining and gagging of Bobby Seale...

Richard Daley, imperial Napoleonic Mayor of Chicago, who took over from Al Capone

Show full lyrics (18 lines) ▾

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Jackson State Nixon LBJ Dow Chemical

Genres: ♪ Soul, Gospel & Funk Jazz Soul

1975

#64 Holly Near It Could Have Been Me 1975 · Compilation · What Now, People? · Paredon # P-2001 · USA

Notes

Paredon P-2001, "What Now, People?" Vol. 1 (© 1975; Discogs gives 1976), side 1 band 2, 5:37; words and music Holly Near, © 1974 Hereford Music. A studio version, not the live Redwood recording (VWSP1355). Verses on Kent State, Víctor Jara, and a Vietnamese woman who "defends a village in the day". [From the record booklet]

Lyrics

English

A woman in the jungle

So many wars away

Studies late into the night

Defends a village in the day

Although her skin is golden

Like mine will never be

Her song is heard, I know the words

And I'll sing them 'til she is free

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Vietnamese Perspective LGBTQ+

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

#65 Corey H. Dietz May 4, 1970 1975 · Album · Death of a Decade, The Kent State Story · Century Advent Recording # USR 7770 · USA

Annotation

The record "Death of a Decade: The Kent State Story" featured spoken-word and field recordings about the Kent State killings released in 1975 (Century Advent Recording # USR 7770). It also contained several anti-war song clips, and some referenced those killed at Kent State. The original versions of this LP included 7 prints of photographs, 7 sheets of poems by 10 authors, and a 14 page book of 3 speeches by Peter Davies, Robert Theobald and George Wald. Written, engineered, and produced by Corey Deitz. The recordings came from Kent State University Archive, Office of Radio/TV information, University News Service. The release was organised by the Center for Peaceful Change (since renamed the Center for Applied Conflict Management), established in 1971 in memory of the students killed: "the Center addresses non-violent social change through teaching, research and public service".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Side 4 track 1 ("May 4, 1970"); the 2LP runs Prologue / The 1960s / Initial Radical Activity During April 1969 / May 1-3, 1970 / May 4, 1970 / The Aftermath / Epilogue. Original copies came with 7 photo prints, 7 sheets of poems by 10 authors and a 14-page book of speeches by Peter Davies, Robert Theobald and George Wald.

Themes: Kent State National Guard Demonstration

Genres: ♪ Spoken Word Field Recordings

Also in: ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]

Post-War: 1976-present

Post-Vietnam War songs tend to focus on Vietnam veterans - highlighting particular stereotypes, such as psychological problems (for example, PTSD - post traumatic stress disorder), homelessness, drug addiction, and the struggle to re-adjust to society. Attention is also given to social division (between those who supported the war and not), and the lack of adequate government / institutional support for veterans.

Other frequent topics include the Prisoner of War (P.O.W.) / Missing in Action (M.I.A.) issue, and Orange Agent, a defoliant dropped by the US on the South Vietnamese/Cambodian border (the "Ho Chi Minh Trail"), to destroy Vietcong cover (broad leaf plants etc). But the toxin had long term negative effects on those exposed (cancer & genetic defects). Several lawsuits were brought against the US government and chemical companies from the 1980s, therefore bringing greater attention in popular music to this issue.

Many song appeared in the immediate aftermath of the war, and then dipped in the mid-to late 70s. A revival occurred around the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, which drove many comparisons to Vietnam and role of the US military in global affairs. A surge and revival of interest is seen in the 1980s Reagan era of seeking to overcome the 'Vietnam Syndrome'. In the 1990s, several songs compared the conflict to the First Gul War, and in 21st century, the Vietnam conflict has been used in song to reflect on current wars and problems, including the Afghanistan invasion and Iraq War.

1978

#66 Andrés Jiménez Antonia Martínez (Song for Antonia Martínez) 1978 · Album · Puerto Rico: Como el filo del machete / Like the Edge of the Machete: Songs of the Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence · Paredon # P-1040 · Puerto Rico

Annotation

The Puerto Rican song "Antonia Martinez (Song for Antonia Martinez)" (Paredon Records # P-1040), told the story of a demonstrator killed by the National Guard at a Puerto Rican demonstration against the war in Vietnam. The booklet of the record described the incident, and noted that it received little attention, compared the the Kent State killings on 4 May 1970, similar to the lack awareness around the killing of two African-American at Jackson State, thus suggesting a degree of prejudice surrounding minorities and people of colour. The booklet said:

"Antonia Martinez, a sixteen year old girl, was killed randomly in 1970 by a U.S. National Guardsman during their student strike at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras, San Juan. She was attending a demonstration against the war in Vietnam, the drafting of young Puerto Rican men into the U.S. armed forces, and the presence of ROTC on the campuses. Written for the first anniversary of her death, this song demonstrates the shock and anger of the masses at this criminal outrage, and recaptures the historical importance of that moment of the struggle. It is interesting to note that Antonia's murder, along with numerous other incidents involving the killing of black and other minority students during the protest against the war in Vietnam, went relatively unnoticed, whereas the cold-blooded killings of four white students at Kent State during the same period were brought to the attention of the entire world through the a tremendous media barrage".¹

Sources

1 folkways-media.si.edu: Liner notes (archived copy) ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Antonia Martínez, 16, was shot dead by a National Guardsman on 4 March 1970 during the student strike at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, at a demonstration against the war, the draft and ROTC. Paredon P-1040, "Puerto Rico: Como el filo del machete / Like the Edge of the Machete: Songs of the Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence", sung by Andrés Jiménez, © 1978 Paredon Records, Box 889, Brooklyn, NY 11202; Side 2, Band 1: "Antonia Martinez" – punto Fajardeño (4:10); words and music by Juan de Mata and Andrés Jiménez.

The booklet says the song was written for the first anniversary of her death. [From the record sleeve and booklet]

Lyrics

English

I remember the fourth of March

With agony and sadness,

The day Antonia died,

Victim of that savage blow.

Wiped out by a single bullet

That ended her destiny,

Death overcame her

At the hands of a criminal,

In a brutal manner,

Victim of a murderer.

The people crowded around,

Full of sadness,

To look on in pain

As her body bled.

Her life escaped,

Her heart no longer beat.

She departed for another world,

That innocent young woman,

Villainously assassinated

By a foolish policeman.

And at this humiliating outrage,

The whole people mournfully cried.

And seeing her that way,

Their hate and anger was awakened.

Blood stained her dress,

The smell of blood was in the air,

All smiles were clouded,

All hearts lamented.

More shots could be heard

As Antonia lay there dying.

But that is not the worst;

People, I'll tell you this,

The policeman got away

From the murder, absolved.

The people tremble because of this,

And their hearts bleed,

And they make prayers

For her immaculate soul.

Antonia has been avenged.

Long live the revolution!

Spanish

Recuerdo el cuatro de Marzo

Con tristeza y agonía,

Cuando Antonia se moría

Víctima de aquel zarpazo.

Fulminada de un balazo

Que así tronchó su destino,

La muerte le sobrevino

De manos de un criminal,

De una manera brutal

Víctima de un asesino.

La gente se aglomeraba,

Toda de tristeza llena,

A contemplarla con pena

Mientras su cuerpo sangraba.

La vida se le escapaba,

Su corazón no latía,

Y hacia otro mundo partía,

Y esa joven inocente

Asesinada vilmente

Por un necio policía.

Y ante el humillante ultraje

El pueblo triste lloraba.

Y al verla así despertaba

Su odio y su coraje.

La sangre manchó su traje.

Y olor de sangre en la brisa

Y se nublaron las sonrisas

Hay llanto en los corazones

Y se oyen más detonaciones,

Mientras Antonia agoniza.

Pero lo grave no es esto,

Señores lo digo yo,

El policia salió

Del asesinato absueltos.

Y el pueblo tiembla por eso

Y sangra su corazón,

Y reza una oración

Por su alma immaculada.

Antonia ha sido vengada,

¡Viva la Revolución!

Show full lyrics (83 lines) ▾

Themes: Demonstration Draft National Guard Police Brutality Military

Genres: ♪ Hispanic Music Nueva canción latinoamericana

Also in: ▤ Draft Songs ▤ Puerto Rican Songs ▤ US Military & Veteran Songs

#67 Nikki Giovanni The Beep Beep Poem 1978 · Album · Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day · Folkways # FL 9756 · USA

Annotation

Notes

Poetry, spoken-word track
Folkways Records¹

Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennese on June 7, 1947
She is called the Princess of Black Poetry
The Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement inspired her poetry
She has been nominated for a Grammy Award
She is a University Proffesor at Virginia Tech.

"don't they understand at Kent State, the troopers will shoot again"

"I should write a poem, but there's almost nothing that
Hasn't been said and said and said, beautifully ugly
Blandly excitingly, stay in school, make love not war
Death to all tyrants, where have all the flowers gone
And don't they understand at Kent State, the troopers
Will shoot again I could write a poem because I
Love walking in the rain and the solace of my naked
Body in a tub of water cleanliness may not be next
To godliness but it sure feels good, I wrote a poem
For my father but it was so constant, I burned it up
He hates change and I'm baffled by sameness, I
Composed a ditty about encore american and
Worldwide news but the editorial board said no one
Would understand it, as it people have to be tricked
Into sensitivity though of course they do, I love to
Drive my car hours on end along back country roads
I love to stop for cider and apples and acorn squash
Three for a dollar, I love my CB when the truckers talk
And the hum of the diesel in my ear, I love the
Aloneness of the road when I ascent descending curves
The power within my toe delights me and I fling my
Spirit down the highway, I love the way I feel
When I pass the moon and I holler to the stars
I'm coming through, beep beep"

Sources

1 Smithsonian Folkways: African american spoken poetry ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Themes: Anti-War Kent State LGBTQ+

Genres: ♪ Spoken Word Poetry

1981

#68 Buddy Holocaust We Need Another Kent State 1981 · Live · Live 1981 Dartmouth College · Not On Label · USA

Themes: Kent State Atomic Drugs

#69 Lay Ye Down (Lay Down Your Guns) #70 Dance Around the Sun #71 Don't Hide Your Light #72 They All Look the Same #73 Main Title Montage #74 Confrontation #75 Water Street #76 Anarchy #77 Lay Ye Down Waltz

#69–77 Various Artists Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 1981 · Soundtrack · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

All 9 songs from this soundtrack in the archive are in this collection

Annotation

Soundtrack (RCA Records # ABL1-3928) to the 1981 television film that dramatised the events at Kent State. Ken Lauber composed the instrumental parts (about half the album). The other songs were performed by well-known names of the 60s/70s protest movement: Grace Slick, Richie Havens, and John Sebastian.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →

#69 Richie Havens Lay Ye Down (Lay Down Your Guns) 1981 · Soundtrack · Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

Annotation

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Soundtrack to the 1981 NBC television film "Kent State"; music composed, produced and conducted by Ken Lauber; recorded at Wizard Recording Studios, Los Angeles.

Lyrics

English

Lay you down boys, come on home

Rest your bones your mama loves you

Right or wrong yay you down boys

From the cities to the country farms

Let your love without the wars

Don't you buy no more

From the Mississippi to the foreign shores

Across the station, out on the street

We'll go marching with the breath of peace

Yes we'll be marching in the free sunlight

From every border to the mountain highs

Lay you down boys, come on home

Rest your eyes all your learning

Has turned to lies, let all those experts

Then decide come on home boys

Show full lyrics (16 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

#70 Grace Slick Dance Around the Sun 1981 · Soundtrack · Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

Notes

Soundtrack to the 1981 NBC television film "Kent State"; music composed, produced and conducted by Ken Lauber; recorded at Wizard Recording Studios, Los Angeles.

Theme: Kent State

Genre: ♪ Rock

#71 John Sebastian Don't Hide Your Light 1981 · Soundtrack · Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

Notes

Soundtrack to the 1981 NBC television film "Kent State"; music composed, produced and conducted by Ken Lauber; recorded at Wizard Recording Studios, Los Angeles.

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Folk Folk Pop

#72 Grace Slick They All Look the Same 1981 · Soundtrack · Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

Notes

Soundtrack to the 1981 NBC television film "Kent State"; music composed, produced and conducted by Ken Lauber; recorded at Wizard Recording Studios, Los Angeles.

Theme: Kent State

Genre: ♪ Rock

#73 Ken Lauber Main Title Montage 1981 · Soundtrack · Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

Credited on the record as Ken Lauber & Orchestra.

Notes

Side A track 5, instrumental cue by Ken Lauber (orchestrations Richard Hazard). Soundtrack to the 1981 NBC television film "Kent State"; music composed, produced and conducted by Ken Lauber; recorded at Wizard Recording Studios, Los Angeles.

Theme: Kent State

Genre: ♪ Film Score

#74 Ken Lauber Confrontation 1981 · Soundtrack · Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

Credited on the record as Ken Lauber & Orchestra.

Notes

Side B track 1, instrumental cue by Ken Lauber (orchestrations Richard Hazard). Soundtrack to the 1981 NBC television film "Kent State"; music composed, produced and conducted by Ken Lauber; recorded at Wizard Recording Studios, Los Angeles.

Theme: Kent State

Genre: ♪ Film Score

#75 Ken Lauber Water Street 1981 · Soundtrack · Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

Credited on the record as Ken Lauber & Orchestra.

Notes

Side B track 2, instrumental cue by Ken Lauber (orchestrations Richard Hazard). Soundtrack to the 1981 NBC television film "Kent State"; music composed, produced and conducted by Ken Lauber; recorded at Wizard Recording Studios, Los Angeles.

Theme: Kent State

Genre: ♪ Film Score

#76 Ken Lauber Anarchy 1981 · Soundtrack · Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

Credited on the record as Ken Lauber & Orchestra.

Notes

Side B track 3, instrumental cue by Ken Lauber (orchestrations Richard Hazard). Soundtrack to the 1981 NBC television film "Kent State"; music composed, produced and conducted by Ken Lauber; recorded at Wizard Recording Studios, Los Angeles.

Theme: Kent State

Genre: ♪ Film Score

#77 Ken Lauber Lay Ye Down Waltz 1981 · Soundtrack · Kent State (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · RCA # ABL1-3928 · USA

Credited on the record as Ken Lauber & Orchestra.

Notes

Side B track 4, instrumental cue by Ken Lauber (orchestrations Richard Hazard). Soundtrack to the 1981 NBC television film "Kent State"; music composed, produced and conducted by Ken Lauber; recorded at Wizard Recording Studios, Los Angeles.

Theme: Kent State

Genre: ♪ Film Score

1982

#78 Ambrose Reynolds Kent State - Richard Milhouse Nixon & The High School Bums 1982 · Album · Greatest Hits · Zulu # ZULU 3 · UK

Notes

Kent State - Richard Milhouse Nixon & the High School Bums (Reynolds, Ambrose)

Electronic. Kent State, Ohio shooting. Also Nixon, JFK, MLK, RFK

Notes

Released 1982. Recorded at Ambrose Kelly Reynolds; pressed by MPO; artwork The Jacuzzis (P.F.P.). 'Harmonized ~ Revolution, Cheadle Hulme. Thanks to: Jill Lesley Goodman, Seth, Sigmund, Louis, Nathan Baxter McGough, David Winston Dickie'. Cassette edition 'Greatest Hits' also exists. From the LP 'Greatest Hits', an electronic, experimental record.

Themes: Kent State Nixon JFK MLK RFK Demonstration

Genres: ♪ Electronic Experimental

Also in: ▤ European Songs

1983

#79 Mourning Noise Radical 1983 · Compilation · Hardcore Takes Over: Dirt Compilation 2 · Dirt # DR-003 · USA

Annotation

Formed in 1981, the New Jersey band Mourning Noise released the track "Radical" (Dirt Records # DR-003), dedicated to those that died at Kent State. A live track, it featured on this 1983 compilation of hardcore punk bands. The group have often be classified as horror punk - a blend of punk rock, rockabilly, and horror themes, with references to B-movie and cult horror films. As mentioned, it started with a dedication: "this goes out to all the people that died at Kent State" . The lyrics seemed to be from the perspective of a National Guardsmen, who claimed that the "system" supported "neo-commie needs" . He declared himself a "radical, fanatical...right wing" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

We don't wanna be no fool, we don't wanna stay in school

This whole system only feeds the latest neo-commie needs

We're radical, fanatical, we're radical, right wing!

Teacher, teacher won't you teach, instead of acting like the preacher

Feed your bullshit to the birds, 'cause all we need are common words

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Punk Hardcore Punk

Also in: ▤ Punk Songs

#80 Richie Havens Lay Ye Down Boys 1983 · Album · Common Ground · Connexion # CX112233 · USA

Notes

First recorded as "Lay Ye Down (Lay Down Your Guns)", the opening track of the 1981 Kent State TV-film soundtrack (VWSP5565). US issue Connexion CX112233; also issued in Italy on EMI / Bagaria.

Lyrics

English

Lay you down boys, come on home

Rest your bones your mama loves you

Right or wrong yay you down boys

From the cities to the country farms

Let your love without the wars

Don't you buy no more

From the Mississippi to the foreign shores

Across the station, out on the street

We'll go marching with the breath of peace

Yes we'll be marching in the free sunlight

From every border to the mountain highs

Lay you down boys, come on home

Rest your eyes all your learning

Has turned to lies, let all those experts

Then decide come on home boys

Show full lyrics (16 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

1984

#81 The Gynecologists Kent State 1984 · Album · A Goat...You Geek · Gravelvoice # GVR-003 · USA

Annotation

The hardcore punk band The Gynecologist, from Bloomington, Indiana, released the song "Kent State" (Gravelvoice # GVR-003) on this 1983 cassette album. The lead singer Tommy Afterbirth wrote twisted, violent lyrics about sex, and his obsession with Republican politics - he was a delegate at the 1976 and 1980 Republican National Convention.¹ The opening track called "Ron and Nancy" focused on President Ronald Reagan and the first lady - in fact, the grotesque front cover featured a photo of Nancy Reagan's face superimposed onto a woman, with a dog mounted on her backside. In this song he rallied against left-wingers, and the "burn-out hippies...protesting the Vietnam War" . He shouted that "it was funny when the commies got killed at Kent State" and brutally declared that the "traitors don't even deserve a burial" . The song also brought in 1980s politics, criticising those that wanted the US to stay out of El Salvador.

Sources

1 Under Appreciated Rock: Band of the Month for June 2016, The Gynecologists ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Shoot them in the head, reload

Burn-outs hippies...

Protesting the Vietnam War...

Say US out of El Salvador, reload, reload...

You're American, it was funny

When the commies got killed at Kent State

Those traitors don't even deserve a burial

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Rock No Wave

Also in: ▤ Punk Songs

1986

#82 Jandek Governor Rhodes 1986 · Telegraph Melts · Corwood # 750 · USA

Annotation

Reclusive singer/songwriter Jandek, from Houston, Texas, released the song "Governor Rhodes" (Corwood Industries # 0750) in 1986, a reference to James A. Rhodes, the Governor of Ohio during the Kent State demonstration, who had called in the National Guard. Perhaps in defiance of Rhodes' actions, and in solidarity with the 60s hippie movement, the song consisted of Jandek and an unknown female vocalist called Nancy chanting "love in life, in magic, in celebration" and other similar variations, repeating each line after each other.¹²

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

We are here in earth, in life, in sky, in magic, in rain, in love, in fire...

We are here together, in love, in life, in magic, in celebration

We are here, let us celebrate, celebrate our love, celebrate our magic

Celebrate, celebrate our love, celebrate our magic, celebrate

Let us chant, chant with love, chant with magic, chant with celebration

Let us sing, sing for love, sing for magic, sing for always, sing

We are here in earth, in life, in sky, in magic, in rain, in love

In fire, in celebration, we are here together, in love, in life

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Folk Psychedelic Folk

1987

#83 Jello Biafra Vietnam Never Happened 1987 · Album · No More Cocoons · Alternative Tentacles # VIRUS 59 · USA

Annotation

Jello Biafra, member of the well-known Hardcore Punk group Dead Kennedys, hence included here, although in fact this is a spoken-word, comedy album, featuring the track "Vietnam Never Happened" (Alternative Tentacles # VIRUS 59), a post-war, 1980s take on the war, which referenced the Kent State shooting, Agent Orange, the Military-industrial complex, drugs, the draft, Vietnamese orphans, and took an anti-war, protest position, comparing the cultural treatment of the war to an "amusement park...with fun for the entire family" .

This included the killing of four students at Kent State University on the 4 May 1970, at a protest against the Cambodia incursion: "be apart of the action at Kent State... show those demonstrators who's the boss" . It noted the use of Agent Orange, the defoliant / herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, which had long term negative health effects on the Vietnamese and US soldier whom came into contact with the chemical. It is frequently referenced in post-war songs: "kids, they'll love our petting zoo...full of children deformed by Agent Orange" . Also of note was the reference to orphans: "orphan left behind by some fun-loving Yankee soldier" . Furthermore, the track referred to the self-immolation of monks, which recalls one of the defining images of the Vietnam conflict - Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk, who burnt himself to death in Saigon on 11 June 1963: "thrill, to Buddhist priest who set themselves on fire at noon" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Vietnam never happened...

Amusement park is now pulled over our eyes

With fun for the entire family

Thrill, to Buddhist priest who set themselves on fire at noon

Be apart of the action at Kent State, and show those demonstrators who's the boss in our revolving Dirty Harry merry-go-round

Then it's on to the defence industry kickback bumper cars

Go ahead, blow them up, we'll just replace then at 20 times the price

Then unwind with your favourite hard drugs at our famous outdoor shooting gallery....

Play miniature golf with live grenades

Our peace with honour rollercoaster will destroy your in order to save you

The kids, they'll love our petting zoo, where you can feed over-priced with Donald land cookies to our pen full of children deformed by Agent Orange

Then, if you're really brave, how about the haunted house...

You'll feel what its like as your sealed in a warm body bag while CIA operators slit your stomach open to stuff you full of heroin baggies to send home to mother...

Is that getting a bit much?

Just go quietly where we want you, to our video arcade

When you come out three day later pick a prize from the pet shop

A mixed blood orphan left behind by some fun-loving Yankee soldier

Consolation prize: a years supply of blank draft notices

Just fill in the names of your friends and your enemies

And give them the surprise of their life by mail

They'll go quietly

You'll see

Vietnam never happened

Show full lyrics (24 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Anti-War Agent Orange Draft Drugs

Genres: ♪ Punk Hardcore Punk

Also in: ▤ Draft Songs ▤ Punk Songs

1988

#84 Toxic Reasons Ohio 1988 · Album · Dedication 1979-1988 · Funhouse # FH 12-005 · UK

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Nixon

Genres: ♪ Rock Punk Rock

Also in: ▤ European Songs

#85 Boy in Love; Kent State, 1970 1988 · Album · But Mama, I Love Him · Wheelchair Full Of Old Men # WC003 · USA

Notes

Single-sided cassette; track 2. The cassette notes call it "The first full release by Boy In Love; recorded while all these fools were still in college."

Theme: Kent State

1989

#86 Jello Biafra With D.O.A. Wish I Was Back in El Salvador 1989 · Album · Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors · Alternative Tentacles # VIRUS · USA

Annotation

The hardcore punk song "Wish I Was Back in El Salvador" (Alternative Tentacles # VIRUS 78), which dealt with police violence, referenced the Kent State killings. Jello Biafra, from Colorado, US, known for his satirical, spoken-word and punk records throughout the 80s and 90s, including membership of the band Dead Kennedys, wrote the song, and recorded and released it in collaboration with the Vancouver, Canadian punk group D.O.A. The narrator took the role of a former gang member, who later joined the marines. After being discharged, he "got an offer from the police" because he had the correct skills to become a member of the "government's official gang" . The police officer then encountered a demonstration and a hostile crowd. The police officer looked forward to the TV cameras moving away, when "we'll fire away" . He said that this would "make my day just like good ol' Kent State" . The song title referred to US involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War, under the Carter and Reagan administrations.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Used to be in a gang 'till I beat a kid half dead in a video arcade

Judge gave me a choice: jail or the marines, best time I ever had

Was being an MP, aw yeah, I wish I was down in El Salvador

Where I could jerk off with my gun and kill the poor

More gang busts after I'm discharged, got an offer from police

Surprise! We'll wipe your record clean if you'll become one of us

You've got just the skills we need for the government's official gang...

People are storming out into the streets, people are pouring out...

They hate me, they hate me, I just might have to defend myself

Now! It's party time...I look at you and smolder with my nightstick

And my shield, little kids throw rocks at me, their moms call me a pig

Commander says I gotta hold the line 'til the TV cameras leave

Then we'll fire away, make my day just like good ol' Kent State

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Punk Hardcore Punk

Also in: ▤ Punk Songs

#87 Skinny Puppy Tin Omen 1989 · Rabies · Nettwerk # W1-93007 · Canada

Annotation

The industrial metal song "Tin Omen" (Nettwerk # V-15511) mentioned the Kent State shootings. Released by Skinny Puppy, a Canadian group formed in Vancouver in 1982, the song title referenced the Tiananmen Square protest in China, in June 1989, in which military troops and tanks turned on the civilians demonstrators, resulting in hundreds of deaths, including many students. Skinny Puppy got this record out in November 1989, and used Kent State as a comparison: "Ohio Kent State was nothing so great" - thus seeking to highlight the massive scale of death in the Tiananmen example. The narrator went on to say that the National Guard wanted "away" with "flower power" , and wanted to "kill this way of life" . Featured on the album Rabies (Nettwerk # W1-93007).

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Every truncheon hit

Misguided

The people's army divided

United stance

Amped out war dance

What a ride

Inner thought of non-violent rebellion

Outside dare to die stand and fight

Show faith return all the weapons

Government says use them right

Fixed action set in motion

Doubting amnesia potion

What to hide red carpet ride

Guess it right

Ahaha, the joke's on

Dark corner the square

Ahaha, you bathe once a week

Distorted, the viewpoint, seldom seen

Way back in '68

Ohio, Kent State

Was nothing

So great /Have of have not

Forcing the point

Shot in the back

Take it back

Down trod soldier away

Flower power

Within

Kill me

Kill this way of life

(All good people are asleep and dreaming)

And be known one by one

They'll be coming down

Altogether

Sister machine gun

Automatic high

What a ride

What a trip

Tripped over the candlestick

Tanks arrive

Fire wall

Got to keep the camera alive

Tell the world

Tell the world what's going on here

Warning shots are fired

At the stomach chest wound

Coed falls

Amped out

Changing guns for brooms

The guards change to cleanup crews

Hahaha, the joke's on you

Dark corner the square

Hahahaha, you bathe once a week

Distorted viewpoint, seldom seen

Way back in '68

Everything was so great

No way

Wrong date

Keep up the trade

Balanced charade

Close circuit truth

Used to remove

Keep the camera alive

(All good people are asleep and dreaming)

What a head trip

Show full lyrics (69 lines) ▾

Themes: Anti-War Kent State

Genres: ♪ Rock Industrial Rock

Also in: ▤ Metal Songs

1990

#88 GWAR Slaughterama 1990 · Scumdogs of the Universe · Metal Blade # 3984-17003-2 · USA

Annotation

Thrash metal band GWAR formed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1985. They mainly produced comedic material, with references to science fiction, horror films, and controversial political themes. They also featured obscene and graphic language. The group has had multiple changes to the line-up, with the Canadian Dave Brockie being the constant member. This is a concept album about the scumdogs i.e. the band GWAR, who came to earth to establish a reign of terror.

This included the song "Slaughterama" (Metal Blade Records # 3984-17003-2), about the band taking part in a reality TV game show involving the brutal slaughtering of hippies, introduced as having a "Grateful Dead life" (a reference to the band Grateful Dead). These hippies "tried to tell us 'give peace a chance'" , a reference to the famous 70s anti-war song by the Plastic Ono Band. The song moved onto the killing, with the narrator screaming "I blew your head clean off" . He then revealed his experience in this area, with reference to the Kent State demonstration: "good thing I was such an expert shot with the National Guard back in Kent State" . The narrator revealed his pleasure derived from hippie hunting, and promised the viewers that they would be back next week with another edition of the show, in which they killed off those "full of existential despair" and those who did not care with a "pathetic life" . Although it is supposed to be comedic, the group sought to criticise the ideals and lifestyle of the hippies, essentially describing them as hypocrites.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

With a battle cry go forth which is, 'give the people what they want'

And what the people want could only be the senseless slaughter

Of the gutter-slime that litters this nation for cash and prizes

Yes, this is the show where people bet their lives to win something big

'Cause when your life is shit, then you haven't got much to lose on

Slaughterama! This next geek is guilty of the following, a Grateful Dead life

In which he's been allowing, tried to tell us 'give peace a chance'

Met the National Guard and he shit in his pants, it's not you imagination

It's not a bad trippie, yes that's him, it's the big smelly hippie!

Hello Mr. Hippie, nice to meet you, hey, got a little shit between your toes

How's things at the ol' manure factory? How's little Tofu? What!?

She grew another head? Well, you gotta lay off that LSD you know

Kinda makes your offspring goofy-looking, so, how do you hide money from a hippie?

Put it under the soap, I'm sorry but that answer wasn't in time

You're gonna have to put your mouth on this, whoa!

I blew your head clean off

Good thing I was such an expert shot with the National Guard back in Kent State

There's nothing like hippie hunting....We've killed everyone worth killing

Hope you do the same, we'll be back next week for another edition of Slaughterama

It's full of existential despair, it's full of people who just don't care

Don't feel sorry for them, they've chosen there own pathetic life

Show full lyrics (22 lines) ▾

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Metal Thrash Metal

Also in: ▤ Metal Songs

#89 Vettz American Heroes 1990 · Single · Fraternity # F-3557 · USA

Annotation

The group formed in Ohio, US, in 1981, led by Wayne Barker Jr., a Vietnam veteran. They released their first Vietnam-related single in 1982, called The Wall (Echo Records # E-104), a reference to the Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C., that listed the names of US military personnel killed in the war. The group often performed at veteran gatherings. The back of the single said that "the group was formed to help the Vietnam veterans, through the support of the Vietnam Veteran of America, Ohio State Council. Funds raised through the sale of records, show, concerts, etc. will be donated to the Vietnam Veterans of America for veteran-related projects".¹²³⁴

Ten years later they released the song "American Heroes" (Fraternity Records # F-3557), a soaring patriotic tribute to those that fought in Vietnam "for the freedoms of each woman, child, and man" . Interestingly, they also praised those back home for being heroes, such as the demonstrators: "I fought for this great land...like the four dead in Ohio, and the others who took a stand" . The group concluded by calling for unity to help the US go forward. With regards to praising the role of the Vietnam veterans, this can be seen as part of the 1980s / 90s attempts to overcome the 'Vietnam Syndrome', a trend often seen in post-war songs and films - the perception that domestic controversies over the war led to the US taking a less interventionist position in US foreign affairs. This term also applied to veterans, who may have felt guilt or shame about the war, influenced by the domestic climate they returned to in the US.⁵

Sources

1 Wall, The (The Vettz) ↩
2 engineersvietnam.com (archived copy) ↩
3 ReverbNation (link no longer available) ↩
4 efolkmusic.org: Wayne barker (link no longer available) ↩
5 The Columbia History of the Vietnam War (David L. Anderson, 2010) ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Fraternity Recording Corporation F-3557-A, Side 1, 45 RPM, stereo, light-blue label, (U-26419); "American Heroes" (W. Barker Jr.-C. Arnspiger), time 3:10; © 1990 by Fraternity Records, Cinti, Ohio; Big Ron Pub., B.M.I.; producer Shad O'Shea, executive producer Curt Arnspiger, engineer Dale "Smitty" Smith. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

As a child of this nation under god for which I stand

I would fight for the freedoms of each woman, child, and man

Yet there's a few that's been forgotten, like...the homeless man

They're the ones that made it home or died for this great land

American heroes, I want to thank you all

American heroes, from grace you'll never fall

Soar like an eagle, in my heart you'll never fall

American heroes, we thank you all

Now as a child of this nation I fought for this great land

Not unlike the many others that never went to Vietnam

Like the four dead in Ohio, and the others who took a stand

And through it all we survived it and you all deserve a hand...

We've all felt the healing, and all felt the loss

So let's stick together

Now as children of this country there's good reasons to be proud

We've faced many battles and made it through somehow

We've all learned to stand together and pushed that single plow

Hey we'll all in this together, let's stand and take our bows /American heroes, we want to thank you all

American heroes, you've risen from the fall

American heroes, we thank you all

Show full lyrics (21 lines) ▾

Themes: Vet Military Kent State Vietnam Syndrome

Genres: ♪ Country Country Rock

Also in: ▤ US Military & Veteran Songs

#90 Olivelawn Kent State 1990 · Album · Sap · Nemesis # #25 · USA

Notes

Side A track 3. Recorded by Jack Endino at Reciprocal Recording; distributed by Cargo Records.

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Punk Punk Rock

1991

#91 Open Mind Kent State and Kennedy 1991 · Album · The Stones We Carry... · Not On Label # DTMS-001 · Canada

Notes

Track 4. Produced and engineered by Dan Thorpe at West End Recording Studio; SOCAN.

Themes: Kent State JFK

1992

#92 Joe Walsh Decades 1992 · Album · Songs for a Dying Planet · Epic # 48916 · USA

Annotation

Joe Walsh, a singer/songwriter from the US, famous as a guitarist in the 1970s band the Eagles, released the hard rock song "Decades" (Epic Records # 48916) which made a reference to Kent State. The song took a long-term view of war, with the narrator recalling each decade, stretching from the First World War ( "we fought the war to end all wars" ), on to the political and cultural changes of the 1960s: "and the sixties were unrest, protest" . However, he noted the Kent State demonstration as a turning point, that burst the bubble: "the seventies lasted 'til May, and on the hill that day I gave up" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

I am calling across a field from far away, far away

This is my calling song, I am worried, I am concerned

There are reasons can't be explained

And there are questions that have no answers...

And the sixties were unrest, protest, we went to the moon

We had hopes, we had dreams...

And the seventies lasted 'til May and on the hill that day

I gave up, and started writin' 'Decades'...

Over and over, again and again

One hundred years, ten years time ten

So many things happen, nothin' got done

So many wars, no one ever won one

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Demonstration

Genres: ♪ Rock Pop Rock

#93 Clark Springs Talking Kent State 1992 · Single · Talking Kent State / Martha (The Watercress Girl) · Summershine # SHINE 017 · UK

Credited on the record as The Rain.

Annotation

This British indie/jangle pop band formed in Basingstoke, Hampshire, featuring Chris Morrell (drums, vocals), Nigel Rivers (bass), and Clive Stubbings (guitar). After Rivers left the band, they re-formed under the name The Rain.¹² Their first single "Talking Kent State" (Summershine Records # SHINE 017) supposedly reflects on the aftermath of the Kent State shootings, as two people took an Autumn stroll.

Sources

1 TweeNet: Clark Springs ↩
2 TweeNet: The Rain ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Summershine shine 017, 45 rpm, "Made in Australia", ℗ & © Summershine 1992; the label credits "The Rain" with "1. Talking Kent State" and "2. Martha (The Watercress Girl)", while the picture sleeve front prints "Clark Springs" over a tinted photograph of an ivy-covered stone tower against a cloudy sky.

The sleeve back states "all titles written by Stubbings/Clark Springs" and lists Clive Stubbings (guitar & vocals), Tony Duckworth (bass & vocals) and Chris Morrell (drums); "sleeve by Maikka"; Summershine, P.O. Box 13, Prahran, Victoria, Australia 3181; "manufactured & distributed by Shock Records". [From the record sleeve and labels]

Lyrics

English

Well the leaves are falling and autumn is here

I walk down through the copper coloured tree /Well some things have ended, there's others just beginning

It's time we talked again, talking Kent State...

The dogs are barking, your leather coat flapped in the wind

For the next day make history Suzie...

I know a bank where the wilds have blown...

Why can't you understand how I feel in your arms

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Rock Indie Pop Alternative Rock

Also in: ▤ European Songs

1994

#94 Kent 25 Democracy Is Hypocrisy 1994 · Single · Democracy Is Hypocrisy / Motorama · Breakfast # U-37491M · USA

Notes

Split 7" with Orbit ("Motorama"), white vinyl (also pink). Also on The Kent State May 4 CD Project (May 4 Task Force CD-KSU-05-01, 2005), disc 2 track 4, 3:54.

Themes: Kent State Anti-Government

Genres: ♪ Rock Indie Rock

1996

#95 Chuck D The Pride 1996 · Album · Autobiography of Mistachuck · Mercury # 314 532 944-2 · USA

Annotation

Artist background

Chuck D, born on 1 August 1960 in Roosevelt, New York, USA, associated with the genres East Coast Hip Hop / Conscious Hip Hop / Political Hip Hop, a member of several hip hop groups, including the prominent Public Enemy. Several of his songs referenced Vietnam: "The Pride" (1996) as a solo artist, and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" (1988), "Welcome to the Terrordome" (1989), and "Resurrection" (1998) with Public Enemy.

The song "The Pride" (Mercury Records # 314 532 944-2) focused on black pride and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s - it referenced the James Brown song "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud (Parts 1 & 2)" (1968), the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.: "I was in third grade when Dr. King got slain" . It referenced the imprisonment of Bobby Seale, a Black Panther leader, arrested at the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968 - one of the Chicago Eight, he was infamously gagged and chained in court. It also referenced the Woodstock music festival and the Kent State Vietnam War demonstration - which took place on 4 May 1970, in Ohio, where members of the Ohio State Guard shot and killed four students: "Free Huey, Eldridge, Bobby, Angela, Woodstock to Kent State, the music of the time for the mind" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Say it loud

James singing, "Black and I'm Proud"

I was in third grade when Dr. King got slain

And if I had to read a book about the facts

The fact is that the black would be overlooked, look

1967, I was seven, living proof

Of what I had learned in my youth

What a difference a score and a decade makes

Mistakes and Superbad breaks, wait

I ate the food in the lunch programs

And now I see the young strung out on grams

So I work on a go on and so on and soon communicate

To teach the young straight 'cause I got the pride

Flamboyant names

Free Huey, Eldridge, Bobby, Angela

Woodstock to Kent State

The music of the time for the mind

45's, Aretha, Four Tops

Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes

Assassinations Presidents

Nothing but 60's soul

Show full lyrics (22 lines) ▾

Themes: Civil Rights MLK Black Panther Kent State Woodstock Bobby Seale

Genres: ♪ Hip Hop East Coast Hip Hop

Also in: ▤ 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Rap / Hip Hop Songs

1998

#96 At the Drive-In Alpha Centauri 1998 · Album · In/Casino/Out · Fearless # F034 · USA

Annotation

US Post-Hardcore punk band At the Drive-In opened their 1998 album with the blazing track "Alpha Centauri" (Fearless Records # F034). Founded in 1993, in El Paso, Texas, the band's lyrics were often obscure and difficult to interpret. It did contain several lines of violent imagery, including a possible reference to Kent State: "students spray the Kent State mist" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Widows, an antique replacement

A briefcase filled with mace

Widows, six legged lost and found

Students, spray the Kent State mace

Wishing wells, missing clientele

Widows, six legged lost and found

Parkas worn in summer apparel

Sweat lodge comatose of broken arrows

Widows, veiled in rebound sheets

This is the ghost of a chance the lonely

Widows, six legged lost and found

Precision, watch the scalpel make roads

Hear them talk in paranoid parables

Widows, six legged lost and found

Storefront chairman's fingering buttons

This running of the bulls

Will take over the life support system

Madrid space station Spain, in space, in space

Flesh versus machine

Matador is just a bull in a china shop

Show full lyrics (21 lines) ▾

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Rock Post-Hardcore Punk Rock

Also in: ▤ Punk Songs

#97 Hamiet Bluiett & Muhal Richard Abrams Requiem for Kent State 1998 · Archival · Saying Something for All · Just A Memory # JAM 9134-2 · USA

Annotation

- Requiem for Kent State - Free jazz

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Recorded live in 1979 with the Sam Rivers big band (Rivbea All-Star Orchestra); first issued 1998. Requiem for Kent State recorded 4 February 1979 with the Sam Rivers Big Band at Kent State University, Kent Winter Jazz Festival (rest of album recorded 31 July 1977 at The Environ, NYC). Engineers on track 6: Peter Petto, Rik Harvin. Producer Hamiet Bluiett; executive producer Jim West; liner notes Jim Little.

Barcode 0 6894-49134-2 8. Manufactured by Cinram; label based in Canada (Justin Time group).

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Jazz Free Jazz

Also in: ▤ Jazz Songs

1999

#98 7000 Dying Rats Kent State (I Guess the National Guard Didn't Finish the Job) 1999 · Album · Fanning the Flames of Fire · Invisible # INV-AS 9026 · USA

Annotation

This album had a song called "Kent State (I Guess the National Guard Didn't Finish the Job)" (Invisible Records # INV-AS 9026) - 7000 Dying Rats are a grindcore band from Chicago, Illinois, known for their tasteless and strange sense of humour, as displayed in this weird monologue, accompanied by screaming and laughter in the background, in which the narrator called the Kent State demonstrators:

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

A fucking bunch of losers, you deadbeats

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Rock Alternative Rock

Also in: ▤ Metal Songs

#99 Magpie Kent 1999 · Album · Give Light · Sliced Bread # SLBR 71185 · USA

Annotation

The contemporary folk group Magpie, formed in Kent, Ohio, 1973, featured Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner - Leonino graduated from Kent State University and witnessed the demonstrations and the clash with the National Guard.¹ She wrote, and played the song "Kent" (Sliced Bread Records # SLBR 71185) for the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the shootings in 1995. In the linear notes of this CD, she wrote that "as a survivor of the massacre at Kent State, for years I tried to write this song. It was difficult and it is still a very painful subject for me and for many others who were on the hill that day in May, 1970. Thanks to the patience and love of my husband I was able to put this pain in to words about that time".

In the song the narrator dreamed about visiting the place where the shootings took place: "in my dream I remember a walk...that grassy knoll...four lives cut short by execution" . She viewed the individual impact of the event as "our innocence gone...changed for all time" . The narrator then imagined the exact moment of the shootings: "despair, the air full of confusion...hearts all full of rage...the river of their blood" . The lyrics then moved to the present, declaring to continue "freedom's voice" and to ensure that "justice isn't just a word" . At the end of the song, the narrator called out several names. Firstly, those killed at Kent State: "Bill and Sandy, Jeff and Allison, in our memory live on" . It then mentioned the two students killed at Jackson State, Mississippi: "Philip Gibbs, James Earl Green" . Next she called out the name of James Rector, killed on 15 May 1969, in People's Park, Berkeley, known as Bloody Thursday. She also referred to four African-American girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, in Birmingham, Alabama, on 15 September 1963: "Cynthia Wesley, Denise McNair, Carol Ann Robertson, Addie Mae Collins" . Finally, the narrator brought in a contemporary example: "the students of Tiananmen Square" .

Sources

1 magpiemusic.com (archived copy) ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

In my dream I remember a walk with you in Spring

Trees are full of blossoms and the air is full of song

You showed me, you know that grassy knoll

That place where just a few short years before, I heard the bells toll

Four lives cut short by execution and others were changed for all time

Voices raised in anger while the killers walked away

In my dream I see you standing their on that hill

The air is full of anger in the brilliant springtime sun

You are watching, we are standing as the soldiers in their uniform conspire

Our innocence gone...

And then ascending the alter we face the fire...

They turn and cut us down

In my dream I see you in that moment of despair

The air full of confusion and the hearts all full of rage

You're running along the bank of the river of their blood

Searching for reason where there could be none

Wondering who was next to fall before the gun

A daughter or a son

Then we knew those bullets were the answers to our questioning

The bells tolled for another day of reckoning

But what they couldn't kill, our voices ringing still

In my dream, twenty years are gone

And we are there, hearts full of sorrow and the air is full of rain

You and I standing with our faces to the sky

The rage remains in our memories

Twenty years of tears can't wash it away

And from that time the life that we are living full of questioning

Our voices are all the louder without cowering

So that the voices gone will surely carry on

In my dream I see you on that hillside in the month of May

Trees are full of blossoms and air is full of song...

In a world where justice isn't just a word

Where freedom's voice above the guns can still be heard

And all our cries for peace have been answered

Bill and Sandy, Jeff and Allison, in our memory live on, they live on

Philip Gibbs, James Earl Green, James Rector, Cynthia Wesley, Denise McNair, Carol Ann Robertson, Addie Mae Collins...the students of Tiananmen Square

Show full lyrics (37 lines) ▾

Themes: Anti-War Kent State Jackson State

#100 American Steel Loaded Gun 1999 · Rogue's March · Lookout # LK231CD · USA

Notes

Loaded Gun (American Steel)

Kent State reference. Civil Rights, protest

Lyrics

English

Who's the enemy, you're gonna point your gun at GI Joe?

Well, your grandpa broke the strikes and your dad the civil rights

When they were 18 too

Kent State, you never had a clean slate

I didn't see Watts burn but I felt the embers

Pinkerton mobs, National Guard

Change the names but someone remembers

Passed out in the flowers in the park

Loaded gun, spent my money in the market

Loaded gun, running rebels reading Marx, how droll

Armelite ballot, there's dollars in Bahrain

Loaded gun, there's rust in the gas can

Loaded gun, bombs for petrol

Loaded gun, petrol's for bombs

They've got a file on you, friend and it's none of your business

Community policing's paying dividends

East Oakland's a no-go but the liquor store is COINTELPRO

Peacekeeping mission in police war zone

With a turbulent DOW Jones

If violence is state monopology

Well, then think of us as antitrust

Passed out in the flowers in the park

Loaded gun, spent my money in the market

Loaded gun, running rebels reading Marx, how droll

Armelite ballot, the CIA is in Oakland

Loaded gun, rewriting the Constitution

Loaded gun, looking at a firebrand

Loaded gun, through the eyes of a loaded gun

Show full lyrics (29 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Civil Rights Communism CIA

Genres: ♪ Rock Punk Rock

Also in: ▤ Civil Rights Songs

2000

#101 Lamb of God O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E. 2000 · New American Gospel · Metal Blade # 3984-14345-2 · USA

Annotation

The song "O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E." (Metal Blade Records # 3984-14345-2) addressed police violence, making a minor reference to the protests at Kent State and outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago (1968). The groove metal group formed in 1994 in Richmond, Virginia, under the name Burn the Priest. Written by Randy Blythe, the title stood for Officer Dickhead Gets a Black Fucking Eye. Blythe explained the song in an interview with Revolver Magazine: "one time I was out in the Bay Area, in San Francisco...a bunch of us were squatting...But the cops came and busted in and threw us in a paddy wagon...then 5 or 6 cops just started kicking the living shit out of me. I was so scared...then, when they yanked me up, I remember looking at one female officer....reading her name...and saying, I remember you. I remember your face. I'm gonna find you". So the narrator described getting beaten up by the San Francisco police: "face down on the cold floor...feel youth crushed" . He then mentioned several events involving police or army violence: "Auschwitz, Kent State, Chi-Town 68, Tianamen, Waco" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Hate

Falling three feet to the ground

Face down on the cold floor of a well-oiled SF pigsty

I met my one true love

Feel youth crushed somewhere between concrete and boot

Another victim of the lower hate

You are not my god

You think this is funny, don't you pig?

How the helpless freak squirms

Beneath our state sanctioned soles

But what is he laughing at?

There was nothing padded about a wagon full of mace

Rotator cuff hyper extends behind my back

Ribs cracking beneath a rain of sticks and heels

Falling down like the rain outside

Oh yeah bitch, I'm gonna remember

Your face, your name, your number

And when I crawl out of this hole

I'm going to make you all mine

Auschwitz Kent State Chi-Town 68 Tianamen Waco

Show full lyrics (21 lines) ▾

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Metal Groove Metal

Also in: ▤ 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs ▤ Metal Songs

2001

#102 Voorhees Kent State Bulletbelt 2001 · Album · Crystal Lake's Legacy · Six Weeks # SW 49 · UK

Notes

- Kent State Bulletbelt

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Metal Hardcore Punk

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Metal Songs

#103 Vilently Ill Kent State Slaughter 2001 · Album · Group Hug · Knot # KM-16 · USA

Notes

- Kent State Slaughter
- Thrash

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Metal Hardcore Punk

Also in: ▤ Metal Songs

2004

#104 Ryan Harvey Kent State Massacre (13 Seconds in May) 2004 · The Revolution Will Not Be Amplified! · Not On Label · USA

Annotation

Ryan Harvey, from Baltimore, Maryland, plays contemporary folk songs on political and social themes. He is a member of Riot-Folk, a collective of nine musicians from across the US, that focus on anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian politics.¹² Harvey self-released the song "Kent State Massacre (13 Seconds in May)" about the Ohio demonstration, narrated in the first person, from the perspective of one of the protestors. It took a day-by-day factual approach, loosely based on the detailed information now available on the timeline of events. Likewise, the title "13 Seconds in May" referred to the estimated time of the shooting, although some witnesses said that it lasted for up to a minute.³

The lyrics started with day one, with the news of the "rain and fire on Cambodia" - Nixon's Cambodian Campaign, announced on 30 April 1970, an extension of the Vietnam War. This encouraged the students to protest the following day (1 May), who "left...classes and took the streets here in Ohio" . The next day, on 2 May, as the students organised a sit-in, "Governor Rhodes came to the campus" , called up the National Guard, who "followed his command" - thus placing a portion of blame on James "Jim" Rhodes (Governor of Ohio, 1963-71, 1975-83). The narrative then jumped to 4 May, the day of the shooting: "on the 4th day the guard was angry...they fired tear gas...13 seconds of firing followed, 4 of us fell" . He noted that the "National Guard just walked away" . The lyrics presented the shooting as a deliberate tactic, and held the shooters and the politicians responsible for the deaths and wounded.

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

It was early summer when it all began

The bombs were fallin' across the sea

Rainin' fire on Cambodia

We left our classes and took the streets

In Ohio we all felt helpless

Wonderin' what we ought to do

Shut down traffic and sing our loudest

Many students did it too

We said no classes until the war ends

Until the bombs no longer fall

Passed out fliers to all our comrades

And hung up posters upon the wall

We surrounded the ROTC

Training soldiers on these grounds

Up in the front some students started

Tried to burn the building down

It started burning but wouldn't catch right

We tried again but got the same

Marched around and came back later

When we returned it was all in flames

The fire truck came complete with soldiers

With bayonets and camouflage

They invaded our peaceful campus

Set up tents out in the yard

The very next day we did a sit-in

Against these troops who were a threat

The troops just pushed us back into campus

And stabbed us with their bayonets

Governor Rhodes came to campus

Said he'd use every force he had

To stop the protests and those who planned them

And the National Guard followed his command

On the fourth day the Guard was angry

We were there out on the lawn

We had some speakers and a small assembly

Said no justice til the Guard is gone

That's when the Guard gave us the order

Said leave now or we'll advance

We stood strong not taking orders

From scum-soaked soldiers with bloody hands

They fired tear gas and started marchin'

Some students threw the tear gas back

Some threw rocks up at the soldiers

Some soldiers threw the rocks right back

Then the Guard got in a huddle

Who said "fire" somebody knows

And thirteen seconds the firing followed

Four of us fell and never rose

Then the wounded became the dying

The dead lie still that summer day

The students tried to help the wounded

And the National Guard just walked away

Show full lyrics (53 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Anti-War Cambodia

2005

#105 Chris Butler Beggar's Bullets 2005 · Compilation · The Kent State May 4 CD Project · May 4 Task Force # CD-KSU-05-01 · USA

Annotation

Chris Butler, former lead singer and guitarist of the 1980s New Wave band The Waitresses, lived in Kent, Ohio, in the 1960s and 1970s. This album of spoken-word recordings and songs centred on that theme, capturing daily life in the college town. The final song "Beggar's Bullets" (Future Fossil) focused on a group who students who went on a road trip to Cleveland to attend a Grateful Dead concert. After returning to Kent, the narrator sold his guitar, and then his drums to Jeffrey Miller, who "didn't get to play them much" because three weeks later "he was shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard".¹²³

Sources

1 futurefossilmusic.com ↩
2 CMJ New Music Report, 21 January 2002 ↩
3 somecamerunning.typepad.com: Chris butler easy life ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

First issued on The Kent State May 4 CD Project (May 4 Task Force CD-KSU-05-01, 2005), disc 1 track 9, 12:08; later the final track of Chris Butler's Easy Life (Future Fossil Records DIG5-CD/FF, CD, 2014 per Discogs; RYM dates the album 2001).

Lyrics

English

Proudly presenting in their first area appearance

...The Grateful Dead, one day, 7 or 8 of us cut classes

Piled into my VW, drove the 30 miles from Kent to Cleveland

Coped with a flat tire

No spare, and ran out of gas twice

I sold my guitar back to the guy I'd bought it from for thirty-five dollars

And lent my drums to my friend Jeff Miller

He didn't get to play them much

Three weeks later he was shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard....

I see ammunition

Beggar's bullets flying

Through your televisions...

Themes: Kent State National Guard

Genre: ♪ Spoken Word

#106 Sage Francis Slow Down Gandhi 2005 · Single · Slow Down Gandhi · Epitaph # 86709-2 · USA

Annotation

Sage Francis is a East Coast hip-hop artist, born in Miami, Florida (1976), and currently based in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2005 he self-released the 12" single "Slow Down Ghandi" , which later appeared on the album A Healthy Distrust (Epitaph Records # 86709-2). He wrote the song during the 2004 presidential election, about "fly-by-night activists who get caught up in political fervor every election year and then they fall by the wayside when the party is over".¹ In the middle section of the song, he criticised US military recruitment methods with regards to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, saying "it felt like Kent State the way they targeted the students, I galloped off whistling Ohio" - a reference to the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young single Ohio. Francis later wrote that "ever since 9/11 I've been on an anti-war crusade, dear Barack…bring 'em home".²

Sources

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

There once was a song called "Arrest the President"

Contemporary music, a hit with the kids, it was a top ten

I wasn't pop then, so I missed the bus a bit

But politics, it was on everybody's "hot this summer" list

The cool kids were all rocking votes

I shit you not, I was pistol whippin' cops for hip hop (Booyea!)

On my soapbox yelling into megaphones

Killing hard rocks, using carcasses as stepping stones

Had to promise that I'd stop holding my marches

The day that Chris Columbus got crucified on golden arches

My pedestal was too tall to climb off

In fact that's the reason for the high horse

And from up here I see marines in hummers on a conquest

Underdogs with wonderbras in a push-up contest

All for the sake of military recruitment

It felt like Kent State the way they targeted the students

I galloped off whistling "Ohio"

The rest of them, stuck doing stand-up at a cricket convention

Who would they die for?

Is it the same machine that leaves the quality of life poor?

An abominable colony of cyborgs?

Clogging up the property that I bought with eyesores?

That clever ad campaign ain't worth

The time taken from minimum wage labor

I don't care how half-naked or fake she looks

She smells like dirty cash and aged paper books

Who would she die for?

Slow down Gandhi, you're killin' 'em...

Now it's whistle blower versus the pistol holder

Case dismissed, they'll lock you up and throw away the key witness

Justice is the whim of a judge, check his chest density

It leaves much room for error, and the rest left to destiny

The West Memphis Three lost paradise

It's death penalty versus suicidal tendencies

All I wanted was a fucking Pepsi

Institution

Making you think you're crazy is a billion-dollar industry

If they could sell sanity in a bottle

They'd be charging for compressed air

And marketing healthcare

They demonize welfare

Middle class eliminated

Rich get richer 'til the poor get educated....

Show full lyrics (44 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Anti-Government

Genres: ♪ Hip Hop Rap

Also in: ▤ Rap / Hip Hop Songs

#107 Scott Ainslie Don't Obey 2005 · The Feral Crow · Cattail # 2004 · USA

Annotation

Scott Ainslie, a blues and country singer based in Brattleboro, Vermont, also taught music history and published a music notation book on the delta blues guitarist Robert Johnson (Robert Johnson - Guitar Signature Tricks). He self-released a bunch of albums on his website, including "The Feral Crow" , which contained the Vietnam War song "Rice Grows Again in Vietnam" .¹ It also had the song "Don't Obey" which mentioned the Kent State shootings. The song warned against blindly following Uncle Sam when "they speak to you of glory" and use "words like good and evil" . He used Hitler and Stalin as examples of the "horror of obedience" . Therefore, he called on people not to obey a country's call for war, remembering that at "Kent State...we cry out, we bleed" . The song also mentioned Tiananmen Square, Selma, and "Chicago" - is this a reference to the Chicago 1968 demonstrations?

Sources

1 Cattail Music: Scott Ainslie ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

As it was in Hitler‘s Army and Stalin‘s awful crew

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Pearl Harbor, too

Across the sweep of history–There’s a truth they never tell

There’s more horror in obedience than there’d be if we’d rebel

So, when they speak to you of glory, and colors bright and true

And using words like ‘good & evil’ say it all comes down to you

When they offer you a weapon and send you out into the fray

Don’t Obey, Don’t Obey, Don’t Obey

From Selma to Sharpeville; Chicago to Bei Jing; From Kent State to Tiananmen Square

We cry out, we bleed

But from Tolstoy to Gandhi; from Gandhi to King

From Malcolm, and Mandela, and Biko to me

So, when they speak to you of glory, and colors bright and true

And using words like ‘good & evil’ say it all comes down to you

When they offer you a weapon and send you out into the fray...

Aren’t those your loved ones–huddled against the wall?

Can you hear the windows shatter? Feel the building start to fall?

Something’s gone wrong with us all

There’s shooting in the alley, footsteps in the hall

If every sin were tallied, if every mother knew

Just exactly what they’re asking; exactly what you do

How long do you think they’d stand there, with their hands by their sides?

Even all wrapped up in bunting–A lie is still a lie

So, when they speak to you of glory, and colors bright and true

And using words like ‘good & evil’ say it all comes down to you

When they offer you a weapon and send you out into the fray

Show full lyrics (27 lines) ▾

Themes: Kent State Anti-War WW2 Apartheid Atomic Hitler

Also in: ▤ 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs

#108 Scott Ainslie Rice Grows Again in Vietnam 2005 · The Feral Crow · Cattail # 2004 · USA

Annotation: see “Don't Obey” above (same release).

Lyrics

English

A family working in the sun

Food must be grown for everyone

So green, new life has begun

Rice Grows Again In Vietnam

Our fathers met here long ago

And with their blood these fields are sown

So silent now, where many fell

So many stories they can’t tell

Receive the weak, receive the strong

And prayers of ours for those who’ve gone

Forgive me for the wrongs I’ve done

Give me the strength to carry on

There will be days when rain must fall

Upon these fields, upon the wall

But may the harvest of these tears

Bring peace to our remaining years

Lift up your tools, lay down your gun

Once peace is lost, nothing is won

Harvest a thousand grains from one

Rice grows again in Vietnam

There will be days when rain must fall

Upon these fields, upon the wall

But may the harvest of these tears

Bring peace to our remaining years

And though the war’s pain is not gone

Rice grows again in Vietnam

This song is dedicated to Nguyen Dinh Nghia, a master of traditional Vietnamese flute and composition who taught at the National Conservatory of Music and at Van Hanh University in Saigon in the 1960s, and to his friend and mine, Larry Bohnert. Nghia fled Saigon when the Communists took over in 1975, fearful that his talent might be used in their cause. It took him almost ten years to escape South East Asia, and he landed in the Washington, DC area with his family in 1984. At first uneasy about the expatriate community’s response to a song of reconciliation, Nghia had finally agreed to perform on this track with me, but was prevented from participating by health problems that continue to plague him to this day. His generous spirit and his assessment that this track would “Change many hearts” sustained me as I pursued this recording. This song is dedicated to his friend, Larry Bohnert, who connected us, to Nghia, and to his family". (2)

Show full lyrics (28 lines) ▾

Themes: Soldier's Perspective Anti-War Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

Also in: ▤ 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs ▤ Veterans Memorial Wall Songs

#109 Lester of Kent Just When You Think the War Is Over 2005 · Compilation · The Kent State May 4 CD Project · May 4 Task Force # CD-KSU-05-01 · USA

Notes

Disc 1 track 2 of the May 4 Task Force tribute CD to Allison Krause, Bill Schroeder, Sandy Scheuer and Jeff Miller; not issued elsewhere on Discogs. Listed as a 2005 Kent State song in the University of Maryland "Songs of War" exhibit.

Themes: Kent State Anti-War

2007

#110 Darcie Miner Ohio 2007 · Compilation · Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young For Charity [Disc 1] · American Laundromat # ALR-0012 · USA

Genre: ♪ Punk

Also in: ▤ Punk Songs

#111 Dala Ohio (Medley) 2007 · Album · Borrowed Tunes II: A Tribute to Neil Young [Disc 1] · Universal · Canada

Genres: ♪ Rock Folk Rock

2009

#112 Time Subterranean Homesick News 2009 · Album · Naked Dinner · Dirty Laboratory # DLP0011 · USA

Annotation

Obscure, relatively unknown Hip Hop artist Christopher Steele, born in Denver, Colorado, USA. The song "Subterranean Homesick News" (Dirty Laboratory Records # DLP0011) referenced the Kent State shooting - this took place on 4 May 1970, in Ohio, where members of the Ohio State Guard shot and killed four students at an anti-Vietnam War demonstration. They used this as a metaphor / example of government neglect: "instead of Kent State they kill us with silence, they kill us with neglect" . One of dozens of post-war songs about the demonstration, it displays the event's lingering importance as a reference point for confrontation with government / state bodies in contemporary society and protest music.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

And when we get angry they tell us where to protest

Instead of Kent State they kill us with silence

They kill us with neglect, which is a form of violence

This is who we are we don't speak properly

We don't act polite we don't have any money

We waived our rights, we don't own property

We're exactly what you want we're a bunch of dummies

Themes: Kent State Anti-Government

Genres: ♪ Hip Hop Political Hip Hop

Also in: ▤ Rap / Hip Hop Songs

#113 Myka 9 1969 2009 · Album · Fake Four # FFINC006 · USA

Annotation

Myko 9, West Coast Hip Hop / Conscious Hip Hop / Jazz Rap artist, born Michael Lafayette Troy on 16 January 1969 in Los Angeles, California. The song "1969" (Fake Four Inc. # FFINC006) referenced many political issues and events of the 60s/70s. including Civil Rights, the counter-culture, and two well-known Vietnam evens: (a) the Kent State shooting - which took place on 4 May 1970, in Ohio, where members of the Ohio State Guard shot and killed four students, and (b) demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968: "the peace movement took Chicago late and they took four dead in Ohio" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

Hippies, political, hippies to sexual revolution

Led Zeppelin, Woodstock plastics, innocence

Jimmy Hendrix, free love and indeed sunshine of your mind

The peace movement took Chicago late

And they took four dead in Ohio

The nakedness awakening a riot

Monty Python was flying in the circus

Bliss concerts, you know the doors are open

Anti-Vietnam War, Bob Dylan, Electric Kool-Aid Acid tests once more

Soul Shakedown, Further bus tour, Bob Marley, Weather The Storm

Ken Kesey, Jamaica and the shores

Alistair Crowley, Blowfly records

From Rocksteady to hardcore

The Gutter Punks that rock and roll adored

Every memory all around me

Every energy comes forward to show

What was all in me back in 1969

With my mother and my father's seed

Love movement to discovery

From the moments that I came to be when I began to breathe

Back in 1969

Show full lyrics (22 lines) ▾

Themes: Civil Rights Chicago Seven Kent State Woodstock Bob Dylan

Genres: ♪ Hip Hop West Coast Hip Hop Conscious Hip Hop

Also in: ▤ 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Rap / Hip Hop Songs

2010

#114 Destructors Kent State Reprobate 2010 · Album · Dead Beat to White Heat · Rowdy Farrago # RFA03 · UK

Annotation

The Destructors released the song "Kent State Reprobate" , which condemned the actions of the National Guard during the Ohio protests. This punk rock band originally formed in 1977 in Peterborough, UK, featuring Alan Adams (vocals, bass), Neil Singleton (vocals), Andy McDonald (drums), Andy Jackson (guitar), Dave Ithermee (guitar), Graham Butts (guitar). Also known as "Destructors 666". Between 1980-1984 they released a series of singles and EPs on political and religious themes, dealing with Reagan and Thatcherite policies, and looking back at the past. In 1982 they released the song "Agent Orange" about the Vietnam War, on the EP Religion! There is No Religion! (Carnage Benelux # kill 2). Their 1984 compilation The Destructors: A Final Testament (Carnage Benelux # kill 666) said "Bomb Hanoi, Bomb Saigon" on its front cover. In 2005, Alan Adams reformed the band in Peterborough, working with many different musicians across many albums.¹

The lyrics started by looking at the objectives of the demonstrators, who wanted "love and peace" and to "stop the war in Vietnam" , although some people sought "revolution" . But the authorities viewed then as "suppressive communistic crass" . So they sent out the National Guard to "teach them a less, go in hard" . The narrator noted the event as a turning point in people's lives: "in Ohio, innocence was lost" . It also suggested that it had a long-term impact on protest movements, as the National Guard "made them freeze" . The song criticised the military for killing the Vietnamese as well as "their own children" on the university campuses.

Sources

1 destructors666.com (archived copy) ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

They say you were suppressive, communistic crass

The day they bought big guns, there's blood upon the grass

It wasn't all about revolution, more about love and peace

Stop the war in Vietnam

Make the pain and horror cease

Kent State Reprobate

Turn to a world of hate

Turn out the Guard, teach them a lesson go in hard

We'll stop for a moment upon that campus ground

The sound of local fire on our children pouring down

They weren't killers or murders just people's son and daughters

On the day the National Guard turned into a teenager slaughter...

On a sunny day in Ohio, innocence was lost

Kent State Reprobate

Turn to a world of hate

Turn out the Guard, teach them a lesson go in hard...

They're killing their own children as well as those of the Vietnamese

We'll remember...

The National Guard made them freeze

Show full lyrics (20 lines) ▾

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Punk Punk Rock

Also in: ▤ European Songs ▤ Punk Songs

2012

#115 Jeff Powers 13 Seconds 67 Shots (Kent State Massacre) 2012 · Single · Jeff Powers · Not On Label · USA

Annotation

Notes

13 Seconds 67 Shots (Ken State Massacre)

"Written on the 40th Commemoration of the Kent State murders...written in the style of CSNY (Neil Young)"¹

From the Victory Bell, over Blanket Hill, no one closer
Than a football field, but close enough to hell...no one
Over 20 years old but old enough to kill 13 seconds 67
Shots at 12:24 P.M. 13 seconds 67 shots, 4 students...
4 students laying dead...Is lady Justice blindfold or blind?
Waitin' for the truth, who ordered fire? How many more
Years? To hide a lie in a little truth, how many more tears
Shed Till a brave soul comes forth

Sources

1 jeffpowers.net: 13 seconds 67 shots kent state massacre ↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Themes: Kent State Demonstration Anti-War

2014

#116 The Rebel Spell 10,000 Years 2014 · Album · Last Run · Rubber Factory # rfr09 · Canada

Notes

Ten Thousand Years (Rebel Spell, The)

Punk rock

Lyrics

English

I’ve read about brutality through history by agents of every form of state

I know that nothing’s changed and their roles and means are just the same

Do you really think we can fix this thing? It’s been tried again and again...

Jeffrey Miller, Paul Boyd, Two unnamed dead in Winnipeg

Oscar Grant, Rodney Jackson, Ian Bush and Darren Varley

Sharpeville, Marikana, Kent State, not close enough?

Boom Boom Boom Guess who’s at your door?

Themes: Apartheid Kent State

Genres: ♪ Punk Punk Rock

Also in: ▤ Punk Songs

2016

#117 Karl Blau Fallin' Rain 2016 · Introducing Karl Blau · Bella Union # BELLA534 · USA

Notes

Fallin' Rain (Blau, Karl)

Kent State shooting referenced

I hear thunders and I can feel the wind
I can see angry faces in the eyes of men
And don't forget Kent State were kids lay bleeding on the ground
And there's no place on this planet where peace can be found
So there'll be stabbings and
Shootings and young men dyin' on the ground
It keeps goin' through my brain and I can still hear the sound
I hear talking of people: "The whole world has gone insane"

Themes: Kent State Demonstration Anti-War

Genres: ♪ Country Alt-Country

2018

#118 Charlie Morrow Requiem for the Victims of Kent State 2018 · Archival · Toot! Too · Recital # Recital Forty One · USA

Notes

Side B track 1, dated in the notes "Requiem for the Victims of Kent State, May 4, 1970"; piano Edna Golandsky. LP with 20-page booklet of scores and writings, liner notes by Tim Page; first edition of 500 (© 2017).

Theme: Kent State

Genres: ♪ Western Classical Music Experimental

2019

#119 Sun Kil Moon I'm Not Laughing at You 2019 · Album · I Also Want to Die in New Orleans · Caldo Verde # CDCV049 · USA

Notes

I'm Not Laughing at You (Sun Kil Moon)

People ask me in my country "What does the rest of the world think of the USA?" Said "Same thing that they always did, they think we're stupid and insane. Goes back to Columbine, and Reagan, and Nixon, and Viet Nam, and George Bush, and shock and awe campaign...Yeah, but you guys also shot John Kennedy and Martin Luther King...She said "Well you're here. And where are you from exactly?" I said "The state where the kids at Kent Station were killed west of Pennsylvania".

Themes: Kent State Demonstration JFK MLK Nixon Reagan

Genres: ♪ Singer Songwriter Americana

#120 Jeff Powers Flowers Are Better Than Bullets 2019 · Single · Trainwreck · Not On Label · USA

Notes

Flowers Are Better Than Bullets

Themes: Kent State Demonstration Anti-War

Unknown date

#121 KRS-One What I Know Archival · Not On Label · USA

Annotation

KRS-One (Lawrence Krisna Parker), born 20 August 1965 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, East Coast Hip Hop artist, who rose to prominence as a member of Boogie Down Productions. In 1989 he started The Stop the Violence Movement in response to violence in black communities, which brought together prominent hip hop artists. This came soon after the death of DJ Scott La Rock, another member of Boogie Down Productions. The song "What I Know" was unreleased, originally intended for his self-titled 1995 album. It referenced two students killed by Mississippi state and Jackson city police, at Jackson State college ("Jackson State Killings") on 15 May 1970, part of a Vietnam War and Civil Rights protest: "police killed two African students at Jackson State University" - as well as other instances of racial killings in the US, noting "for years America been killing us - sisters, brothers" . Note that Boogie Down Productions released the song Stop the Violence (1988), one of the first hip songs to mention Vietnam, discussed above.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English

When you become serious about your hip hop

Let me know when I freak a flow that shows you the way to go

Unlike others what they sayin' is irrelevant

While KRS-One appeals more to the intelligent... I'm givin' you these dates tough you'd hate

But to evaluate your own mental state

You're gettin' older not younger

The system keeps you under

Concentrate on living this summer

Check it: 1963, the 15th of September

Four girls are bombed by the KKK

Remember, August 26, 1874

16 Africans are lynched in Tennessee, want some more?

May 14th, 1970

Police killed two African students at Jackson State University

And injured fourteen others

For years America been killing us - sisters, brothers

Show full lyrics (17 lines) ▾

Themes: Jackson State Civil Rights KKK Police Brutality

Genres: ♪ Hip Hop East Coast Hip Hop

Also in: ▤ Civil Rights Songs ▤ Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]▤ Rap / Hip Hop Songs

#122 Jodi Hawkins Four Children Single · Four Children / Time · Boon # ARA 6570 · USA

Notes

The song "Four Children" (Hawkins, Jodi)

Contemporary folk. Anti-war. Kent State shootings.
Description of the day and protest, then confrontation with the National Guard.

Notes

Boon Records, 1238 E. Pierce, Phoenix, Arizona; ARA 6570, 45 RPM; "Four Children" (Jodi Hawkins), time 3:00; plain black label with silver print. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes: Anti-War Kent State