Four Children Are Still Dead

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

About the artist

Spoken-word recordings written and produced by New York Post columnist Pete Hamill (born 24 June 1935, Brooklyn, New York; died 5 August 2020, Brooklyn), narrated by New York radio DJ William 'Rosko' Mercer, with jazz backing - including Massacre at My Lai (Flying Dutchman, 1969) and Murder at Kent State University (1970). [Source: Wikipedia; Discogs]

Themes

Kent State · Anti-War

In collections

Jazz Songs · Kent / Jackson State Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]