It Could Have Been Me

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).Sources1The Vietnam War on Campus: Other Voices, More Distant Drums (Marc J. Gilbert, 2001)↩2Hollywood Left and Right (Steven J. Ross, 2011)↩3Antiwarriors (Melvin Small, 2002)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Kent / Jackson State Songs

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). Sources1The Vietnam War on Campus: Other Voices, More Distant Drums (Marc J. Gilbert, 2001)↩2Hollywood Left and Right (Steven J. Ross, 2011)↩3Antiwarriors (Melvin Small, 2002)↩

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

About the artist

Born Ukiah, California, USA (6 June 1949)

Themes

Anti-War · Kent State · LGBTQ+

In collections

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