Don Sanders

Kent State

1972 · Not On Label · USA

Artist
Don Sanders
Title
Kent State
Release
Don Sanders
Year
1972
Label
Not On Label
Format
LP · Album
Language
English
Country
USA
Genre
Singer Songwriter · Singer Songwriter
Primary theme
Peace, Protest & Anti-War

Annotation — Kent / Jackson State Songs

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".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs

Don Sanders, a singer-songwriter, focused his career in the Houston, Texas contemporary folk scene. (1) (2) 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. (3) 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".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

Don Sanders (born 1 October 1943, Houston, Texas; died 21 July 2018, Houston) was a Texas folk singer and songwriter long associated with the Houston folk scene and the Anderson Fair venue. His self-released album appeared on Mean'n Low Records in 1972. [Source: Discogs; Houston Chronicle obituary; Texas Music Annals]

Themes

Anti-War · Kent State

In collections

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