Kent State

Annotation

The song "Kent State" (Liberty Records # 15 393 A) by J.J. Light - otherwise known as Jimmy Stallings, a member of the country rock group Sir Douglas Quintet, based in Texas, USA - recalled the moments of the shooting, in a first person narrative, from the perspective of someone present at the incident: "woman is in the hot grass...the war on my back, the fire started...shooting". The narrator called out to the National Guard "what you doing coming here...shooting at my friends". At the end of the song, he sent a warning to the government, police, and the National Guard, that they "better stop pushing us around or we'll kick your brains out" i.e. they will retaliate.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Indigenous Americans

The song "Kent State" (Liberty Records # 15 393 A) by J.J. Light - otherwise known as Jimmy Stallings, a member of the country rock group Sir Douglas Quintet, based in Texas, USA. Originally from New Mexico, he grew up in the Navajo Nation. In an interview with Cult Scoop Magazine, he said: "I grew up in Farmington, New Mexico, born in 1942. I’m part Native American, Navajo".1 The song recalled the moments of the Kent State shooting (or "Massacre"), which took place on May 4 1970, in Ohio, where members of the Ohio State Guard shot and killed four students. In a first person narrative, from the perspective of someone present at the incident: "woman is in the hot grass...the war on my back, the fire started...shooting". The narrator called out to the National Guard "what you doing coming here...shooting at my friends". At the end of the song, he sent a warning to the government, police, and the National Guard, that they "better stop pushing us around or we'll kick your brains out" i.e. they will retaliate. Sources1cultmachine.com: Jimmy Stallings↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Kent / Jackson State Songs

The song "Kent State" (Liberty Records # 15 393 A) by J.J. Light - otherwise known as Jimmy Stallings, a member of the country rock group Sir Douglas Quintet, based in Texas, USA. Originally from New Mexico, he grew up in the Navajo Nation. In an interview with Cult Scoop Magazine, he said: "I grew up in Farmington, New Mexico, born in 1942. I’m part Native American, Navajo".1 The song recalled the moments of the shooting, in a first person narrative, from the perspective of someone present at the incident: "woman is in the hot grass...the war on my back, the fire started...shooting". The narrator called out to the National Guard "what you doing coming here...shooting at my friends". At the end of the song, he sent a warning to the government, police, and the National Guard, that they "better stop pushing us around or we'll kick your brains out" i.e. they will retaliate. Sources1cultmachine.com: Jimmy Stallings↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Train on the track, on no we're about to be attacked / By now the whole woman is in the hot grass / Sitting low just waiting, a clock clock / Then the war on my back / The fire started while I was relaxing in bed almost asleep / Someone must be out of their head / What you doing coming here were I live / Getting me out of bed / Shooting at my friends, shooting, shooting, shooting / Burn down our cornfields, you''ll pulling the fish out of the water / You better stop pushing us around or we'll kick your brains out

Notes

Liberty LB 15 393 A, black label with rainbow edge and Statue of Liberty logo, United Artists GmbH, GEMA, Liberty / UA GmbH, München; "Kent State" (J. J. Light), 2:11. The picture sleeve front shows a colour photograph of J.J. Light standing by a tree with an acoustic guitar, titled "kent state / gallup, new mexico", catalogue 15 393; the back, headed "Musik '70", advertises Liberty LPs by Canned Heat, The Can, Amon Düül II, Paul Nero, Lester Wilson and Katja Ebstein, printed in Germany by C.v.d. Linnepe, Lüdenscheid. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

J.J. Light was the recording name of James Michael 'Jim' Stallings (born in New Mexico), an American rock singer, songwriter and bass player of Navajo descent. He recorded doo-wop singles as Jimmy Stallings in the early 1960s before moving to Los Angeles, where the J.J. Light persona was devised with producer Bob Markley; the resulting psychedelic folk-rock album 'Heya!' (1969) yielded a European hit that reached number twelve in Germany, and from 1969 until the group dissolved in 1972 he played bass with the Sir Douglas Quintet. "Kent State", his own composition responding to the shootings…

Themes

Anti-War · Demonstration · Kent State

In collections

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