Kent State Massacre
1973 · Paredon P-1014 · USA
- Artist
- Barbara Dane
- Title
- Kent State Massacre
- Release
- I Hate the Capitalist System
- Year
- 1973
- Label
- Paredon # P-1014
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
The track "Kent State Massacre" (Paredon Records # P-1014) by Barbara Dane 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". (1)Released on the label founded by Barbara Dane and Irwin Silber in 1969, whose objective was to "seek out the music and speech, documentary or dialogue, that spring from the conscious artist who relates to people's movements, and which pour from all people in struggle". (1) This record label released several albums either about the Vietnam War or that contained a Vietnam War song, which are discussed on this list. See the note below. Also note that in 1969 Dane and Sliber published the book "The…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Kent / Jackson State Songs
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
About the artist
Born 12 May 1927, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Died 20 October 2024, Oakland, California, USA