Kent State Massacre (13 Seconds in May)
2004 · Not On Label · USA
- Artist
- Ryan Harvey
- Title
- Kent State Massacre (13 Seconds in May)
- Release
- The Revolution Will Not Be Amplified!
- Year
- 2004
- Label
- Not On Label
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
Ryan Harvey, from Baltimore, Maryland, plays contemporary folk songs on political and social themes. He is a member of Riot-Folk, a collective of nine musicians from across the US, that focus on anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian politics. (1) (2) Harvey self-released the song "Kent State Massacre (13 Seconds in May)" about the Ohio demonstration, narrated in the first person, from the perspective of one of the protestors. It took a day-by-day factual approach, loosely based on the detailed information now available on the timeline of events. Likewise, the title "13 Seconds in May" refered to the estimated time of the shooting, although some witnesses said that it lasted for up to a minute. (3) The lyrics started with day one, with the news of the "rain and fire on Cambodia" - Nixon's Cambodian Campaign, announced on 30 April 1970, an extension of the Vietnam War. This encouraged the students to protest the following day (1 May), who "left...classes and took the streets here in Ohio". The next day, on 2 May, as the students organised a sit-in, "Governor Rhodes came to the campus", called up the National Guard, who "followed his command" - thus placing a portion of blame on…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Ryan Harvey is a Baltimore, Maryland-based folk-punk protest musician and organiser, a founder of the Riot-Folk collective. "Kent State Massacre (13 Seconds In May)" appears on "The Revolution Will Not Be Amplified", a 2004 split release with Tom Frampton distributed through Riot-Folk's free-download model - a direct match in his own documented discography. Date 2004 recorded as a fact. [Source: ryanharveymusic.com; Riot-Folk discography]