Why (A Peace Medley)

Annotation

As mentioned above, their are dozens of cover versions of the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song Ohio. This included the track "Why (A Peace Medley)" (Massive Records # M-1001), one of the more interesting interpretations. Released by the obscure soul group Coast in New York, in 1971. Produced and directed by Martin Brummer and Gene Busnar. In fact, the medley also featured John Lennon's peace / anti-war anthem Give Peace a Chance (by the Plastic Ono Band), and Neil Young's Helpless. Furthermore, it included spoken-word extracts, such as from Vice-President Spiro Agnew: "Yippies, Hippies, Yahoos, Black Panthers, Lions and Tigers alike, I would swap the whole damn zoo for a single platoon of the kind of young Americans I saw in Vietnam" - this 1970 speech, A Challenge to Hippies, featured on the album Speaks Out. Also in the song, an unknown teenage soldier expressed fear about going to war and a mother wanted to know why her son died in Vietnam.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

Their are dozens of cover versions of the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song Ohio, the most popular of the songs dealing with the Kent State demonstration / killings. See the list: This included the track "Why (A Peace Medley)" (Massive Records # M-1001), one of the more interesting interpretations. Released by the obscure soul group Coast in New York, in 1971. Produced and directed by Martin Brummer and Gene Busnar. In fact, the medley also featured John Lennon's peace / anti-war anthem Give Peace a Chance (by the Plastic Ono Band), and Neil Young's Helpless. Furthermore, it included spoken-word extracts, such as from Vice-President Spiro Agnew: "Yippies, Hippies, Yahoos, Black Panthers, Lions and Tigers alike, I would swap the whole damn zoo for a single platoon of the kind of young Americans I saw in Vietnam" - this 1970 speech, A Challenge to Hippies, featured on the album Speaks Out. Also in the song, an unknown teenage soldier expressed fear about going to war and a mother wanted to know why her son died in Vietnam.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

Unknown - no citable biography of a band named Coast matching this release could be established; the name is shared by several unrelated acts and none is documented as the artist here. [Source: Discogs]

Themes

Anti-War · Kent State · Nixon · Agnew

In collections

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