Single:
Ohio entered the Australian singles chart* on 21 September 1970 and peaked at #44.
Album:
The song is on So Far which entered the Australian albums chart* on 28 October 1974 and peaked at #77. A live version of the song is on 4 Way Street which entered the Australian albums chart on 12 July 1971 and peaked at #6.
Songwriter:
Neil Young
Producers:
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Record label of Australian release:
Atlantic
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Songfacts:
Ohio is about the events of 4 May 1970, when the Ohio National Guard shot four unarmed students at Kent State University during a protest against the Vietnam War.
In the 15 May issue of Life magazine, the shootings were the cover story, with the headline “Tragedy At Kent” and a cover photo of a wounded student lying on the ground. When Neil Young read the story and saw the photos, the song came to him.
“He was silent for a long time, then picked up his guitar and 20 minutes later had this song,” his bandmate David Crosby recalled.
Crosby summoned the other members of the group – Stephen Stills and Graham Nash – and they recorded the song in Los Angeles on 21 May. Ahmet Ertegun, head of their label (Atlantic), flew the master to New York and had it pressed right away. Ohio was released on 4 June, just a month after the shootings.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/crosby-stills-nash-young/ohio
Wikipedia:
Ohio is a protest song and counterculture anthem.
The line “tin soldiers and Nixon coming” refers to the Ohio National Guard officers and to the then-president, Richard Nixon. David Crosby once stated that Young keeping Nixon’s name in the lyrics was “the bravest thing I ever heard.” The American counterculture took the group as its own after this song, giving the four a status as leaders and spokesmen they would enjoy to a varying extent for the rest of the decade.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_(Crosby,_Stills,_Nash_&_Young_song)
Lyrics:
Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Click for full lyrics
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