Where Were You May 4, 1970?
Music has often reflected upon, commented about, and chronicled significant historical events, but perhaps none is more famous, more direct, or more poignant than Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s response to the Kent State shooting on May 4, 1970. “Ohio” is firmly part of our vocabulary. Neil Young’s song was recorded by the band May 21, 1970, and released shortly thereafter as a single, with “Find the Cost of Freedom” on the flip. Both of those songs also appeared on the superb live album 4 Way Street the next year.
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
There is also a second song — unknown to most — remarking upon that event and its also largely unknown companion tragedy ten days later at Jackson State University in Mississippi. That one is by The Beach Boys, who were in the process of recording a number of brilliant albums including Sunflower, Carl and the Passions: So Tough, and Holland.
Surf’s Up was released August 30, 1971, and it contained the gem “Student Demonstration Time.” Songwriting credit went to Beach Boy Mike Love and to Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, the duo who penned so many classic hits. They got proper credit here because this song is “Riot in Cell Block Number 9” by the Coasters, with lyrics replaced by Love.
Starting out with Berkeley Free Speech
And later on at People’s Park
The winds of change fanned into flames
Student demonstrations spark
Down to Isla Vista where police felt so harassed
They called the special riot squad of the L. A. County SheriffWell there’s a riot going on
There’s a riot going on
There’s a riot going on
Student demonstration timeThe violence spread down South to where Jackson State brothers
Learned not to say nasty things about Southern policemen’s mothers
Nothing much was said about it and really next to nothing done
The pen is mightier than the sword, but no match for a gunWell there’s a riot going on
There’s a riot going on
Well there’s a riot going on
‘Cause it’s student demonstration timeAmerica was stunned on May 4, 1970
When rally turned to riot up at Kent State University
They said the students scared the Guard
Though the troops were battle dressed
Four martyrs earned a new degree
The Bachelor of Bullets
I know we’re all fed up with useless wars and racial strife
But next time there’s a riot, well, you best stay out of sightWell there’s a riot going on
There’s a riot going on
Well there’s a riot going on
Student demonstration timeStay away when there’s a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there’s a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there’s a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there’s a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there’s a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there’s a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there’s a riot going on
Student demonstration
Stay away when there’s a riot going on
Student demonstration
Where were you May 4, 1970?
I was completing my freshman year at Lehigh University. The following Saturday, May 9, as good fortune would have it, I was 200 miles from my campus in Bethlehem PA, traveling as a student radio journalist with a carload of other students to the main demonstration that day in Washington DC. It was a defining moment in my development as a conscious thinker.