On Our Own: "Ohio" part 2

Devo
from left, Bob Mothersbaugh, Mark Mothersbaugh,
Alan Myers, Gerald Casale and Bob Casale

This is the second post in our series on Neil Young’s “Ohio.” Read the first post here.

“It’s still hard to believe I had to write this song. It’s ironic that I capitalized on the death of these American students. Probably the biggest lesson ever learned at an American place of learning. My best CSNY cut. Recorded totally live in Los Angeles. David Crosby cried after this take.”

Neil Young, liner notes to Decade

Neil Young

Young’s comment that it was ironic that he “capitalized on the death of these American students,” and further comments by Jerry Casale, quoted in the Wikipedia article on Young’s “Ohio,” sparked my interest in discussing the song on the blog. Casale and his friend Mark Mothersbaugh were both students at Kent State, and founding members of the New Wave/Post-Punk group Devo. Casale was at the demonstration that day, and knew students who were killed and injured. The tragedy was a formative event for Devo–the events of that day were part of the “devolution” for which the band named itself.

Casale, and others apparently, were not terribly impressed by Young’s song. (Listen to Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young’s “Ohio” here.)

“At the time we just thought rich hippies were making money off of something horrible and political that they didn’t get. I know there were big, screaming arguments in SDS meetings about Young being a tool of the military industrial complex. I just said, ‘Well, it wasn’t a very good song.’”(from Shakey:Neil Young’s Biography by Jimmy McDonough).

In a later interview, Casale’s impression of the song seems to mellow. When asked, “Does Neil Young’s ‘Ohio’ strike close to your heart?”, he responds:

Gerald Casale

Of course. It was strange that the first person that we met, as Devo emerged, was Neil Young. He asked us to be in his movie, Human Highway. It was so strange – San Francisco in 1977. Talk about life being karmic, small and cyclical – it’s absolutely true. In fact I just a got a call from a person organizing a 30th Anniversary thing. Noam Chomsky will be there and I may go talk there if I can get away. I still remember it so crystal clear like a dream you will never forget…….. or a nightmare. I still remember every moment. It kind of went in slow motion like a car accident.

Casale and Devo went on to record a cover of “Ohio,” which appears on the collection, When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You’d Hear. We’ll listen to it below, as it goes in some new directions. Casale’s reaction made me wonder how Young’s song, which became so iconic relative to the national reflection on that day, affected those closest to the events–people on or near campus. Was the song a part of the life of the campus in the weeks, months, and years after the shooting? Did other survivors share Casale’s perception that the song exploited their tragedy?

I know a few folks who attended Kent State around this time. Two had left campus the year before, one had left campus the semester before, and one was on hand for the events of May 4. In researching these posts, I also came across a few articles and resources on the May 4 events by Professor Jerry M. Lewis, a sociologist at Kent State, who is both a survivor of that day and a leader in convening and understanding its commemoration. Today’s post will incorporate the reflections of two Kent State alumnae. The next post will involve a conversation with Professor Lewis, to give perspective on the role the song “Ohio” has played in the ongoing commemoration of May 4.

When I first emailed the Kent State alumni I know, “Joyce” replied first replied back very briefly,

“I was there, saw the blood, [and] was holed up inside nearby building for 2 hours, with bayonets pointed at us from outside. [We] had to evacuate campus that afternoon and go home to finish the quarter. Will send you thoughts later.”

Here were her thoughts in response to a few questions from me:

Mary Ann Vecchio beside the body of
KSU student, Jeffrey Miller.
Photo by John Filo

What did you think about “Ohio” in the summer of 1970?

It certainly struck home because one of the students killed–a girl named Allison, lived in my dorm. I went back to summer school on campus in June, as I was on a plan to graduate in 3 years. The campus that summer was eerie–because everyone knew, like the song says. You had to have a picture ID hanging visible at all times because much of the trouble had been agitated by outsiders coming on campus. As I recall, the famous picture of the girl leaning over one of the victims was not even a KSU student–she had come up to join the protest from Florida. [As we saw in the last post, Joyce is referring to Mary Ann Vecchio, a 14 year old runaway at the time.]

Was the song a part of the campus environment (in dorms, etc.) in the fall semester of ’70? What was that like?

The song was certainly popular, but I do no recall it being like a battle cry. Most of the students, including myself, were not part of the protest at all. I got caught up in the melee on my way to class. I had two brothers in Vietnam at the time. I didn’t like that they were there, but I understood they needed to be, and respected them for their courage.

Have your thoughts/feelings about the song changed over the years? How?

I can remember being very confused–how did this happen? How could this happen? We’re just young fun-loving college students–and suddenly there are tanks and helicopters and soldiers all over our campus as if it is a war zone. It was surreal and I thought the situation got way over-escalated which just fed the fire. The song hit a cord and still to this day reminds me of that traumatic occurrence. It should not have happened. But it did.

What effect does it have for you now, if any, when it comes on the radio, etc.?

It brings back mixed emotions of good and bad college memories. Kids at Kent today were not even born when that happened. It’s time to let it go. They have no real connection or emotion about it. The university has many more things that should be emphasized than May 4, 1970.

“Linda,” Joyce’s sister, wasn’t on campus that day, but was close to many who were. She replied:

I was not on campus during May 4. I had dropped out the quarter before and was actually working…in Mayfield Heights, Ohio when I heard the news of May 4th. I was stunned. [Joyce] was on campus, however, and actually nearby during the shootings. It was a difficult time, for sure.

The song did strike a cord with me and certainly those I knew at that time. It still does. Most of us were against the war, but not involved in the radical activities of the time. There were peace marches and demonstrations, but [they were] non-violent, and quite frankly something to do other than hit the bars downtown. Of course, there were outsiders who provoked the more active demonstrations. It was a troubled time for the country. It was a troubled time, period. It was an absolute tragedy for all involved…the students killed, their families and friends, all students and faculty, the university, and the guardsmen who fired and those that didn’t. Anyone there that day I am sure felt the horror and pain, and probably does to this day.

The song ‘Ohio’ became popular immediately. It was/is a ‘chant’ of sorts, and evokes a feeling to this day of those times…needless killings on campus, an unpopular war, and servicemen here and in Vietnam just doing what they had been trained and instructed to do. Certainly many still struggle with the facts, events, and emotions of that time.

There you have it. War is and will always be horrific. It is never glamorous; not always, perhaps rarely, justified, but seems to have an ever-changing presence. I don’t understand it. Let’s hope ‘Ohio’ , its lyrics, and meaning will continue to evoke the beauty of free speech and expression, and its impact.

When I mentioned to her Jerry Casale’s initial critique and Young’s sense of irony about capitalizing on the song, Linda replied:

I never even considered that or was offended by the fact that Neil Young profited from the song. It was important that it be said, he said it, and I doubt that profit was Young’s motivation–even though it probably made him the big bucks.

Devolution

Cevin Soling produced When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You’d Hear and persuaded Mark Mothersbaugh, Jerry Casale, and the other members of Devo to record it. He explains part of the story to Songfacts:

It was my idea to do “Ohio.” I knew about the history and their tie to the tragedy. So I really tried to do that gingerly. That took a little while to get off the ground. They wanted to give me “Teeny Weeny Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka-dot Bikini,” which I guess they had started working on at one point. And I guess it was just sort of difficult getting everyone together and recording. And so they were going to offer that, but then they called me back and they said they listened to it and they didn’t think it was good. So at some point in time, they finally all got motivated and got together. I think Jerry is the one who’s the most eager to kind of keep the Devo thing going, and I guess Mark was very nervous about putting out something that might not be up to Devo quality, and I think he’s finally let the seer of his legacy kind of loom over doing new stuff.

Here is the result of their work–a song that expands on Young’s sparse lyrics and incorporates Devo’s sound, both in the lyrics and the arrangement. Its beat is more industrial than martial, and they incorporate lyrics addressing the cultural divides that pervaded the events of that day. They also incorporate sounds from the day, including a snippet of profanity-laden chants coming from the protesters. Most significantly, perhaps, they memorialize by name each of the four students killed, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder.

Listen on YouTube here.

In the next post, we’ll hear from Professor Jerry M. Lewis, who was on site at Kent State on May 4 as a faculty marshal, and has stayed with the Kent State community through decades of commemoration. We’ll hear how “Ohio” and other songs have been incorporated into the rituals and gatherings of that community around remembering those events, and we’ll discuss whether and how Young’s song galvanized the public, or the counterculture in the wake of the tragedy.

Special thanks to Joyce and Linda for sharing their recollections and thoughts about “Ohio.”

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On Our Own: “Ohio” part 2

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