Ohio
Song by Neil YoungWikipedia
17
MENTIONS
7
EPISODES
7
PODCASTS
Search complete. 17 mentions across 7 episodes found for "Ohio".
Oct 14, 2026
David BrowneGUEST
Certainly there was the political aspect of some of their songs, whether it was For What It's Worth,
Dave AnthonyHOST
Ohio.
Dave AnthonyHOST
David, before we play a snippet of Ohio, it's impossible not to talk about that powerful protest song, Neil Young's Ohio, which was released as a single by CSNY in 1970 in response to a seminal moment in US history.
Dave AnthonyHOST
For some context, Neil Young wrote the song Ohio in direct response to the Kent State shootings on May 4th, 1970.
Dave AnthonyHOST
Here's the backstory.
Dave AnthonyHOST
Students at Kent State University in Northwest Ohio were protesting the U.S. expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia, as well as the National Guard's presence on campus and the draft.
Dave AnthonyHOST
During one of those protests, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on the crowd, killing four students and wounding nine others.
Dave AnthonyHOST
The shooting sparked outrage and grief across the country, leading to a nationwide student strike.
Graham NashGUEST
I think Neil always brings his personal life into his songwriting.
Graham NashGUEST
You know, particularly Ohio, you know? I mean, uh, the story of that is, uh, that Stephen and I were in Los Angeles and I got a call from David, who was up in northern California with Neil at a, a, a friend's house in, uh, a cabin in Pescadero.
Graham NashGUEST
And he sh- uh, David said, uh, "We're coming down.
Graham NashGUEST
Book the studio.
Graham NashGUEST
"Book the band, book tape, book everything." I said, "Great.
Graham NashGUEST
Why?" He said, "Well, I showed Neil," I think it was Life magazine, uh, with a, an image of, of one of the students who had been killed at Kent State.
Graham NashGUEST
He said, "I showed it to Neil, and Neil took his acoustic guitar out into the woods, and he came back an hour later, and he'd written this song called Ohio.
Graham NashGUEST
You have to book everything.
Pat FinnertyGUEST
It's like, pretty sure Taylor Swift just sold three football stadiums.
Pat FinnertyGUEST
Um, but yeah, I mean, it's, I feel like state of the world song, like Ohio is one of my favorite...
Pat FinnertyGUEST
Well, it's not one of my favorite Neil songs, but I mean, I love Ohio.
Joe KwaczalaHOST
Mm-hmm.
Pat FinnertyGUEST
It rips.
Pat FinnertyGUEST
It's a great song.
Kristen StudardHOST
Mm-hmm.
Pat FinnertyGUEST
Um, but when you really think about it, is it? [laughs] Like, but it's like, but it, it's Ohio and I love it.
Aaron MartelHOST
The sound of it is jarring on this album, deliberately so.
Aaron MartelHOST
It's supposed to smack you in the face like Ohio did, but it doesn't land nearly the same way for me.
Aaron MartelHOST
Another dud.
Ian RiceHOST
Get the heart paddles, Lou.
Rick SmithHOST
And, and touch the soul.
Rick SmithHOST
And for me, I, you know, I, I remember the first time I heard Ohio, uh, the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song.
Rick SmithHOST
Um, you know, anyone who l- lived during that time period, uh, and that was a little bit before me, but y- you hear this song and y- the, the line, "Four dead in Ohio," you know the first time you heard that.
Rick SmithHOST
If you lived in that era, you knew what that meant, and you knew the feeling and the, and the, and the, the anger and the, you know, everything that came along with it.
Rick SmithHOST
I think of the Buffalo Springfield song, For What It's Worth, you know, "Nobody's right if everybody's wrong." Uh, you know, l- look what's going on here.
49 MINS LATER
Phil GloverGUEST
Uh, obviously, with, you know, the services like Social Security, veterans benefits, all of those kind of things, the EPA, look at Pittsburgh, you know, back in the 1800s, early 1900s.
Phil GloverGUEST
Look at what happened to the rivers.
Phil GloverGUEST
Uh, look, you know, uh, Ohio-
Richard LefkowitzGUEST
Watergate, and there was campus demonstrations where there were bombs up in Berkeley and all these things happened.
Richard LefkowitzGUEST
But the music had such a big voice that when CSNY put out Ohio after the Kent State Massacre, millions of people heard it.
Richard LefkowitzGUEST
And these protest songs going back from the folk acoustic Dylan type or Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie going into electrified in the evolution of guitars and amplification
speaker_4UNKNOWN
and
Ed HelmsHOST
Nine unarmed students were injured, and four were killed.
Ed HelmsHOST
The war was coming home in a horrifying way, which Neil Young eloquently captured in Ohio, a song he wrote in the immediate aftermath of Kent State.
Ed HelmsHOST
It was the first time American citizens were killed while protesting the war.
Ed HelmsHOST
In a Gallup poll, 58% of Americans blamed the students for the shooting.