Young penned the lyrics to "Ohio" after seeing the photos of the incident in Life magazine. On the evening that CSNY entered Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, the song had already been rehearsed, and the quartet with their regular rhythm section recorded it live in just a few takes. During the same session they recorded the song's equally direct b-side, Stephen Stills' ode to the war's dead "Find the Cost of Freedom." Like its companion, the Stills track was cut live, the four voices blending to the accompaniment of only Stills' guitar. It also appeared on the So Far LP of three years later. The record was mastered with the participation of the four principals, rush-released by Atlantic and heard on the radio with only a few weeks delay. In his liner notes for the song on the Decade retrospective, Young reported that "David Crosby cried when we finished this take." Crosby can be heard keening "four, why? why did they die?" and "how many more?" in the fade.
Lyrics and reaction
The lyrics help evoke the turbulent mood of indignation and shock in the wake of the shootings, especially the line "four dead in Ohio," repeated throughout the song. "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming," refers to the Ohio National Guardsmen who killed the student protesters and Young's attribution of their deaths to the President of the United States, Richard Nixon. Crosby once stated that Young keeping Nixon's name in the lyrics was "the bravest thing I ever heard." After the double's release, it was banned from some AMradio stations because of the challenge to the Nixon Administration in the lyrics, but received airplay on then underground FM stations in larger cities and college towns. 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 varying extent for the rest of the decade. The song was recorded by The Isley Brothers on their album Givin it Back from 1971. The song was later re-recorded by Devo on the 2002 album When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You'd Hear. The song was of particular significance to this group, as its founding members Jerry Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh had been present at Kent State during the tragedy, Casale having actually witnessed the shooting and been friends with two of the victims. The song has been covered acoustically live by the band Rise Against during their fall 2006 coheadlining tour, with Thursday, during Rise Against's encore, and by The Dandy Warhols, who placed a version of the song on their 2004 B-sides and covers album Come on Feel the Dandy Warhols, available only through the band's own website. John & Mary and The Valkyries added the song to their live set list in late 2006. Also SHAP recorded an acoustic version of Ohio and performed it live with Johny M. at No Suits Allowed 2007. This song was also selected as the 385th Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone.
