by Richard Skelly » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:11 am
By most accounts, Ohio was the quickest recording ever made by Crosby, Stills and Nash as they adapted to colleague Young's penchant for using first or second takes. Time was also of the essence as the quartet wanted the protest song--inspired by the killing of unarmed Kent State University anti-war students by National Guard troops--to be pressed and in record stores within days of the tragedy.
Not long afterwards, Graham Nash added soaring harmonies to a solo Neil Young single called War Song. It's lyrics reflected on the Vietnam conflict, youth protests and the shooting of presidential candidate/Alabama governor George Wallace.
Ohio did much better on the charts, but both '45s were raw, memorable rockers chronicling troubled times.