Neil Young has released a new music video for his 1970 song with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Ohio.”
“Ohio” was originally written in response to the 1970 Kent State shootings that led to the deaths of four college students. In Young’s new video, which features a live performance of the song, the Canadian icon prefaces the track by revealing to his audience how he found out about the tragic event while he was away at a cabin, and how he was “overcome with grief and sadness.” (While Young maintains a Canadian citizenship, he has lived in the U.S. since the '60s.)
On Neil Young Archives, Young writes about the relevance of the song and its protest message today, when shootings in schools and elsewhere throughout the U.S. are still rampant.
“With no real laws protecting us from guns, and with politicians supporting the NRA because the NRA supports them, we are not well represented,” he explains. “Today’s students are brave, demanding change in violent times.”
Young notes that he and his wife, Daryl Hannah — his first time confirming months-long rumours that the two got married over the summer — put this video together. “This has been going on for far too long,” he adds. “Support our children. They want protection. Not more guns.”
The message concludes with an all-caps reminder to Americans to “VOTE” in next Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Watch “Ohio” below.
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