So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio (four dead)
Four dead in Ohio (four)
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio (how many more?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (oh)
Four dead in Ohio (oh)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio (four dead)
Four dead in Ohio (four)
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio (how many more?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (oh)
Four dead in Ohio (oh)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio
Lyrics submitted by mtnweedgrls420
Ohio Lyrics as written by Neil Young
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I cannot believe that even now there are people stupid enough to blame unarmed students for heavily armed soldiers murdering them. Some people don't deserve to live in a democracy if they are this clueless about why it is never the fault of the person without a gun in this situation. The soldiers could have left, they could have communicated better, they could have done a hundred other things, instead they killed defenceless people who couldn't shoot back.
As for the song, a couple of thoughts on specific lines:
"We're finally on our own" - there's no longer any pretence that everyone is on the same side, when the government is prepared to shoot its people then the people are on their own.
"This summer I hear the drumming" - to me, this line hints at the real message of the song, which is that its time to take back the country. Young hears the drumming of the people who won't take this stuff any more from the Nixon administration. Obviously the line reflects the military element of the national guard too. It took a few years, but he went down...
@caitsith01 Oh yeah, blame Nixon, not LBJ. Blame the president who started ending the war almost immediately after taking office, not the one who escalated it and left the mess for someone else to clean up.