“It’s powerful. Three young black men coming together and making good music and making a statement,” Clark Jr. said in a Spotify video interview.
Released on Spotify two weeks ago, in celebration of the new Ken Burns Vietnam documentary on PBS, this version sounds almost nothing like the original guitar-driven protest song. It begins with jazzy piano and moves into haunting harmonies of vocals and sliding guitars. Young’s original lyrics are unchanged here, and in the end, the musicians just keep repeating the line “Four dead in Ohio.”
It’s a somber musical take apt to make you wallow in the pain of the 1970 Kent State University tragedy all over again.
Check out the whole Echos of Vietnam playlist below:
This article appears in Oct 4-10, 2017.