WHERE WAS JESUS IN OHIO^©

Lyrics not available

Page last updated: 01 Aug 2008

Notice

Brucebase was contacted by someone who claims that someone else has a live audience tape that emanates from a May-July 1970 Steel Mill show in Richmond during which a song titled WHERE WAS JESUS IN OHIO was played. No lyric sheet or setlist document or comments by any member of Steel Mill verifying that song title has yet surfaced, and the tape remains the only source of info about the song.

The contents of this pages are based on the assumption that the claim about the existence of such tape is eligible.

Note that the person who claims to have that tape is also the collector that allegedly has a copy of a tape of the 28 (or 27) Feb 1970 show in Richmond. The problem is that no independent party has been able to verify the claim about these two pieces of audio.

Intro

According to Brucebase, this song was written in May or June 1970. It's Bruce's emotionally charged response to the Kent State University shootings of 04 May 1970.

The Kent State Shootings

The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre or Kent State massacre, occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, OH, and involved the shooting of students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, 04 May 1970. Four students were killed and nine others were wounded, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. However, other students who were shot had merely been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.

There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of eight million students, and the event further divided the country, at this already socially contentious time, along political lines.

Studio Recording

Still Mill might have recorded WHERE WAS JESUS IN OHIO at Challenger Eastern Surfboards, Asbury Park, NJ, a surfboard factory that was also Bruce's home from late 1969 thru late 1970, and a makeshift studio environment of sufficient standard to produce reasonable quality recordings. Although the song might have been recorded as part of ongoing rehearsals at Challenger Eastern Surfboards, none of these 1969 and 1970 recordings is currently in circulation. Due to financial restrictions the reel-to-reel tapes were often reused. Consequently there is a distinct possibility that much of what was recorded at Challenger no longer survives, even in Bruce's personal archive.

Live Recording

WHERE WAS JESUS IN OHIO is known to have been performed live only once, sometime between May and July 1970 in Richmond. An audience recording exists, as well as the audio of the entire show from which it emanates. Unfortunately, this audio is not currently in mainstream circulation.

Curiously, when asked bout WHERE WAS JESUS IN OHIO, Steel Mill drummer Vini Lopez couldn't recall the song or even the title. But as he said, there were so many songs and sometimes they would rehearse a song one night and it would never be played again.

Credits / References

Info about the song is taken from Brucebase. "The Kent State Shootings" section is taken from Wikipedia.

Request

If you have audio, lyrics, or any additional info about this song, please contact me via the below form or by email: . You will be credited. Thanks in advance.