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.
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