Why is everyone listening to a song about the Kent State massacre now?

A song written more than 50 years ago to protest the death of four students at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, is seeing a resurgence due to pro-Palestinian rallies at college campuses across the country.

The video for Neil Young's "Ohio" on the Crosby, Stills and Nash YouTube channel has gotten dozens of new comments over the past several days linking the song to the current protests.

At Ohio State, 36 students were arrested at an anti-Israel rally, the Columbus Dispatch reported. The University of Southern California was closed for a day this week as pro-Palestinian protestors and authorities clashed, resulting in arrests, according to USA TODAY. And in New York, more than 100 were arrested last week at a pro-Palestine protest at Columbia University.

"Wild and depressing how relevant how this song remains," YouTube user ZiggyHernandez wrote in the comments of the Crosby, Stills and Nash video on Friday.

"Here we are in 2024- no real change," grainofmustarseed961 wrote on Thursday. "We haven't evolved from the Spring of 1970. I was a student in Ohio that Spring."

Here's how "Ohio" came to be.

Why did Neil Young write 'Ohio'?

Written in the immediate aftermath of May 4, 1970, when the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four students during protests at Kent State University, "Ohio" quickly became one of the anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement, according to Esquire.

In a 1990 interview with David Hoffman, posted to YouTube, Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, said Young was with David Crosby in Northern California when they heard the news about the massacre. According to Nash, Young went into the woods, came back an hour later and played "Ohio" for Crosby. Crosby then called his bandmates, who were in Southern California, telling them they needed to record the song right away.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had the single on the streets in 10 days, Nash said, bumping their own single "Teach the Children Well."

"What we wanted to do was bring it out instantly, now," Nash told Hoffman in the interview. "We were angry now. The kids were angry now. We wanted to speak and scream about this now."

When was 'Ohio' released and how well did it perform?

"Ohio" was released on May 14, 1970, and peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 8 of that year, according to Billboard.

What is the legacy of 'Ohio'?

Esquire calls it "a song that changed a generation of protest music." The publication said it was an immediate success for its guitar riff and haunting vocals. Rolling Stone claims the song helped save the band when it was on the verge of collapse.

And judging by the YouTube comments, its message still resonates today.

"Lots of folks coming back to this song because of current events. The comparison seems to be apt," wrote user opossumboyo in the comments on the CSN channel.

"Remember this song today," wrote TransDrummer1312. "As the NYPD and universities crush dissent against the ongoing genocide in Palestine, remember this song."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Neil Young 'Four dead in Ohio' finds audience with Palestine protesters