By Ed Stozek
For the Herald
The Dec. 11, 1963 edition of the Dauphin Herald publicized an upcoming Christmas dance taking place at the collegiate auditorium on Friday, Dec. 13, with music supplied by the Squires from Winnipeg.
Formed in 1963 the group featured 17-year old lead guitarist Neil Young. The Squires signed with V Records and on July 23, 1963, recorded two original Neil Young guitar instrumentals at CKRC’s radio station studio. A total of 300 records of “The Sultan” and “Aurora” were pressed and were distributed locally by the band. Today there are only a handful of copies of “The Sultan” that are known to exist.
The Hub and Rebound is a not for profit store located at Almonte, Ont.. Recently a patron was searching through the used record section and found a 45 rpm copy of “The Sultan.” He paid 50 cents for it and then posted the rare record for sale on the Internet. After selling it for $1,000 he donated half of the proceeds to the store.
In 1966 Neil Young relocated to Los Angeles and helped form the band Buffalo Springfield. In 1969 Young teamed up with Crosby, Stills and Nash (CSNY) and performed at Woodstock before striking out as a solo artist. Throughout his musical journey, Neil Young has recorded over 1,100 songs.
On July 14, 2006, CSNY performed their Freedom of Speech Tour at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. Earlier that year Neil Young released his “Living with War” album featuring scathing songs regarding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and George W. Bush.
To promote his album Young planned a reunion with David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash. After two sets of 27 songs and eight more for the encore, I left the MTS Centre reflecting upon my favourite protest songs, “For What It's Worth” and “Ohio.”
In November and December 1966, local residents and businesses were not happy with the crowds of young people going to clubs and music venues and causing late night traffic problems along the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.
Ordinances were passed to stop loitering and included a 10 p.m. curfew. The music fans felt the new laws infringed upon their civil rights. Some 1,000 demonstrators gathered to protest resulting in many arrests. In response to the protests Neil Young's bandmate, Stephen Stills composed “For What
It's Worth.” With its opening line, “There’s something happening here” and Neil Young's melodic harmonics on guitar, the song peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and gave the Buffalo Springfield instant national exposure.
On May 4, 1970, the U.S. National Guard shot and killed four unarmed students peacefully protesting against the bombing of Cambodia.
The May 15 issue of Life magazine covered the story that occurred at the Kent State University in Ohio. The headline “Tragedy at Kent” and a cover photo of a wounded student inspired Neil Young to pick up his guitar and starting with the line, “Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming,” composed the song “Ohio” in 20 minutes. He summoned Crosby, Stills and Nash and later that night they recorded the song. The master copy was flown to New York and “Ohio” was released on June 4, just a month after the shooting incident.
Many years later, watching CSNY perform “For What It’s Worth” and “Ohio” at the MTS Centre was indeed a highlight and made me reminisce of my university days in the early 1970s when my friend Frank and I spent a great deal of time playing music.
Frank played keyboards and I accompanied him on guitar. One day Frank and I were visiting some friends who played in a rock band and had a basement full of musical equipment. We jammed and ended up playing “For What It’s Worth” and “Ohio.”
One can also imagine the “buzz” among the students at the Dauphin Collegiate when an up and coming Winnipeg band, the Squires, played songs from the hit parade as well as some original music.
I wonder if the Squires sold any copies of “The Sultan” and “Aurora” that night.
Someone attending the dance might have a rare and most sought-after copy of Neil Young’s first attempt at recording an original song.
