For What It's Worth
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2010) |
| "For What It's Worth" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It?" |
| "For What It's Worth" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "(Just Enough To Keep Me) Hanging On" |
"For What It's Worth" is a song written by Stephen Stills. It was performed by Buffalo Springfield, recorded on December 5, 1966, and released as a single in January 1967; it was later added to the re-release of their first album, Buffalo Springfield. The single peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This song is currently ranked #63 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time as well as the eighth best song of 1967 by Acclaimed Music.[1]
Origin
The song was inspired by an event at the dawn of the psychedelic era in November 1966, the year during which Buffalo Springfield started playing as the house band at the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles Times[2], annoyed residents and business owners in the district had encouraged the passage of strict (10:00pm) curfew and loitering laws to reduce the traffic congestion resulting from crowds of young club patrons. This was subsequently perceived by young, local rock music fans as an infringement on their civil rights, and on Saturday, November 12, 1966, fliers were distributed along the Strip inviting people to demonstrate later that day.
Hours before the protest one of L.A's rock 'n' roll radio stations announced there would be a rally at Pandora's Box, a club at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights, and cautioned people to tread carefully.[3] The Times reported that as many as 1,000 youthful demonstrators, including such celebrities as Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda (who was afterward handcuffed by police), erupted in protest against the perceived repressive enforcement of these recently invoked curfew laws.
Though often mistaken for an anti-war song, it was this first of the “Sunset Strip riots” which inspired then Buffalo Springfield band member Stephen Stills to write “For What It’s Worth", recorded about three weeks after on December 5, 1966.
Title
The song quickly became a well-known protest song.[4] While it has come to symbolize worldwide turbulence and confrontational feelings arising from events during the 1960s (particularly the Vietnam War), Stills recounts writing the song in reaction to escalating unrest between law enforcement and young club-goers on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles County, California.[5] The song's title appears nowhere in its lyrics; it is more easily remembered by the first line of chorus: "Stop, children, what's that sound?"
Stills said in an interview that the name of the song came about when he presented it to the record company executive Ahmet Ertegun who signed Buffalo Springfield to the Atlantic Records-owned ATCO label. He said: "I have this song here, for what it's worth, if you want it." Another producer, Charlie Greene, claims that Stills first said the above sentence to him, but credits Ahmet Ertegun with subtitling the single "Stop, Hey What's That Sound" so that the song would be more easily recognized.[6]
In 2006, when interviewed on Tom Kent's radio show "Into the '70s", Stephen Stills pointed out that many people think "For What It's Worth" is about the Kent State Shootings (1970), despite predating that event by over three years.[7]
The song was played (without Neil Young's presence) at Buffalo Springfield's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[8]
In 1969, the song was covered by American singer-actress Cher on her album 3614 Jackson Highway.
The track appears as part of the soundtrack for the 2005 film Lord of War, the 2008 film Tropic Thunder, and Forrest Gump as well as numerous others, mostly involving the Vietnam War or war in general.
This song has also been covered by experimental rock bands The Pop Culture Suicides and TV Toy and a Psychedelic band by the name of "Art" on their album "Supernatural Fairy Tales"
The song is sampled on the song "He Got Game" by the hip-hop group Public Enemy.
Crystal Bowersox also does a cover of the song on her 2010 CD Farmer's Daughter.
Rush performed a cover of the song on their Feedback album.
The song was covered by American Punk Rock band Hed PE on their 6th studio album Insomnia
Notes
- ^ "Acclaimed Music Top 3000 songs". 27 May 2009.
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/05/local/me-then5
- ^ ibid.
- ^ Lustig, Jay (18 February 2011). "Song of the Day: 'Rock 'n' Roll Woman,' Buffalo Springfield". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ Show 34 - Revolt of the Fat Angel: American musicians respond to the British invaders. [Part 2] : UNT Digital Library
- ^
For What It's Worth: The Story of Buffalo Springfield. Taylor Trade Publications. 2004. p. 127.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|authors=ignored (help) - ^ Stevenson, Tommy (20 October 2010). "'Days of Rage' conference revisits unrest of May 1970". Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ "CSN, Jackson 5 Join Rock and Roll Hall of Fame". Rolling Stone. 8 May 1997. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
