For What It's Worth Lyrics
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
As others have said, this song is actually about hippies protesting a curfew at their favorite night-clubbing spot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_What_It%27s_Worth_%28Buffalo_Springfield_song%29
However, FWIW was written broadly so that it resonates with the spirit of protest everywhere. It quickly became an antiwar anthem. Today the song can be heard at Occupy rallies, and its lyrics still fit perfectly.
Yes, I agree. I remember when the song was new. I always associated it with Mike Nesmith of the Monkees talking about the Sunset Strip riots on the Monkees TV show.
Yes, I agree. I remember when the song was new. I always associated it with Mike Nesmith of the Monkees talking about the Sunset Strip riots on the Monkees TV show.
But now it fits so perfectly OWS. When I participate in my local Occupy Movement I find myself singing it aloud just as I sing "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People." Those three songs are the trifecta of protest songs for me.
But now it fits so perfectly OWS. When I participate in my local Occupy Movement I find myself singing it aloud just as I sing "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People." Those three songs are the trifecta of protest songs for me.
Our national debt sure isn't going down and neither is taxation. Let's protest THAT ! Everybody now...Kumbaya.....
Our national debt sure isn't going down and neither is taxation. Let's protest THAT ! Everybody now...Kumbaya.....
I was 20 when this song came out and it was powerful then tho I have to admit it got somewhat overplayed over the years. One line that always puzzled me-"Young people speaking their minds,getting so much resistance from behind".I interpreted this to mean that in our OWN generation we had many right wing kids who supported the Establishment,the cops and the military.And we often had to fight THEM in the streets as well. What the lyric meant to Steven Stills I don't know.But thats my take on it.
@Riverman94610 love this take what a cool point of view, hope you don't mind that i'll be quoting you in my social studies project lmao. actually though, love how you worded this.
@Riverman94610 love this take what a cool point of view, hope you don't mind that i'll be quoting you in my social studies project lmao. actually though, love how you worded this.
This song is indeed about the Sunset Strip riots that happened in 1966/1967. So, democracys was right. Many people think it's about the Vietnam war, but it really isn't, even though I guess each person can interpret it that way, but that's not what composer Stephen Stills particularly had in mind when he wrote it.
this song is deffinately about the sunset strip... not the kent state masacre. this song was written 4 years before the kent state masacre
A protest song, one of the best.
In August '66 the local citizenry had tried to clear the area around the Sunset Strip club Pandora`s Box, whose long haired clientele detered legitimate tourism, by having the police enforce a curfew. Protests followed,things turning ugly when the police weighed in with the night-sticks. Witnessing this upon return from a trip to Nicaragua , Stills was inspired: "All the kids on one side of the street, all the cops on the other side - in Latin America that meant there'd be a new government in about a week. "Both a warning and a barricade-manning counter-culture rallying cry
i got this from http://www.thrasherswheat.org/tfa/bufspring.htm
awesome song! we're learning about the vietnam war in history and heard all these counter-culture songs and this one really stood out to me.
awesome song! we're learning about the vietnam war in history and heard all these counter-culture songs and this one really stood out to me.
FWIW, this song is actually about a protest over the closing of some of the clubs on Sunset Strip... why they were closed, I can't recall...
yes i just read a book on jim morrisson and that was in it protesting youth in los angeles now in canada it is used in a telus commercial
yes i just read a book on jim morrisson and that was in it protesting youth in los angeles now in canada it is used in a telus commercial
This is the greatest song ever written. Screw VH1's list. "Satisfaction" wouldn't make my top 50. "For What It's Worth" is the ultimate song.