During my morning bike ride my Spotify playlist came up with, For What It’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield. As I am not dodging much traffic on Sunday mornings, I was able to listen to the words. I know them by heart, but 60 years of repetition meant that their meaning was dulled by time.
Many in the 60s saw this as a Vietnam War protest song, but it actually addressed anti-loitering and curfew laws linked to the Sunset Strip Riots of 1966. Its enduring themes—social unrest, police presence, government mistrust, paranoia, and American division—remain relevant today.
How true are the words, “Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong” in an America divided along political party lines? We have not seen this much division since the Civil War, not even in the 60s. How paranoid are communities today with a president threatening to send his military to be his “thought police” [1984 reference, not What It’s Worth]? “There’s a man with a gun over there, Telling me I’ve got to beware,” and “Paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep,” both depict the unrest felt by many citizens today.
It appears that the times they are a changin’, but that’s another song for another article. For now I leave you with the words written by Stephen Stills…
For What It’s Worth, by Buffalo Springfield 1966
There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
A-telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Are getting so much resistance from behind
Time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and a-carrying signs
Mostly say hooray for our side
It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down
We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down
We better stop now
What's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down
We better stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down
No comments:
Post a Comment