In this Track 4 D Day podcast, I share a short lecture I did on Buffalo Springfield.

Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth (1967) 

(This version includes images from the era)

For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield –4K- {Stereo} 1966

Originally released on December 5, 1966, it peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard charts in 1967.

“[For What It’s Worth’s] association with the Vietnam War is a popular misconception; the song is about young people clashing with police during the counterculture era” (Wiki Open Commons, Sept. 7, 2025).

“Although ‘For What It’s Worth’ is often considered an anti-war song, Stephen Stills was inspired to write the song because of the Sunset Strip curfew riots in Los Angeles in November 1966, a series of early counterculture-era clashes that took place between police and young people on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California, the same year Buffalo Springfield had become the house band at the Whisky a Go Go. Local residents and businesses had become annoyed by how crowds of young people going to clubs and music venues along the Strip had caused late-night traffic congestion. In response, they lobbied Los Angeles County to pass local ordinances stopping loitering and enforced a strict curfew on the Strip after 10 p.m. The young music fans, however, felt the new laws infringed upon their civil rights” (Wiki Open Commons, Sept. 7, 2025).

“[Steven] Stills’ group Buffalo Springfield released “For What It’s Worth” as a single in December of 1966 and it ended up hitting #7 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 early the following year Despite its purely local inspiration, the song became somewhat of an anthem for the general social unrest taking place across the country in the mid-to-late ’60s” (Classic Songs of the Day, November 2024).

“Buffalo Springfield was one of the earliest bands to combine rock, folk, and country elements. At the time of the single’s release, the members of the band included Stephen Stills on guitars and vocals, Neil Young on guitars and vocals, Richie Furay on guitars and vocals, Bruce Palmer on bass, and Dewey Martin on drums. Stills and Young later split from the group, with Stills joining David Crosby and Graham Nash in Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Neil Young enhancing the trio as “and Young” a little later” (Classic Songs of the Day, November 2024).

Lyrics:

There’s something happening here
But 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?

There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

It’s time we stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look, what’s going down?

What a field day for the heat (Ooh ooh ooh)
A thousand people in the street (Ooh ooh ooh)
Singing songs and they carrying signs (Ooh ooh ooh)
Mostly say, “Hooray for our side” (Ooh ooh ooh)

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 men come and take you away

We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look, what’s going down?

You better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look, what’s going down?

You better stop
Now, what’s that sound?
Everybody look, what’s going down?

You better stop
Children, what’s that sound?
Everybody look, what’s going down?

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Alan Lechusza Aquallo