For What It’s Worth

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by pocofan, Aug 13, 2019.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    It's entirely possible that Stills is OK with the appropriation of his song as a Viet Nam War commentary (has he ever made a statement about this?).

    However, it is not inaccurate to point out that this is not what the song was written about.
     
  2. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
    I think Stills has been know to claim he actually served in Vietnam.
     
  3. Socalguy

    Socalguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA
    It’s Young on electric.
     
  4. dsdu

    dsdu less serious minor pest

    Location:
    Santa Cruz, CA

    At least this much

    [​IMG]
     
  5. HitAndRun

    HitAndRun Forum Resident

    What I'd like to know is the difference between how much the song earned in royalties and other income, and what the accounting of his record/publishing companies say.
     
  6. Zack

    Zack Senior Member

    Location:
    Easton, MD
    Oops, my bad. In that case, my question is what are the kids carrying signs about? (Edit, just reread the lyrics and they are oblique. So what is the song about then.)
     
  7. dsdu

    dsdu less serious minor pest

    Location:
    Santa Cruz, CA
    The Sunset curfew riots
    A Thousand People In The Street: 'For What It's Worth' Captured Youth In Revolt

    LA's Sunset Strip was a world away from Vietnam: a crowded boulevard lined with billboards, dumpy music clubs and a diner packed with teenagers. In the 1960s, the area held the pulse of rock and roll counterculture — and it's where Buffalo Springfield made its name.

    "It was like a carnival midway," says music photographer Henry Diltz, who used to hang around the Strip. "Hundreds and hundreds of young kids, all dressed up in bell bottoms and tie-dyes, and they would come in and out of the clubs and walk up and down the street. It was kind of a happening."

    But behind the vibrant nightlife, there was simmering tension. Owners of upscale restaurants and fancy storefronts complained that the hordes of teens were bad for business. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County Supervisor Ernest E. Debs wanted to construct a new freeway and turn the Sunset Strip into a financial district, according to the book Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood.

    In an effort to clear out what Debs called the "beatniks" and "wild-eyed kids," LA County began enforcing a 10 p.m. curfew for anyone under 18. In response, the youth scene turned into waves of teenage-led protests against law enforcement.

    "These were not friendly neighborhood cops in a blue uniform," Diltz says. "These were patrolmen with helmets and great big jackboots and billy clubs. It was kind of a scary scene in the midst of all that peace and love."

    [​IMG]
    A flier distributed in advance of the Nov. 12, 1966, rally against curfew laws on the Sunset Strip.

    Courtesy of Gary Strobl
    On Nov. 12, 1966, a crowd of young people gathered outside a club called Pandora's Box to protest the "disrespect and abuse of youths by police," as flyers distributed around the area described it. Hundreds of teens jammed the boulevard, some holding signs: "Rights For Youth Too," "Stop Blue Fascism," "Leave Us Alone."

    Police shouted back through bullhorns: "Anyone under the age of 18 years old remaining in the area will be arrested." When demonstrators refused to leave at 10 p.m., the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and LAPD began their crackdown. The confrontation became known as the Sunset Strip Curfew Riots.
     
    Lost In The Flood, Tuco and Zack like this.
  8. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    The 1970 live performances of "FWIW" being integrated with "America's Children" certainly placed the song within the larger protest picture. The song captured the zeitgeist of the period perfectly.

     
  9. varispeed

    varispeed what if?

    Location:
    Los Angeles Ca
    Really about?

    Buffalo springfield was up playing in Sf for a week. Down here, over on Sunset, underage kids were clogging the street every night in front of Pandora's Box. Traffic couldn't move. Kids spread out all over the medians etc.

    A curfew was set for 10pm every night. Kids thumbed their noses. By around tues night, the tv stations were doing pieces, kids started carrying protest signs about having to leave the area at 10. Couple of nights later, the cops are hauling the kids to jail, calling parents to come pick them up etc. riots get messy.

    Stills hears about on a phone call....writes the song in 10 minutes...mostlu cuz he's stealing it from a moby grape tune...bands are stayting togegther in sf.

    You can see a cheesey but basically solid acct of things in Riot On Sunset Strip.....with a plot and everything..sort of.

    Band comes back to La, ahmet's in town hyperventilating cus he's not yet hearing anything he likes....al while their first album is tanking. Stills pulls out Fwiw, ahmet immediately loves it,books session

    On somr days, he says he was watching
     
    vonwegen, Lost In The Flood and Zack like this.
  10. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    I used to split my time between Haight Street and Sunset Blvd.. I had a ball. Birth control pills made it a party. I'm probably still paying for it but I have to admit, I'd do it again.
    Hard to say no to all those pretty girls and I had the look. :)
     
    ExHead and Tuco like this.
  11. Emberglow

    Emberglow Senior Member

    Location:
    Waterford, Ireland
  12. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    Not to look a gift confirmation in the mouth, but what's the source for this? I believe you're correct. But like a persnickety Wikipedia editor, I've been unable to find an authoritative, independent source explicitly establishing that Neil plays lead on the track, or a narrative account of the recording session that i.d.s Young as opposed to, say, Stills on the lead.

    :confused:
     
  13. A6mzero

    A6mzero One foot in the grave, one foot on the pedal

    Location:
    Spartanburg sc
    To me the 1st album is the best of Springfield’s releases. It sounds like an American response to Rubber Soul. As someone else stated here Stills reached his apex with Springfield, not saying he didn’t put out some good music there after. FYI until you listen to the remastered mono albums from the What’s That Sound box set you have never heard the Buffalo Springfield albums in all their glory.
     
    MikeM likes this.
  14. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    Here's something that has bothered me for years. For some reason, and maybe I'm losing my mind, but when I saw the original release of Dog Day Afternoon in the theater, I could swear that when Pacino was firing up the crowd outside of the bank, For What its Worth was playing in the background. On video and DVD, it's nowhere to be found. I could swear it was there when I saw it. "There's a man with a gun over there, telling me I've got to beware."
     
  15. citizensmurf

    citizensmurf Ambient postpunk will never die

    Location:
    Calgary
    They do this all the time: license a popular song for use in the trailer (which I assume must be cheaper than for the film proper) so people will recognize it and associate it with the film. It's kind of genius marketing, though it is quite deceptive.
     
    ARK, Lost In The Flood and LeBon Bush like this.
  16. citizensmurf

    citizensmurf Ambient postpunk will never die

    Location:
    Calgary
    "Reflections" by The Supremes has nothing to so with 'Nam either, but damn if I don't think of helicopters and Dana Delany everytime I hear it, due to them using it for the "China Beach" opening song.
     
    ARK, pool_of_tears and Tuco like this.
  17. Arkoffs

    Arkoffs Remote member

    Location:
    Right behind you
    Hard to say how much Stills would make on the publishing, it all depends on the initial deal and what has happened subsequently. The original 45 lists Ten-East, Springalo and Cotillion as the publishers. Today, in the BMI database, six are listed; in addition to the original three, Greene Knight Music, Richie Furay Music and Sound Harmonics are added.

    So, there has been some wheeling and dealing of the rights over the last 50 years.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2019
    vonwegen likes this.
  18. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Check out the video below, which features a montage of various performances of "For What It's Worth." Though they're lip-synched to the record, it stands to reason that band members would be playing the same parts they did on the original recording.

    Stills can be seen playing the low-E string to low A-string riff heard throughout the song (other than on the last verse). Look closely and you'll see Young playing the lead parts. This can be seen most clearly at the very end of the song, when he's soloing over the final chorus as it fades out.

     
    vonwegen and Tuco like this.
  19. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    Cool! Thanks, nailed it.

    :cheers:
     
  20. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    I've seen that film about 20 times and I think you've imagined this. :)
     
  21. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    I saw Petty do a slow version live. Bonnie Raitt performed it occasionally during 'the lost period' when Warners dumped her and 9 Lives was in limbo. I wonder if she recorded it for the initial version of the lp.
     
  22. Socalguy

    Socalguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA
    Twelve year old me saw them perform it live at the Valley Music Theater, February 1967. Young (in his fringe jacket) made a big impression.
     
    Stone Turntable likes this.
  23. intv7

    intv7 Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    There was a very funny SNL sketch sometime in the late '90s, which was about the ridiculous number of trailers that play before a movie, shown from the audience's point of view. Every trailer they sat through used "I've Got You (I Feel Good)" by James Brown.
     
    Elliottmarx likes this.
  24. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    Jealous!
     
    Socalguy likes this.
  25. Sam

    Sam Senior Member

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    Must be another time and dimension. lol.
     
    RayS likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine