Edit for headphones, May 25, 2021.
Source of the edit is the song on the 1997 remaster of the 1966 album "Buffalo Springfiel" (ATCO Records – 62080-2).
The band got its name from a steamroller doing local road repairs.
Stephen Stills was inspired to write the song because of the Sunset Strip curfew riots 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, beginning in mid-1966. 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 felt the new laws infringed upon their civil rights.
On Saturday, November 12, 1966, fliers were distributed on the Sunset Strip inviting people to join demonstrations later that day. Several of Los Angeles' rock radio stations also announced a rally outside the Pandora's Box club on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights. That evening as many as 1,000 young demonstrators, including future celebrities such as Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda gathered to protest against the curfew's enforcement. Although the rallies began peacefully, trouble eventually broke out. The unrest continued the next night and periodically throughout the rest of November and December, forcing some clubs to shut down within weeks. It was against the background of these civil disturbances that Stills recorded "For What It's Worth" on December 5, 1966.
Stills said in an interview that the name of the song came about when he presented it to the record company executive Ahmet Ertegun. Stills 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 line to him, but credits Ahmet Ertegun with giving the single the parenthetical subtitle "Stop, Hey What's That Sound" in order that the song would be more easily recognized.
Neil Young - guitar, vocals
Stephen Stills - vocals, guitar
Richie Furay - vocals, guitar
Dewey Martin - vocals, drums
Bruce Palmer - bass 1966-1967
Jim Fielder - bass 1967
Doug Hastings - guitar 1967
Ken Koblun - bass 1967
Jim Messina - bass 1967-1968
Charts:
Canada 5
U.S. Billboard Hot 100: 7
U.S. Cash Box Top 100: 7
U.S. Record World Top 100: 8
New Zealand 19
Belgium 73
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
(Stephen Stills)
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
