Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 198th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 198^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “For What It’s Worth” performed by Buffalo Springfield.

“There’s something happening here / But what it is ain’t exactly clear / There’s a man with a gun over there / A-telling me I got to beware.” Word. When the name Buffalo Springfield is mentioned, one song comes to mind: “For What It’s Worth”. For what it’s worth, “For What It’s Worth” was the sole top 40 hit for Buffalo Springfield, a short-lived collective comprising Neil Young 🇨🇦, Bruce Palmer 🇨🇦, Dewey Martin 🇨🇦, Stephen Stills 🇺🇸, and Richie Furay 🇺🇸.  The opening track from the Los Angeles-formed band’s reissued, self-titled album peaked at no. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. A song that defines the 1960s, it is considered among the best songs ever written and recorded.  Stills penned and performed this epic song.

“For What It’s Worth” is revered as one of the greatest protest songs. Is it the anti-war anthem that it’s often portrayed to be? No, believe it or not – that wasn’t Still’s intent.  Nonetheless, it fits the bill! “There’s battle lines being drawn / And nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong,” Still sings, continuing, “Young people speaking their minds / Are gettin’ so much resistance from behind.” The verses are impeccably penned.  Even so, the crowning achievement – the crème de la crème – is the chorus:

“It’s time we stop

Hey, what’s that sound?

Everybody look what’s going down.”

During the chorus, the remainder of Buffalo Springfield joins Stills, singing in harmony. Besides top-notch songwriting, the musical accompaniment is top-notch, too.  Buffalo Springfield don’t overplay in the least.  There’s a subtlety that speaks volumes, particularly the signature, haunting guitar riff.  “For What It’s Worth” is a surefire, indisputable rock classic. With a song that so much can be said about it, the lyrics speak volumes.  Also, Buffalo Springfield wouldn’t be the last we heard from these musicians, despite their disbandment in 1968.  Fittingly, the collective was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Buffalo Springfield // Buffalo Springfield // Atco / Atlantic // 1966

Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 198 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Atco / Atlantic; OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]