1. For What It Is Worth Analysis By: Michael Mahoney & Aaron Hummel
2. Let’s Get You Hooked At 10:00 pm on a Friday night, the night clubs were closed early. This wasn't setting well with the people that were attending these clubs. This time was too early for party goers, and something had to be done. The Law Enforcement wanted there to be no problems with the edition of the law, but obviously, " There's Battle lines being drawn". Everyone has their opinion on things and, " Young people speaking' their minds." That There are greater tensions growing between the two as the world knows we are in the Vietnam War. There is, " A thousand people in the streets, singing songs and carrying signs." The people getting their message out and taking a stand for what they believe in.
3. How Is The Band Incorporated? When first listening to "For What It's Worth", people may not understand what the lyrics are trying to say. The music that goes with the lyrics might sound like it's all happy and fine, but within the lyrics it's not all that happy. The lyrics are of a rebellious state of mind, which is acceptable for what this song is truly about. Stephen Stills wanted to write a song for the kids that were fighting in Vietnam ("For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield," par. 2). While he was thinking about the song to write for the kids he wandered down to the Sunset Strip where there was more than three thousand kids just crowding the strip ("For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield," par. 2). Stephen modified his song thought from the Vietnam War to what was happening here. Young rock fans were protesting efforts to enforce a 10 pm curfew ( "Closing of club ignited the Sunset Strip riots." par. 2). Stills went with the subject of the curfew riots rather than the Vietnam War and created "For What It's Worth".
4. Let’s Take A Closer Look Buffalo Springfield's song "For What It's Worth" is not a real long song but is still filled with some hidden meanings. The tone of the song is telling the story in a demanding way, but also is cautious. The line "Everybody look - what's going down?," ("For What It's Worth," line 7) shows that Stephen Stills is telling people to look at what is going on. On the contrary to that, in the same line he also asks a question about what is going down. This makes him sound like he wants to look but at the same time Stephen is cautious about the whole thing. The tone is usually connected to the mood of a song or story also. When he uses a cautious tone it also causes someone to feel a little confused. Stephen Stills never really comes out in the song and says exactly what's wrong. It wouldn't be much of a song if the meaning was said straight up. Along with a confused mood, there comes a rebellious stage as the song progresses. The lines "There's battle lines being drawn," ("For What It's Worth," line 8) and "Singing songs and carrying signs," ("For What It's Worth," line 17) show that there is some kind of rebellious act going on here. Hearing these words could flip a rebellious switch in someone's mind. The second stanza is repeated seven times throughout the song. Almost every time it's repeated it has a little tweak to the lyrics in the first and second lines. The first line of this stanza changes three times in the song. At first it starts with "I think it's time we stop," (For What It's Worth, line 5) then goes to "It's time we stop," ("For What It's Worth," line 12,19) and ends with "We better stop," ("For What It's Worth," line 26,29,32,35). This progression through the song goes form thinking about doing it, to doing it or there could be consequences.
5. Continued Symbols in a piece of music or any literature can be portrayed in multiple ways depending on who is looking at the piece. In this song especially, it could go in all directions. The very first line uses the pronoun "something" as a symbol. This is where the confused mood comes in. This "something" could mean almost anything in the world. In the song it symbolizes the riots going on, but who is going to know that from the first line? In a riot there is usually two sides to it. In the line "There's battle line being drawn," ("For What It's Worth," line 8) symbolizes that there is a difference between the two sides, and the battle lines are separating these two sides. To accompany the rioters, there is also the police and the riot control teams. The line "Step out of line, the men come and take you away," ("For What It's Worth," line 25) is describing the police enforcing the law against the rioters. If the people were getting out of control the police, which was the LAPD, would arrest them and take them to jail or punish them. As the song continues through to the end, the theme starts to become more clear. As the rioters are standing for their rights they should still be careful about what they do. If they aren't careful they can suffer major consequences such as jail time or even abuse. So be careful with what you do when acting against an opponent or enemy.
6. Now What’s The Real Story Behind All This? The songs background is well known as a protest song. It was big for the curfew times of the midnight clubs. It was also representing the worlds tensions and downfall based on the Vietnam war. The song was originated from sunset strip, Los Angeles, California. It was a battle between law enforcement and the party people. Lots of people were unhappy with what was going on which caused for hundreds to walk the streets with signs protesting. "The club, painted purple and gold, was perched on a triangular traffic island in the middle of the Strip. It drew a crowd of mostly clean-cut teenagers and twenty-somethings wearing pullover sweaters and miniskirts." (Source B. 5) The cities efforts were interpreted as infringement on the rock fan's civil rights. (Source B. 7) "Stephen Stills also pointed out that many people think the song "For What It's Worth" is about the Kent State shootings of 1970, besides the fact that the club closings was predating it by 4 years," (Source C.2) & (Source C.4). While he was thinking of a song, Stills went down to Sunset Strip where there was a funeral for a bar. This bar was a hot spot for high school kids and UCLA kids, (Source D. 2) the riot police was called because three thousand kids were standing out in the street fighting against them closing the bar, (Source D. 2) RAMCON organized the demonstration to control the kids. (Source F. 4) By midnight the protest was basically over, but LAPD officers enter Pandora's Box to check IDs. One kid steps up and says that the law isn't in effect if they are in a licensed business. The kid got handcuffed and taken away. (Source F. 6)
7. What Was It Like Back Then? "A whole company of black and white LAPD in full Macedonian battle array in shields and helmets and all that, and they're lined up across the street."("For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield," par. 2). Just two years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, this event happened. Tensions still had to be a little high from all the segregation and discrimination between races. These riots didn't have much to do with the segregation of whites and blacks though. It dealt more with the rights of individuals and what they can and cannot do. In office at the time was Lyndon B. Johnson. One of his ideas in his Great Society plan was to control and prevent crime and delinquency. With this thought in mind Johnson must have been the one to tighten up on the curfew laws to keep everybody safe and happy. At the same time of the riots, the Vietnam War was taking place, ("Counterculture of the 1960s," par. 2). The tensions of the war and the people whose family is fighting in it could cause anger to be released. The riots could be from anger build up of the war. During the 60's, some new things were becoming to be known such as race relations, women's rights, experimentation with psychoactive drugs, and differing interpretations of the American Dream, ("Counterculture of the 1960s," par. 2). With all these new up and comings, people started to get into new things and want to be different. "New cultural forms emerged, including the pop music of the British band The Beatles and the concurrent rise of hippie culture," ("Counterculture of the 1960s," par. 2). These bands and music changed the lifestyle of many people in the Sunset Strip. Especially knowing that the strip was all about the music, it is not a surprise that people wanted to stay out longer at the clubs and listen to the new tunes that were coming out.
8. Are There Any Connections Today? The similarities from now and then is quite slim. Knowing how much more advanced we are today than then and the way we do things now. There are things happening now such as war and fights against the law enforcement and federal government. There are a lot of people who want a say and let people know what they want, just like in a specific line in the song, " Young people speaking' their minds." That I think will never change in my mind. I'm not completely sure why they would close the night clubs at such an hour but they must of had a reason or maybe even evidence of some sort of violence that took place at Sun Strip. Today there are decisions being made for all the same reasons or assumptions, that should be taken seriously in case but not to a point to were it will make the partiers so displeased and any reason to start a riot/protest. For war now and then, well I think there will always be a war taking place with the United States as well as other countries, there's never an agreement to what other people have to offer and no one will be satisfied. I think this song, "For What It Is Worth" is a good way to express any time period because for that song it was for the protesting of the closing times of the night clubs and the Vietnam war and I think there will always be a situation that we are in that involves just that, war and protest. Now the song fits so much that they use it in today's movies to give it that affect and touch, the movies for example are; Tropic Thunder, Lord of War and Forest Gump.
