Stevie Nicks Covers Buffalo Springfield’s Protest Anthem ‘For What It’s Worth’
Stevie Nicks released a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s song ‘For What It’s Worth’ Friday, Sept. 23. The song was originally written by Stephen Stills in 1966 and was eventually given to Buffalo Springfield. The song immediately became a protest anthem due to the trying times and events occurring at the time of its original release. The civil rights movement was in full swing along with the Vietnam War. Many artists, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, became bands that sang songs that spoke the thoughts of those that were experiencing America for what it indeed was at the time of the song's original 1966 release, unforgivingly changing under the rule of a government that didn’t care for their people.
Nicks recorded the song earlier this year with producer Greg Kurstin. Along with longtime guitarist and session legend Waddy Wachtel and backing vocalist Sharon Celani. Nicks's rendition of the song holds the spirit and nostalgia of the original song, which Stephen Stills wrote about the Sunset Strip curfew riots in Los Angeles. Still, her husky and raspy vocals contribute to telling the story of today's world.
“I am excited to release my new song… ‘For what It’s Worth’,” Nicks wrote in a handwritten note posted to her social media. “It meant a lot to me then, and it means a lot to me now.”
In today’s world, women are going through a lot. With the 2017 Women’s March, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the protests in Iran for the death of Mahsa Amini, there is no more perfect time than right now for female artists as prominent as Stevie Nicks to demand that people stop and take a look around them and truly see what is going on. The lyric “Young people speaking their minds/Getting so much resistance from behind” indicates that the younger generations are protesting and speaking their minds. Still, no one is listening, especially those on Capitol Hill.
The ones that are protesting today can storm streets while screaming in the faces of our leaders with chants about what needs to be done to make the world better for everyone, but will be ignored by their governmental leaders who will simply turn their heads away from them. The line in the third verse says, “A thousand people in the street/ Singing songs and they carrying signs/ Mostly say, "Hooray for our side."
Along with the original lyrics, Nicks's raspy voice is accompanied by a more substantial presence of the acoustic guitar at the forefront, making it feel more intimate and direct. The company of Nicks's voice makes the listener think and see the world through a woman's eyes and honestly think about everything in the world that is happening to women.
“I wanted to interpret it through the eyes of a woman- and in the times that we live in, it has a lot to say,” Nicks said.
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