1966: Buffalo Springfield Warns Us To 'Stop, Children...' In 'For What It's Worth'

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Buffalo Springfield, featuring Stephen Stills, with hat. Image dated February 17, 1967. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

"There's something happening here / What it is ain't exactly clear..."

The ominous words and high, lonely guitar notes of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth," followed by the cautious line "Stop, children, what's that sound" make it a '60s anthem. It seems to sum up a mood that was permeating the country -- even though Stephen Stills wrote it about a local Los Angeles event, the "Sunset Strip Riots" of 1966.

"For What It's Worth" (sometimes parenthetically knows as "Stop Hey What's That Sound") also takes a humble observer's viewpoint of a situation -- its title, which appears nowhere in the lyrics, is the equivalent of "It's just my opinion" or "Not for nothing..." -- this is one man's take on a tense scene he admits he doesn't understand.