Stevie Nicks releases Buffalo Springfield protest cover

Song is available at digitally

Stevie Nicks has released her signature take on Buffalo Springfield’s timeless protest song “For What It’s Worth” as a digital download and streaming single. A Dolby Atmos mix of the track is also available now on all platforms that support the format.

The 2x Rock and Roll Hall of Famer recently added the song live to her setlist earlier this month as part of her ongoing US tour, which will continue through late October. Singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton will open for Nicks during the tour. Tickets are on sale now.

Nicks recorded “For What It’s Worth” earlier this year in Los Angeles. On the track, she’s joined by two longtime members of her touring band. The first is backing vocalist Sharon Celani, who began recording and performing with Nicks in 1978. The other is renown guitarist Waddy Wachtel. His connection to Nicks goes back to 1973, when he played on Buckingham Nicks. Since then, Wachtel has appeared on all of Nicks’ solo studio albums. Grammy-Award winner Greg Kurstin produced the single while also playing multiple instruments, including drums, organ, and guitar.

Nicks shared her thoughts on the track on her socials earlier this week.

“I am excited to release my new song this Friday,” she writes. “It’s called ‘For What It’s Worth’ and it was written by Stephen Stills in 1966. It meant something to me then, and it means something to me now. I always wanted to interpret it thru the eyes of a woman — and it seems like today, in the times that we live in — that it has a lot to say… I can’t wait for you to hear it.”

During her current tour, Nicks is performing “For What It’s Worth” along with a mix of hit songs from her solo albums (Edge Of Seventeen, Stand Back, and Soldier’s Angel) and classic tracks from her tenure with Fleetwood Mac (“Rhiannon,” “Dreams,” and “Landslide.”)

“For What It’s Worth” was a Top 10 hit for Buffalo Springfield in 1966. Stephen Stills wrote the song in response to the November 1966 Sunset Strip curfew riots in Los Angeles. When the song was released a month later, it was quickly adopted by groups who were protesting the escalating war in Vietnam. Today, the song has become one of the best-known protest songs ever written, evocative of 1960’s counterculture while also being continually relevant to modern life as well.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com