This song by Stephen Stills from his Buffalo Springfield days came on the radio this afternoon and it is very apt for our times with all of the governmental erosion of our rights and the threat of terrorism. This song was based on a Sunset Strip mob scene that involved an incident of police brutality against a group of hippies. The song morphed later into a statement against the Vietnam war, the Kent State shootings, and the assassination of Martin Luther King. I am surprised that no contemporary artist has not made a cover of the song since 9/11.
It gives one pause to think that the United States may have come full circle to the Vietnam war era with the Iraq war.
What do you think?
Stephen Stills
There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, now, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Email this post