Singer and theater star recasts a decades-old protest classic to motivate potential voters: “It reminds me of our news cycle”
Porter was born two years after the original version of “For What It’s Worth” was released, but he says he was already familiar with it when his manager suggested he cut his own version. “That song is ubiquitous,” Porter says. “It’s in every [Vietnam] war movie ever made. It’sWhen Porter read over the lyrics, they struck him as attuned to the times in ways he hadn’t expected. “I looked at the lyrics and they reminded me very much of our news cycle,” he says.
Working with producer Zack Arnett last September, Porter adhered to some parts of the original — the stark drum beat and a recreation of Neil Young’s spooky guitar notes — but also gave it an R&B and hip-hop feel. “I wanted it to be like Aretha Franklin’s version of ‘Eleanor Rigby,’” he says. “I wanted to honor the original intention while holding on to who I am and where I come from.”
Porter improvised a new ending, where he riffs and improvs on the word “change.” “It all came out organically,” he says. “I knew I wanted to say something and it needed to be positive and hopeful, and I was just singing over the end. In the news cycle, I find there’s a lot of complaining and a lot of statements and observations, but not a lot of focus on how we change or address things. So I wanted to offer some hope.
For his part, Stills says he is “both proud and delighted” that Porter revived the song. “For many years no one tried to ‘make it theirs’ as covers are supposed to do,” he says. “That an artist of Billy’s caliber has chosen to add his flourish to my song from so many years ago is totally in keeping with what I intended.
Although the “everybody look what’s goin’ down” hook has also taken on a new context in light of the coronavirus, Porter also feels theadheres to its original goal of encouraging people to vote this November.
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