Porter improvised a new ending, where he riffs and improvs on the word “change.” “It all came out organically,” he says. “I wanted to honor the original intention while holding on to who I am and where I come from.” “I wanted it to be like Aretha Franklin’s version of ‘Eleanor Rigby,’” 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. “In the sense that it puts what’s happening right out in front.” “I looked at the lyrics and they reminded me very much of our news cycle,” he says. When Porter read over the lyrics, they struck him as attuned to the times in ways he hadn’t expected. Back then, protest music was a thing, so it seemed perfect.” 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. Fortunately, succeeding generations have found something in it that touches them personally or alludes to their own sense of foreboding during tumultuous times.” “I purposefully resisted the urge to rewrite or expand upon my theme and let the metaphors speak for themselves. “As the lyrics tumbled out, I quickly realized that my little song spoke to much more than simply a confrontation between a gathering of young people paying a last visit to a favorite music bar about to be demolished and a rather excessive number of LAPD riot police intent on dispersing the overflow crowd that had spilled into the street,” Stills says. It’s become one of the go-to pop protest songs of the last five decades, covered by Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Lucinda Williams, Kid Rock, Rush, the Staple Singers, Nancy Wilson of Heart and many more. Originally inspired by a Sunset Strip protest over a club curfew, which resulted in a clash with police, the song -with its nods to paranoia and guns - has transcended its time. So looking forward, I knew it was an election year and I wanted to find material that would speak to that process.”Īt the suggestion of his manager, Porter turned to Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth,” which Stills first wrote and recorded with Buffalo Springfield in 1966 it became their only hit the following year. “I came of age as an artist during the AIDS crisis and I’ve always used my voice in that way. “I’ve always been a political artist,” says the actor, singer and star of Pose and Broadway’s Kinky Boots. Last fall, Billy Porter realized a presidential election was on the horizon and decided the time had come to motivate voters through song.
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