We’ve probably all heard the phrase, “for what it’s worth” used at some time or another in our lives. Maybe some of you, particularly those who are a little older, are familiar with the song by that title. Late in the year 1966 Stephen Stills, before he was part of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, wrote the song for the band he was in at the time, Buffalo Springfield. It was a song inspired by the Sunset Strip Curfew Riots of that year and went on to become one of the more famous protest songs of the era. It is said to have gotten its name from when Stills presented the song to an executive at Atlantic Records. The story is that Stills told the executive, “I have this song here, for what it’s worth, if you want it.” Somehow the unintended title stuck. The interesting thing is that “for what it’s worth” appears nowhere in the lyrics of the song. Most people who are familiar with the song itself probably don’t even know it is actually called “For What it’s Worth” but probably know it better by its subtitle “Stop, Hey What’s That Sound”. Right now I bet you're saying to yourself, yeah, I know that one. Maybe you’re even singing it in your head. While that song topped out at number 7 on the billboard charts and was the only real hit Buffalo Springfield had, it remains highly recognized even today and is rated as 63rd on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. Seems to me that a lot of people found something worthwhile in the song.
While we don’t know the exact origin of the phrase, for what it’s worth, it is believed that the statement began as a humble qualifier for a particular piece of advice, opinion, or suggestion. The fact is that all suggestions, opinions, and advice are not of equal value to all hearers or readers, even when they are played to music. It is for this very reason that we have decided to entitle our new informational blog here at First National Bank as “For What it’s Worth”. We recognize that the information we provide may or may not be useful to all readers but that is no reason to keep some of the things we’ve learned to ourselves. It is pretty clear that Stephen Stills really had no idea how much his song was worth or how many people it would reach but he shared it anyway. We want to do the same for our friends, neighbors, and loyal customers. With this blog you can look forward to all kinds of potentially useful and perhaps even entertaining information that you may find has some worth to you. At least that is our hope and goal, for what it’s worth.
