Woodstock (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Woodstock


Type =
Artist = Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
alt Artist =
Album = Déjà Vu
B-side = "Helpless"
Published =
Released = March 11, 1970
track_no = 5
Recorded = 1969
Format = 7"
Genre = Folk rock
Length = 3:52
Writer = Joni Mitchell
Composer =
Label = Atlantic
Producer = Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Last single =
This single = "Woodstock"
(1970)
Next single = "Teach Your Children"
(1970)
Background =
Tracks =
prev = Helpless
prev_no = 4
next = Déjà Vu
next_no = 6
Misc = Audiosample
Background=#E6E8FA
Upper caption = Audio sample
Audio file = Woodstock by Crosby, Stills & Nash and Young.ogg"Woodstock" is a song about the Woodstock Music and Art Festival of 1969.

Joni Mitchell wrote the song from what she had heard from then-boyfriend, Graham Nash, about the festival. She had not been there herself, since she was told it would be more advantageous to appear on "The Dick Cavett Show" by a manager. She wrote this song crying at home watching the show on television. It was later released on her third album, "Ladies of the Canyon" in 1970, on her "Shadows and Light" album, and again in 1996 on her "Hits" album.

Mitchell's original version featured a stark and haunting arrangement - solo vocal, multi-tracked backing vocals and tremoloed Wurlitzer electric piano all performed by Mitchell herself. All subsequent recordings featured a fuller backing band sound.

Prior to release on any album, Mitchell performed "Woodstock" at the 1969 Big Sur Folk Festival, one month after Woodstock. The solo performance can be seen in the festival concert film "Celebration at Big Sur" (released in 1971). Ironically, Mitchell later developed a well-known distaste for festival gigs.

The song later went on to be hits for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Matthews' Southern Comfort, the latter reaching #1 on the UK singles chart for three weeks in October 1970, and the former reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. David Crosby in an interview in the documentary "Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind" said that Mitchell had captured the feeling and importance of the Woodstock festival better than anyone who had been there. [ [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/mitchell_j_interview.html "Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind"] ]

Led Zeppelin incorporated Woodstock's lyrics and structure into live renditions of their song "Dazed and Confused" between 1973 and 1975. It can be heard on the currently unreleased "Dazed and Confused" section of the video from one of the 1975 Earl's Court concerts. The piano intro also bears strong resemblance to "No Quarter" and Bad Company's self titled hit; "Bad Company".

In popular culture

In her 2005 book "Break, Blow, Burn", critic Camille Paglia wrote a chapter about the song, honoring it as "possibly the most popular and influential poem composed in English since Sylvia Plath's 'Daddy'."

A line from the chorus, "We are billion year old carbon," was used by Corey Mesler as the title of a novel about the 1960s. [cite web| last = Deusner| first = Steven| title = ... With the Memphis Blues Again | work = Book review| publisher = PopMatters| date = 26 May 2006| url = http://www.popmatters.com/books/reviews/w/we-are-billion-year-old-carbon.shtml| accessdate = 2008-08-09]

The song was also used in an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 where the characters act out the story of a girl from the 1960's whose diary is found by Brenda.

References