Woodstock (song)

"Woodstock"
Cover of the 1970 French single
Single by Joni Mitchell
from the album Ladies of the Canyon
A-side	"Big Yellow Taxi"
Released	April 1970
Recorded	1970
Studio	A&M, Hollywood
Genre	Folk rock[1]
Length	5:25
Label	Reprise
Songwriter(s)	Joni Mitchell
Producer(s)	Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell singles chronology
"Chelsea Morning" (1969) "Woodstock" (1970) "Carey" (1971)

"Woodstock" is a song written by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. At least four versions of the song were released in 1970. Mitchell's own version was first performed live in 1969 and appeared in April 1970 on her album Ladies of the Canyon and as the B-side to her single "Big Yellow Taxi". A version by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young appeared on their album Déjà Vu in March 1970 and became a staple of classic rock radio and the best-known version of the song in the United States. A third version, by the British band Matthews Southern Comfort, became the best-known version in the United Kingdom and was the highest charting version of the song in the UK, reaching the top of the Singles Chart in 1970. A fourth version by studio project the Assembled Multitude also became a chart hit.

The song's lyrics refer to the four-day Woodstock Music and Arts Festival held in August 1969, and tell the story of a concert-goer on a trek to Max Yasgur's farm in New York State to join in the "song and celebration". Mitchell, who was unable to perform at the festival herself, was inspired to write the song after she heard an account of it from her then-boyfriend Graham Nash, who had performed at the festival. Mitchell's anthemic song and the festival it commemorated became symbolic of the counterculture of the 1960s.