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Australian singles chart:
Joni Mitchell‘s Woodstock was released in Australia as the B-side of Big Yellow Taxi which entered the Kent singles chart 31 August 1970 and peaked at #6.
The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover entered the Kent charts on 25 May 1970 and peaked at #19.
Album:
The song is on Joni Mitchell‘s album Ladies of the Canyon which entered the Kent album charts on 8 February 1971 and peaked at #32.
The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young version is on Déjà Vu which entered the Kent album chart on 18 May 1970. It reached #1 on 13 July 1970 where it sat for 2 weeks.
Songwriter:
Joni Mitchell
Producers:
Joni: Joni Mitchell
CSNY: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Record labels of Australian releases:
Joni: Reprise
CSNY: Atlantic
JONI MITCHELL:
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG:
BONUS CLIP BELOW: Woodstock by Matthews Southern Comfort
Songfacts:
Woodstock is about the famous music festival in 1969. Joni Mitchell was scheduled to perform at the festival, but backed out on the advice of her manager David Geffen, who was concerned that she would miss a scheduled appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young did appear, playing an acoustic set followed by an electric set. They took the stage around 3am Monday morning – the festival was scheduled to end at midnight, but it ran long, culminating with a legendary Jimi Hendrix set that most people didn’t stay to see.
That Tuesday, Mitchell, David Crosby and Stephen Stills all appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. Crosby has said that he and Stills were talking about the festival, and Mitchell wrote the song based on their experience there. Mitchell, however, claimed that she wrote the song before the band returned.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s performance at Woodstock was only their second show together. Before forming the band, Crosby had been a member of The Byrds, Nash was with The Hollies, Stills and Young were members of Buffalo Springfield. Neil Young played with the group for only part of the set.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/crosby-stills-nash-young/woodstock
The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young version is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
BONUS CLIP
Woodstock by Matthews Southern Comfort entered the Kent singles chart in Australia on 18 January 1971 and peaked at #55.
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