Anybody who was anybody in the world of rock was on stage at the Woodstock Festival in Bethel, NY, to close out the summer of 1969. That is everybody except Joni Mitchell, who wound up writing the hit song that celebrated that historic event.
What frustrated Mitchell and inspired her to pen to the tune was the fact that she was supposed to perform at the festival. Touring with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Joni wanted to perform at Max Yasgur’s farm, but her manager at the time, the almost-as-famous David Geffen thought she might have trouble getting back to New York City in time for an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show due to the massive traffic jams the 3-day concert was causing in New York state.
So, Geffen let CSN&Y head off to Woodstock, but Joni stayed home and watched coverage of the event with Geffen in a hotel room. While watching that news footage and wishing she could be there, Mitchell began writing the song that would memorialize the event.
To add insult to injury, when her appearance on the Cavett Show rolled around on August 18th, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young and even Grace Slick, all of whom played the festival and returned to New York City with no problem, were allowed to “crash” Mitchell’s night on the Cavett show to talk about their experience being at the festival.
There was some consolation, CSN&Y recorded her song, “Woodstock,” and took it to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Mitchell herself recorded her own version for her Ladies of the Canyon LP. Both versions are still played to this day.
