Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock": Remembering the Finale of a Decade

The 1960s was a decade of major social and political upheaval. From civil rights to the anti-war movement, people understood the world was changing. However, very few moments have entered into the cultural memory of America quite like Woodstock in August of 1969. A three-day, drug addled hippie hangout, or a real moment of peace, love, and music that serves as a fitting finale to the decade, Woodstock captured the countercultural movement like no other event ever did.

Despite not attending the concern in person, Joni Mitchell understood that Woodstock was just that, a culmination of the 60s, and she set out to remember it as a fitting finale for the decade in her song of the same name. In its lyrics she was able to capture not just the feeling of that gathering, but also the fears and anxieties of a nation that had lost its way and needed to find a better path forward.

Here is her first live-version of the song along with the popularized 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young version:

Although not actually attending, her lyrics place her as a traveler on the road walking and talking with other pilgrims heading that way. In her opening verse she sings:

       

        I came upon a child of God

        He was walking along the road

        And I asked him where are you going

        And this he told me

        I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm

        I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band

        I'm going to camp out on the land

        I'm going to try an' get my soul free.

From the first line, Mitchell sets the tone. This is not just a frivolous journey; this is a mission that is introspective and soul-searching. By calling her fellow traveler a "child of God" she not only establishes a spiritual side to the event but sets a sense of equality with her fellow pilgrim. At Woodstock, black or white, man or woman, are labels that separate rather than join. Mitchell strives to cast this as a moment of unity rather than division. Some people might forget the genuinely spiritual side to Woodstock, but the opening ceremony was officiated by Sri Swami Satchidananda.

Sri Swami Satchidanan in Front of Crowd
Aug. 15, 1969

 The refrain of the song also touches on the religious:

       

        We are stardust

        We are golden

        And we've got to get ourselves

        Back to the garden.

The Biblical allusion to the garden is the garden of Eden implies a time when humans were able to be at peace and harmony with nature and each other, a sort of unity that the 60s generation wanted to strive for.

In her second stanza, her companion explains the reason for his journey, he states:

        I have come here to lose the smog

        And I feel to be a cog in something turning.

        Well maybe it is just the time of year

        Or maybe it's the time of man

        I don't know who I am

        But you know life is for learning.

With this verse, Mitchell makes it clear that she recognizes the way that typical urban life chokes and smothers people (smog). Her speaker realizes that his job reduces him to a cog in the machine and makes the listener think about the promise of world where we don't do jobs that make us unhappy. Mitchell is tapping into that countercultural desire to understand oneself. Her speaker in this stanza is going through an existential crisis, but one that will hopefully teach him what this life is for. Those at Woodstock understood that the world was changing and wanted to know how they fit into that new world.

    Finally, Mitchell ends by merging her companion and herself into the great river of pilgrims headed to Woodstock. She sings:

        By the time we got to Woodstock

        We were half a million strong

        And everywhere there was song and celebration

        And I dreamed I saw the bombers

        Riding shotgun in the sky

        And they were turning into butterflies

        Above our nation.

The journey growing from 2 people to half a million is Mitchell's metaphor for the growth of the 60s counterculture. It's a metaphor for the great shifts in society during the decade and here in particular, the anti-war movement. Her imagery of bombers turning into butterflies alludes to the Vietnam war and disillusionment that young people were feeling. 

Ultimately, Woodstock has become a symbol of rebellion, peace, and love. Mitchell's song not only remembers the value of this moment, but shows an awareness of how civil rights, war, spirituality, and existential meaning were all part of the 60s counterculture. As half a million people gathered for three days, Woodstock became the real finale of the decade.

-James Birkenbeul