Time To Play B-Sides- “Woodstock”- Joni Mitchell. The Crosby, Stills ,Nash and Young  version of “Woodstock” was the hit and the best known version but the song was written by Joni Mitchell and the B-side to her “Big Yellow Taxi” single from the album “Ladies Of The Canyon.” Mitchell wrote the song after hearing from her boyfriend at the time Graham Nash about the Woodstock concert. She had taken what turned out to be bad advice from her agent- she could have performed at Woodstock or appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. She chose the Cavett Show. Who would have known? She wrote the song while watching news coverage of the festival- in a New York City hotel. She performed the song at the Big Sur Folk Festival a month after Woodstock. Her original was released in April 1970. In the song she compares the site of Woodstock to The Garden Of Eden. With the Apollo 11 50th anniversary now history- the next big events to get media coverage as 50th anniversary coverage will be the Manson Murders and Woodstock. While Woodstock is one place I wouldn’t have wanted to have been -due to the crowds- I am at least hoping the anniversary coverage of Woodstock gets more coverage than the other event.

CSN&Y’s single peaked at #11 on the Billboard charts- as the lead single for their Deja Vu album- I think I prefer Joni Mitchell’s version of the song. The CSN&Y version can be heard playing over the credits in the movie documentary Woodstock.