Analyzing Joni Mitchell's Song Woodstock

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Joni Mitchell wrote the song Woodstock from what she had heard from her, at the time, boyfriend, Graham Nash about the Woodstock Music and Art Festival. The Woodstock Festival was seen as “grooviest” event in music history. The Woodstock Music Festival–draws to a close after three days of peace, love and rock ‘n’ roll in upstate New York. She had not been to the Woodstock Music and Art Festival since she was told by a manager that it would be more advantageous for her to appear on The Dick Cavett Show. She wrote the song Woodstock in a hotel room in New York City while she was watching televised reports of the festival. Joni Mitchell is reported saying "The deprivation of not being able to go provided me with an intense angle on Woodstock." she told an interviewer shortly after the event. David Crosby, interviewed for the documentary, Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind. Joni Mitchell's documentary showed the viewers that Joni had captured the feeling and importance of the Woodstock festival better than anyone who had been there. Joni Mitchell really felt grabbed by the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. …show more content…

Woodstock also makes for a good source of imagery because the song has been compared with the Garden of Eden. "And we've got to get ourselves back to the Garden". The rest of the song continues with the narrator's coming across a fellow traveler, "Well, I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road" and the song comes to an end when the two travelers reach their ultimate destination, Woodstock. "By the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong". There are also references to the Vietnam War where Joni Mitchell says "bombers riding shotgun in the

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