🎵 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Woodstock REACTION 

A masterpiece written by the great Joni Mitchell.

Joni was knocked out by this version crediting Stephen with a magnificent arrangement.

Some of the best harmonies you will ever hear.

just wanted to say you guys are always fun to watch great people and nice to see a couple love eachother like you two do. Brings positivity to the world. Keep it up.

Their harmonizing was otherworldly good. When other bands were going harder, heavy metal, these fella’s took another, preferable path.

Brad & Lex, you’ll love CSNY’s “Teach Your Children”, “Our House” and “Find The Cost Of Freedom”!!! (you’ll probably get some suggestions of CSN songs)

These lyrics perfectly encapsulate the Woodstock generation, which is when I was in high school, and Deja Vu is my favorite CSN&Y album and one of my all time favorite albums. 💯✌️

This song is about the famous music festival in 1969. 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 3 a.m. 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. Joni Mitchell watched coverage of the Woodstock festival from a New York City hotel room. She had given up religion long ago, but found herself going through a "born-again Christian trip" when she wrote this song. Said Mitchell: "Suddenly, as performers, we were in the position of having so many people look to us for leadership, and for some unknown reason, I took it seriously and decided I needed a guide and leaned on God. So I was a little 'God mad' at the time, for lack of a better term, and I had been saying to myself, 'Where are the modern miracles?' Woodstock, for some reason, impressed me as being a modern miracle, like a modern-day fishes-and-loaves story. For a herd of people that large to cooperate so well, it was pretty remarkable and there was tremendous optimism. So I wrote the song 'Woodstock' out of these feelings." Joni Mitchell released this the same year on Ladies of the Canyon. It was also the B-side to her song "Big Yellow Taxi." Her version is much more basic than the CSN&Y release. 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. It may seem odd that the most famous song about Woodstock came from someone who wasn't there, but Mitchell had a different perspective. "I was one of the many who were thwarted," she said on the CBC program The National. "That was the place every kid wanted to be. I got to the airport with CSN and our agent, David Geffen, and our manager, Elliott, on a Sunday night. It was a catastrophe. I had to do The Dick Cavett Show the following day, and it was Geffen who decided we can't get Joni out in time. So he took me back to his suite where he lived, and we watched it on TV. I was the deprived kid who couldn't go, so I wrote it from the point of view of a kid going. If I had been there in the back room with all the egomaniacal crap that goes on backstage, I would not have had that perspective." (Songfacts.com)

This is the best cover of a Joni Mitchell song ever. It more reflects the atmosphere surrounding the event and the people who attended with a more ragged glory that is emphasized by the harmony of CSNY. Joni's version reflects more to loss of our common connection to the earth and how industrialization was ruining our air, water, land, and spirit. Both versions are great. But Joni came through with lyrics that are both poetic and beautiful. And over 5o years later, they still speak the haunting truth.

Great lead vocal by Steve Stills. This is a song that defines a generation. Joni's version (of her own song) is quite different, but equally relevant.

Ohio is a great political song.

For amazing harmonies you have to react to Carry on. I saw them 7 times. Phenomenal! No band harmonies like CSN sometimes Y. 😊✌️♥️

Have you done The Byrds' 8 Miles High yet? Well worth a listen.

This band was it in the very early 70s. All legends and highly Influential.. This was a staple on FM radio and all their songs in this time were legendary from the rock to the pop. Super reaction..

"We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon and we got to get back to the garden." Those lyrics made such a deep impression on me as a kid, realizing I was part of the universe and everything seemed possible. Also, "By the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong, and everywhere was a song and a celebration." Another great line.

The garden is the garden of Eden. The grimy part was Neil Young's guitar. Woodstock was a grimy affair, but It got us heading in the direction of the garden for a little while.

Graham Nash was Joni Mitchell's love interest at the time. Joni did not go to Woodstock. She wrote the song from Nash's experience. The last line of the song is omitted from this recording. There is another video with images of Woodstock. The omitted last lines are on that video. To me, a veteran they are very important lines as some of my friend names are written on the Vietnam War Memorial wall. The missing lines: "Find the cost of freedom buried in the ground. Mother earth will swallow you lay your body down." By the way, in the line "we got to get back to the garden" the garden referred to is the Garden of Eden. Getting back to the garden means getting back to living as God intended.. loving him and loving each other. If you ever want to really understand those times, there was a made for tv movie put out in 1999 call The 60's, it is just a dramatized history lesson, but its accurately displays the turmoil that families felt in those days as it follows 2 families, one white and one black, through that great decade.

There's a difference between C,S,N,&Y's version of Wooden Ships, and Jefferson Airplane's version as well. But not as big.

Y'all gotta do Wooden Ships. Peace

Bob Dylan told Ms Mitchell, to paraphrase: "Hey Joan, you gotta stop giving your best songs away!" (to other singers such as Judy Collins, and bands, such as this song, which was a huge hit for them...

This song captures the 1960s in its essence: ‘bombers turning to butterflies above our nation.’ This is what Republicans and Trumpists in their dystopian worldview will never understand-that power doesn’t derive from the number of bombs and firearms but from the collective love of a million strong.

Oh and that lyric is true. We are all made of stardust and billion year old carbon. Every element in the universe other than hydrogen and helium was at one time inside of a star.

Matthews Southern Comfort do an amazing version of this song it’s well worth a listen.

Back to the garden is for sure a statement about getting back to nature and the land, but it is also a reference to "The Devil's Bargain". About mankind in the personage of Adam and Eve giving in to temptation and losing paradise in the Garden of Eden. So in essence, we need to get back to paradise. Joni Mitchell is truly a genius as a poet and lyricist.

It's so different than the original, Stephen Stills on lead vocals sounds like no one else ☮

I was born in 1985, but my mom experienced Woodstock firsthand, and she raised me on the music she grew up with. I’ve always said this song feels to me like a perfect encapsulation of what Woodstock must have actually felt like for those that lived it, and she agrees.

What a masterpiece of lyrics and singing! I agree with Lex, love Joni, but I much prefer this version. The best part of being old is that I grew up as part of the Woodstock generation. Even though we had our challenges (Viet Nam, Civil rights, etc), we still had love and hope for the future. Today - too much hate, lies, selfishness.... We need to get back to the garden✌

Hey guys what's up! Greetings from South florida! I was hoping you guys would do this version. After the Joni Mitchell version I wanted you guys to hear this. You guys rock! God bless you! Peace!

So many great bands back then. Today I googled a festival we went to in '72 which seems like ten lifetimes ago. Pics of everyone with long hair, bell bottoms and a pot cloud in the air.

Can't listen to CSNY without listening to OHIO, their most political song.

That Joni Mitchell version where she's telling the story and playing it on a piano gives me freaking chills!

Oh what wondrous and crazy times those were. They are still a part of my psyche and in my heart.

Great iconic song about CSN's experience of Woodstock. Yasgurs farm was the land where the Woodstock concert took place...

This is my jam!!! Long live the 70's.

Joni Mitchel was dating Grahamn Nash at the time of Woodstock and when CSNY got back from the concert she had written this song. Stephen Stills heard it and immediately asked if they could record it lol

It's funny, so much great music is dismissed because it is "old" but there are great songs in every generation. Thanks for reviewing this gem and reintroducing to a younger generation. 💖

Lyrics by Joni Mitchell, Vocals by Stephen Stills (lead), David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young, and Guitar solo by Neil Young, THE MAN! Superior harmonies and sonic feel.

We could use more butterflies above our nation right now. Need more youngins to speak out in songs that inspire us to be better citizens. 👍❤🤙

Fun fact a half a million people from all over the world gathered from all over the world for a three day music festival and not one arrest was made circa 1969 Woodstock festival on max yasgurs farm in the Catskill mtns NY

Joni's version is haunting, this version shreds 🤟

When the song started off I met a child of God I always thought that the garden that we needed to get back to was the garden of Eden that we needed to get ourselves back to that simple place when we're all children of God and God took care of us and we chilled in the garden without any worries

It's the same Hippie sentiment played to a rock arrangement.

Back in the 70s I had both the Joni Mitchell and CSN&Y versions on vinyl. Listened to them both a whole lot. Still a great song, whether in Joni's delicate, poignant style, or in the rockin' style. I was a long way from Woodstock at that time, in Southern California, but I was totally into music like this. Of course, we really are stardust, because our solar system was made from the debris from the explosions of older stars.

These are the best harmonies you will ever hear.

I like this and Joni's but the best version by far is Mathews Southern Comfort 's, much more of a woodstock 'vibe' to it, I'd love to see you react to it Brad/Lex (you've done two why not a third?)

Yes, same lyrics but 2 unique songs.

You need the Woodstock film as a backdrop for the song

It was "peace & love" or "sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll". Far out. Groovy. Heavy. Or a trip.

You've done 2 out of 3 versions of this great song written by Joni Mitchell. My favorite is the third one done by a one hit wonder band called Mathews Southern Comfort. It is very different sounding done later in 72 /73 I believe. Check it out.

Joni & Dylan, both geniuses but CSNY did with this song what Hendrix did with "All Along the Watchtower ". It's the definitive version

Way late to this comment section, but I love both versions of this song. I actually heard the CSNY version first as a teenager and didn't know it was a cover of a Joni Mitchell song until much later. I love how hard-hitting this version is, with those sort of dirty guitars, and the harmonies are incredible as always. But Joni's version has her incredible vocals, and the vibe is much more ethereal and haunting, and when I first heard it, it made me completely reassess a song I thought I already knew really well. It's fascinating how both versions manage to capture the Woodstock experience (I think, not that I was there) in such totally different ways, especially when you consider that Joni Mitchell herself wasn't even at Woodstock, but wrote this after watching coverage of it on TV. Really an incredible testament to her skills as a lyricist and to Stephen Stills' work as a musician and arranger.

Like everyone you talk to to from that era, we all claim to have been at Woodstock. This is a great Hippie, Flower child 60s Anthem. No, I wasn't at Woodstock, but I was one of the many Babyboomers, (now in our 60s and 70s) that grew up in this time, and man what a trip! Peace, and Far out man.

Sounds a might different when Joni Mitchell sings it. BUT, my ears like this one best! If you listen closely, you can tell Neal Young's Guitar from Stephen Stills '. Young's is the one that sounds like it's sprinting to catch the bus! Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins and CSN&Y were all intertwined in each other's lives back in the day.

Can you do a reaction to John Mayer please? Either Stop this train Slow Dancing In A Burning Room (Live) Or Last Train Home or maybe New Light if you want to do a new one

Same lyrics, same tune. But just add CSNY harmonies and Neil Young on guitar and it's a rather different experience. (No diss to Joni. She planted the seed. But Stephen Stills watered it exceedingly well.)

There’s also a version even later than CSNY, by Matthew Southern Comfort. I like the CSNY, best. ♥️🎶

It’s a hippie crossed with a hippie!!!

One of the great covers! Like Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower." 🤩😎

Matthews Southern Comfort's version is my favorite with the late Gordon Huntley on pedal steel guitar.

Graham Nash and Joni had a love affair when they first met, which led to CSNY covering this and Our House.

Classic acid rock. Great reaction. More CSNY please

asgur's farm was where Woodstock was held. Check out the movie of the same name. One of the greatest music doc/movies made

just in case you didn't know Yasgurs Farm was the actual location where Woodstock took place

Joni's version sounded folkie. CSNY's sounded like a rock band.

Anthem of a generation..

This is hippie, but crossed with anti-war, simple life, feel good rock and roll.

I think that you will love Guinevere by Crosby Stills and Nash.

This is a cover of a song written by Joni Mitc hell they performed it at Woodstock

Wasn't familiar of CSNY version of this classic _ only the UK chart success one by Matthew Southern Comfort Def worth a listen /review Team Enjoy

Great song choice #couchgang... this is why early Rock & Roll made such an impact. Great vocals - Great song writing - Great guitar licks .. nice pick ! 🧡🎼🧡

Kudo's to Joni for writing this song but I prefer the CSNY version .

She wrote the song inspired by Woodstock, but she didn't go there herself. Her version is great, but what's better is having four guys who actually went there sing your song in their own wonderful way.

Not sure if you tried to up load the live video for Woodstock by CSN&Y ,but that is a must see.

Cool, that's a great old, classic song. Joni Mitchell wrote it and does a softer version

Ad she is always upbeat, funny. she makes Brad crack up

Always think Joni’s version is from her point of view, having to stay behind, wistful and melancholic, while this version encapsulates the experience of actually being at Woodstock. The party, and a lot of it was pretty grimy apparently, lots of rolling around in the mud on acid 😅 Love when the line "When we finally got to Woodstock…" hits, almost feels like you’re there, joining in on the celebration.

Oh my now we are talking what a band got to see them in 81 and twenty feet away from was John and Bo Derek what a night that was.

such an iconic sound, and represents the late 60's so well. this song takes me back immediately to my teenage youth.

To me this version says we were just at Woodstock and it was awesome

Why aren't u guys doing tom macdonald anymore?

It captures the spirit of Woodstock even if you were not there.

There is more urgency to this version. (In my opinion).

This one sounds like hippies with guitars Brad!

Joni didn't make it to Woodstock as she was booked to appear on The Dick Cavett TV Show the day after Woodstock. Due to the traffic jams and the pouring rain, her agent decided she should pass it up. Her song was written through 2nd hand story and news reports. Her boyfriend, Graham Nash, from CSNY made it in by helicopter and a stolen truck hotwired by Neil Young. Some of the most beautiful harmonies in songs are produced by CSNY. (Helplessly Hopeful) You need to delve into their vast library. Great reaction. Big Hugs from Canada.❤️❤️ 🇨🇦🇨🇦

Joni Mitchell and CSNY is a powerful, whole hell a lot of talent, right there, it is. CSNY took the song and rocked it with those great backing vocals making it their own. Joni's version is only different, no less great. Her genius feeding CSNY genius is a sound to behold. Blessed.

A terrific rock adaptation. The vocal harmonies in the chorus are as good as these guys ever got.

1969 was a great year.

Totally different vibe than Joni’s original. Both fire. This is my college memories

I shipped a painting today to y'all today ...should be there Saturday I really hope y'all like it

The bomber jets reference is an anti Vietnam War sentiment.

If Brad becomes a hippie, I’m done.

1st again...2 outta 3 ain't bad...lol, love this song, excellent reaction...a hui hou

Try community property by steel panther

To hear another great way to hear their harmonies is "Southern Cross".

This is folk rock. That’s the genre

For my money (which is laughably negligible), there are no better harmonies in Rock Music than Crosby, Still, Nash & Young. And I love that Y'all heard the original first. I didn't, and I think I would have appreciated it more if I had.

The garden. The garden of Eden. We need a united musical happening right now.

Great song covered by so many artists. My personal favourite is by Matthew Southern Comfort, brilliant!

You have to check out James Taylor playing this live on Howard Stern. I actually think it’s an even better version than this one (although I love this one too).

Hippie fairy is a good description of Joni’s version, and yeah, this is the masculine hippie version…rock’n’roll! With perfect harmonies and killer guitar. CSN&Y performed at Woodstock, so I’m sure this song really spoke to them. : )