There are also references to the horrific "mutual assured destruction" of the Cold War ("bombers riding shotgun in the sky.") contrasted against the peaceful intent of the festival goers (".turning into butterflies above our nation"). The saga commences with the narrator's encounter of a fellow traveler ("Well, I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road") and concludes at their ultimate destination ("by the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong"). The lyrics tell a story about a spiritual journey to Max Yasgur's farm, the place of the festival, and make prominent use of sacred imagery, comparing the festival site with the Garden of Eden ("and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden"). David Crosby, interviewed for the documentary Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind, stated that Mitchell had captured the feeling and importance of the Woodstock festival better than anyone who had actually been there. "The deprivation of not being able to go provided me with an intense angle on Woodstock," she told an interviewer shortly after the event. She composed it in a hotel room in New York City, watching televised reports of the festival. She had not been there herself, since a manager had told her that it would, instead, be more advantageous for her to appear on The Dick Cavett Show. Joni Mitchell composed the song based on what she had heard from her then-boyfriend Graham Nash about the Woodstock Music and Art Festival. The anthemic song, as well as the festival it commemorates, is symbolic of the counterculture of the 1960s. Mitchell, who was unable to actually perform at the festival herself due to scheduling conflicts, was inspired to write the song based on an account of the festival relayed to her by then-boyfriend Graham Nash, who had performed there. The song's lyrics refer to the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival of 1969, telling the story of a concert-goer on a trek to attend the festival. A fourth version by studio project The Assembled Multitude also became a chart hit. A third version, by the British band Matthews Southern Comfort became the best known version in the United Kingdom, and was the highest charting version of the song, reaching the top of the UK singles chart in 1970. This publication was preceded by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's cover version, which appeared on their March 1970 album Déjà Vu and became a staple of classic rock radio and the best-known version in the United States. Mitchell's own version was first performed live in 1969 and appeared in April 1970 on her album Ladies of the Canyon and as the B-side to her single " Big Yellow Taxi". At least four notable versions of the song were released in the same year, 1970. " Woodstock" is a song written by Joni Mitchell.
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