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 gonna try and get my soul free We are stardust We are golden And we've got to get ourselves Back to the garden Then can I walk beside you 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 l am But ya know life is for learning We are stardust We are golden And we've got to get ourselves Back to the garden 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 We are stardust Billion-year-old carbon We are golden Caught in the devil's bargain And we've got to get ourselves Back to the garden
Many musicians joined or performed at Woodstock, but Joni Mitchell only watched it on TV news report in a hotel room.
"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 wrote the song "Woodstock", with lyrics telling a spiritual journey, referring Woodstock as the Garden of Eden.
Many reviewers agree that Joni Mitchell had captured the feeling and importance of Woodstock better than anyone who had been there.
See song facts for more details.