We are stardust, We are golden/
And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.
In “Woodstock”, we hear a similar theme that Joni Mitchell introduced in Big Yellow Taxi. She contrasts the planes and the smog of the city to the gardens and nature of Woodstock. She believes the values of Woodstock are something we need to “go back to”. The seventies produced most of the environmentalist music—and certainly the best. Its main advocates were Mitchell, John Denver, Neil Young, James Taylor and Jackson Browne.
The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover of “Woodstock” is interesting in that it is one of the furthest deviations from the original source material that I have heard. They almost make it a completely different song.
The lyrics are the only thing that ties the two versions together. And each version is great in its own way. Mitchell’s version is tender and CSNYs version is rough and rocking. Between the two versions there is something for everyone interested in pro-Earth music.
Woodstock Lyrics
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 going to try an’ 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 you 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.
Songwriters: Joni Mitchell