The Joni Mitchell Song She Found Almost Too Emotional To Perform

Despite not being in attendance, Joni Mitchell wrote one of the most powerful songs about Woodstock. The event defined a generation and even impacted those who weren’t able to make it–hence Mitchell’s connection to it.

For Mitchell, it was less about the event itself and more about the communal spirit it invoked. The sentiment of “peace of love” was at its height during that seminal weekend. In return, Mitchell captured that sentiment perfectly.

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When she performed this track for the first few times, it almost brought her to tears. Find out why the moment was so moving for Mitchell–who wasn’t even able to attend the namesake concert–below.

[RELATED: Joni Mitchell to Release the ‘Archives, Vol. 4’ Box Set, Featuring Rarities from Her Jazz-Influenced Late-1970s Work]

The Joni Mitchell Song She Found Almost Too Emotional To Perform

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

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released their rendition of this Mitchell-penned song in the early ’70s. The foursome was not only in attendance at Woodstock, but it marked one of their first performances with that lineup. They certainly felt similarly to Mitchell that the event was powerful.

I’m going on down to Yasgur’s Farm

I’m gonna join in a rock and roll band

I’m gonna camp out on the land

I’m gonna try and get my soul free

The lyrics are a retelling of the event. The singer happens upon a man walking down the road, headed for the famed event. His objective? I’m gonna try and get my soul free, the lyrics tell us.

The harmonies on this song are bar none. In fact, they are part of the reason Mitchell found their performance of her song so moving. Though CSNY’s version is fairly popular, it didn’t stop Mitchell from delivering her own version as well.

“For a herd of people that large to cooperate so well, it was pretty remarkable and there was tremendous optimism,” Mitchell once said of this song. “So I wrote ‘Woodstock’ out of these feelings…And the first three times I performed it in public, I burst into tears because it brought back the intensity of the experience and was so moving.”

We are stardust, we are golden

We are billion-year-old carbon

And we’ve got to get ourselves

Back to the garden

Fans certainly agreed with Mitchell that this song was moving. It remains a classic is both CSNY’s catalog and Mitchell’s. Revisit this powerful retelling of music history, below.

(Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)