The granddaddy of American music festivals, Woodstock, took place on a farm in upstate New York 55 years ago this month. Bad weather and worse traffic didn’t deter the estimated 450,000 people from descending on a farm in rural Sullivan County, which, by the way, is 40 miles from the town of Woodstock. The original site of the festival was in Woodstock, but the concert organizers couldn’t get the necessary permits because residents were (rightly) concerned about noise and traffic. Billed as three days of “peace, love, and music,” the festival was filled with a who’s who of folk and rock-and-roll performers, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, Richie Havens, The Grateful Dead, Joan Baez, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. In my book, nothing beats David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young’s harmonies for giving me a reason to smile. In this clip of the group at Woodstock, only their second time performing together, they sang “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” about Stills’s imminent breakup with singer/songwriter Judy Collins. You might wonder why you see only three members of the group in the video but hear four voices. Just added to the band, Neil Young was, according to Nash, nervous and asked not to be filmed. Several years ago, I had the privilege of interviewing the band. David Crosby talked about why CSN&Y was so successful. “We had a wide palette, a much wider palette, to paint from than most bands would have. And all four of us can sing lead. All four of us can sing harmony. All four of us can play,” he explained. “And I think the songs are really the defining meat of the matter. Without songs that are about something and that make you feel something, if I can’t sit down and sing you a song and make you feel something, I don’t think I really have a song. And I think that’s been our strength.” |
