Tuesday Top Ten: Songs at Woodstock

I'm a day late on this, and I'm going to have to postpone my Lollapalooza Tuesday Top Ten for another week because tomorrow through Sunday morning will mark the 50th anniversary of arguably the generation-defining concert of the '60s and the baby boomers:  Woodstock.  It was deemed "3 days of peace and music," although due to some delays, it stretched into the fourth day, and Jimi Hendrix ended up closing things out on a Monday morning with his now-legendary performance.  A half a million people my parents' age got to experience it, and given the unbelievable lineup, it had to be one of those things none of them will ever forget, regardless of the amount of brown acid they might have ingested.  Thank God and music for a dairy farmer named Max Yasgur who allowed his farm to be used for this iconic event.

If you get chance, watch the documentary.  It's long, but it's a fascinating look at some amazing music and the general "peace and love" vibe that was supposed to have been the calling card of the boomers.  I remember the 20th anniversary and watching a lot of specials about it on MTV at my buddy Jeremy's house (you see, I did not have cable as a child).  I witnessed some amazing performances that immediately wowed me and have stuck with me since then.

On that note, here are my ten favorite songs performed at Woodstock, in no particular order, other than that "Soul Sacrifice" has been my number one since the first time I saw the footage of it.  I'm just going to go in chronological order of when the artists performed at Woodstock.

1.  "Freedom (Motherless Child)" by Richie Havens
I may never have known about Richie Havens were it not for this performance.  Just a man and an acoustic guitar wailing out an old Negro spiritual.


2.  "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" by Country Joe & The Fish
One of the defining moments of Woodstock is Country Joe McDonald imploring 500,000 people to spell "fuck" and then playing his anti-Vietnam anthem.  "Whoopee, we're all gonna die."


3.  "Soul Sacrifice" by Santana
Santana was pretty much an unknown band until they played Woodstock.  They killed it, and this song is a phenomenal live performance.  Drummer Michael Shrieve is fucking purple, presumably because of lysergic acid diethylamide.


4.  "Going Up The Country" by Canned Heat
This is another one of those bands that I almost exclusive associate with Woodstock, and this song especially.


5.  "For Yasgur's Farm" by Mountain
Best known for their gritty guitar-heavy rocker "Mississippi Queen," Leslie West's Mountain is a sneaky underrated rock band.  This song was untitled at the fest, but eventually was released on the Climbing! record as "For Yasgur's Farm" -- obviously an homage to the festival and its host.  


And after Mountain played, it was an unbelievable run of bands playing from 10:30 p.m. Saturday until 9:40 a.m. Sunday.  Seriously, look at this:  Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Sly & The Family Stone, The Who, and Jefferson Airplane.  I can't include a song from everyone, so I'm just going with a couple favorites.

6.  "Born On the Bayou" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
One of my favorite Woodstock stories is from CCR's set.  They didn't go on until 12:30 a.m., and the crowd was mostly asleep.  The band was feeling a little down about it, and then there was one guy in the crowd with a lighter who yelled "We're here for you, John!" to lead singer John Fogerty.  That got the band energized, and they played eleven songs.


7.  "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin
I'm including this because I'll never miss an opportunity to showcase this song.


8.  "Volunteers" by Jefferson Airplane
By the time they went on, it was eight in the fucking morning.  You can tell.  Grace Slick looks like she's about to fall asleep standing up.  I suppose that may have also been the drugs.  Other members of the band are yawning.  But they still brought it.  "Volunteers" is what I consider the band's most anti-establishment anthem and their most Woodstock-appropriate song.  "One generation got old / one generation got so old."  They're talking about my grandparents.


9.  "With a Little Help From My Friends" by Joe Cocker
Spasmodic.  Charismatic.  Freaky-looking.  That's Joe Cocker.  This transformed The Beatles' song into Cocker's own creation.


10.  "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
This was the second show ever performed by the band.  They didn't even know where Woodstock was.  Their set started at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning.  CSNY is now such a known commodity that it's hard to imagine that there was a time when it was just some unknown supergroup, featuring that guy with the mustache from The Byrds, the guy with the harmonies from The Hollies, and those two guys from Buffalo Springfield.  This is one of my favorite songs, and I realize it's technically CSN and not CSNY on this one, as Neil Young was undoubtedly fathering grunge on the side of the stage.


11.  "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Jimi Hendrix
For the former member of the 101st Airborne, playing the national anthem for a then-diminished 200,000 or so people left on Monday morning must have been surreal.  Whoever stayed got a blistering set of blues and guitars and rock and roll, including this now-legendary rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."