This was posted on the Lee Shore list and I thought some of you trivia folks ,might enjoy the read even tho it has more actual CSNY content that accurate Joni content Paz ---------- From: Stephen Barncard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 17:11:39 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: the song "Woodstock" The opening riff was most definitely Neil. I was with the band in the studio in 1969 when they cut it. They were coming off the high of the festival; it couldn't have been more than a couple of months since the show. They had decided to cut what was to become the 'Deja Vu' album in San Francisco, and to use the company that they used for the first album, at Wally Heider recording. Earlier that summer I had been looking for a job in the business but wanted to live in San Francisco. I got hired two weeks before the sessions. It was one of the first songs that was cut there. Bill Halverson hadn't been hired back yet and Russ Gary, the staff engineer that was assigned to train me, cut the track live in the studio. Joni had to sit out the festival in a hotel in New York, but was probably inspired by what she saw on the TV news and the stories brought back by the guys. All of them ended up on the Dick Cavett show (videos exist) with mud on their clothes, describing what had happened to the audience on TV. I imagine she wrote the song within a few hours or days of these events. Contrast the high of the festival (imagine 500,000 people screaming at YOU) with David's loss of his lady Christine, and you get an idea of the tension in the room when it was recorded. You could cut it with a knife. One of the most amazing things I had ever seen in the studio to this day. One or two takes at the most, and the track was done, the vocals cut the next two days. Stills did a few vocal takes on the lead, Nash put the high parts on top - two part, all three did the choruses and I nearly went through the roof. They were FAST!
