So many writers trot out the "voice of her generation" cliche and cite Woodstock as some sort of hippie anthem
To me, the song always was and always will be a hippie anthem. :-) If some want to label it "the voice of a generation" I think it's a compliment to the songwriter for capturing the emotion of an entire generation.
She DREAMED she saw the bombers turning into butterflies, but dreams aren't reality. She says we've GOT to get ourselves back to the garden; she doesn't say we're already there.
Isn't that the point? The reality in 1969 was bombers strafing southeast Asia, the dream was and still is to take this flying machine of destruction and turn it into something more peaceful and beautiful, like a butterfly. She's *hoping* society will find the garden, or some semblance of a garden. Few would have argued then that we were "already there" in the garden...the *dream* was for everyone to get there...and that is why the song is an anthem.
Scott
