Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell is especially interesting in the context of Woodstock, in that she never made it to the festival. Despite not being there, she wrote the song “Woodstock” as an ode to the tremendous optimism that the event represented. While Mitchell released her own version of the song on the album Ladies of the Canyon, it was made famous by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young on their album Déjà Vu (click here for the CSN&Y version).
Mitchell was also well known for her song “Big Yellow Taxi.” The famous refrain
They paved paradise/ And put up a parking lot
tied the counterculture movement’s environmental concerns to popular music. Kicking off a new trend in political song.