TORONTO: May 11, 2020, marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the iconic 3 record album of the historic Woodstock festival.
What is well known is that the Woodstock festival took place in the summer of ’69. However, what is not so well known is that the first album of the three-day festival that extended into its fourth day because of heavy rain was released on May 11, 1970.
It was just a week after the horrific killing of four students by the National Guard at Kent State University in Ohio. Classes had been suspended all over the US, so students went out in droves to buy the new album. The demand was so high that most record stores all over ran out of stock within a few hours!
The hype had already been built around the release, what with the actual festival fresh in people’s minds and the movie that had been released just a few weeks before having blown away everybody’s minds!
My friends and I went to all the record stores in Ithaca where our university was situated but all of them said they ran out and we’d have to wait a week to get it. Without hesitation, seeing there were no classes to attend nor studying to do, we decided to drive to all the neighbouring towns and cities to find one. Finally, after about four or five hours, we able to score the album.
When we returned to campus, the album was already blaring out all over including just outside the university recreational hall, known simply as The Straight, and the huge arts quadrangle lawn with different songs playing at different locations. It was insane! Huge crowds were all over creating a mini Woodstock!
The music went on throughout the day extending into the night right through till the crack of dawn, with a few songs being played time and again. Even after all these years I distinctly remember Richie Havens “Freedom” being played over and over and over, as he chanted the word “Freedom” non-stop.
Another song was Country Joe Mcdonald’s “I feel like I’m fixin’ to die rag”, with thousands joining in unison as he yelled :
“Give me an F, give me a U, give me C, give me a K. what’s that spell? “
and continuing with:
“And it’s one, two, three,
What are fighting for?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam…”
It must be remembered that in 1970, the draft (compulsory military conscription) was very much in force and in the students’ minds as they felt they would be drafted once they graduated, and they were pushing for an end to the Vietnam War which had just escalated to include Cambodia.
Another song that repeatedly penetrated the night shrouded skies was Jimi Hendrix’s unparalleled and superb rendition of The Star Spangled Banner (US national anthem). Everyone gaped in awe! This genius bent and stretched every note on his guitar to make sounds like a machine gun and planes dropping bombs! There was nothing like it before, nothing like it then and, as many claim, nothing like it till today!
There were many great albums that followed in the four years I was at Cornell University, including albums by The Grateful Dead, The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin and several other rock Gods but no album had such a phenomenal impact!
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