David Crosby turns 78 today (August 14th). He celebrated his 28th birthday three days before CSNY’s legendary performance at Woodstock 50 years ago this Saturday. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young talked to Joni Mitchell about Woodstock. Although she wasn’t there, Joni Mitchell was able to turn the account of the Woodstock festival she got from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young into a song. Stephen Stills and David Crosby explain how the quartet, led by Stills, made the song their own “boys’ song.”
Stills: “I said, ‘This needs to be an R&B song, gimme it.’ I just said, ‘Thanks, babe, and snatched it and ran and didn’t look back.’”
Crosby: “If you listen to Joni’s version of it, you’ll understand what happened. Stephen listened to that and went –he wasn’t sneering, but Stephen’s got a set of cojones on him and he just changed it around there a little bit.”
Stills: “Yeah, let’s make this a boys’ song.”
Crosby: “Yeah, and that’s what he did.”
Stills: “She was quite flattered”
Crosby: “Yeah, she liked the record we made on it.”
Stills: “She said, ‘Good job, Stephen, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do with songs.’”
