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Janis Joplin Woodstock

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Janis Joplin Woodstock

It was now 2 AM Sunday, 14 hours into Saturday’s show with three more acts to follow. She would play a bit over an hour.

The rap on Janis’s set is that she was so saturated with Southern Comfort that she could barely perform. I wish I could barely perform, saturated or not, as well. Another common observation is that the band was so newly formed, that the set had to be weak. Having the opportunity to listen to what Rhino Records producers Andy Zax and Steve Woolard have done with the set evaporates that haze.

Personnel:

Setlist:

  1. Raise Your Hand
  2. As Good As You’ve Been to This World
  3. To Love Somebody
  4. Summertime
  5. Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)
  6. Kozmic Blues
  7. I Can’t Turn You Loose
  8. Work Me, Lord
  9. Piece of My Heart
  10. Ball and Chain

Janis Joplin Woodstock

Raise Your Hand

Written by Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd, and Alvertis Isbell (Al Bell). Janis jumps right into Raise Your Hand without so much as a howdy do. It hadn’t appeared on any of her (or Big Brother’s) album and wouldn’t until the 1993 compilation, Janis

Alright, this is a tune called
Raise your hand.
Let’s go, come on!
One, two, one, two, three!
If there’s somethin’ you need,
Hon, that you’ve never, ever, ever had.
I know you’ve never had it.
Oh, honey, don’t you just sit there cryin’,
Don’t just sit there feelin’ bad.
No, no, no.
You’d better get up,
Now do you understand ?
And raise you hand.
Hey, hey, hey.
I said raise your hand.
You know I’m standin’ around, yes I am.
Want to give you all my love.
Oh, honey, won’t you come on and open up,
I said, open up in your heart.
Please won’t you let me try ?
You got to be good.
Don’t ya understand ?
Raise your hand.
Hey, hey, hey.
I said, raise your hand right here,
Right here, right now, yeah!
Whoa, oh yeah!
If there’s somethin’ that you want, dear,
Honey, why won’t you come and tell me so ?
I said honey
An’ if you ever feel, whoa, that you just might need my lovin’
Honey, all I just want you to do is just let go.
Got to be good.
Don’t ya understand,
Raise your hand.
Hey, hey, hey!
I said, raise your hand,
Raise, raise, raise, raise.
Honey,
Ha, ha, ha
Honey,
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Said-a, whoa
Alright!
Honey, raise your hand
‘Cause I want you to come along.
Raise your hand
‘Cause you know where you belong.
You belong here, now
Said here and now
Said, here and now
Honey, here and now
Here and now
Honey, here, now
Honey, here, now,
Honey, here
Now, now, now, now, now, now, now
Raise your hand.
Raise your hand.
Raise your hand.
Raise your hand.
Raise your hand.
Raise your hand.
Hey, hey, hey, get it up now!
Hey, hey, get it up now!
Hey, hey, get it up now!
Hey, hey, get it up now!
Hey, hey, get it up now!
Hey, hey, get it up now!
Hey, hey, get it up!
Raise your hand, yeah.
Raise your hand, yeah.
Raise your hand, yeah.
Yeah!
Alright!
Alright, thank you.

Janis Joplin Woodstock

As Good As You’ve Been to This World

Brass blasting behind her, Janis’s sprinted right into As Good As You’ve Been to This World. She’d already recorded the song for her I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! album which Columbia would release on September 11, 1969. Nick Gravenites wrote the song.

Live your loving life,
Live it all the best you can
And if you pay no attention darling
To what you might ever hear from your man,
I think you’re just like a servant
And try to keep it all to yourself.
Don’t you know it makes the world go round,
You gotta go and honey share everywhere else.
Come on, come on, come on!
As good as you’ve been to this world
So good I want to be right back to you.
As good as you’ve been now,
As good as you’ve been to this whole wide world,
So good I want to be.
As good as you’ve been now, say,
As good as you’ve been to this whole wide world,
As good as you’ve been, babe,
So good I want to be here.
Ain’t no use in being faithful,
I see you look at the sky.
I know what’s in it make you happy there,
But it only make you cry.
I think you got good intentions too,
They don’t manage to show through.
Whatever you give to the world outside,
I want to give it right back to you, yes I am!
Come on, come on, come on!
So you meet somebody on the street,
You know you treat him mighty fine,
Or you meet somebody on the street
And you give him a real hard time.
It’s gonna come on home baby,
I said it’s gonna come right back home to you.
I said it’s gonna visit you now,
Yes it is, oh yes it is.
As good as you’ve been to this whole wide world,
As good as you’ve been, babe,
So good I want to be here.
Oh, good as you’ve been to this whole wide world,
As good as you’ve been, babe,
So good I want to be here.
Ah, the way you love your mother,
The way you love your sister, your brother,
The way you love your aunt, your uncle,
Anybody now, everybody now.
Good as you’ve been babe, hurrah!
Good as you’ve been babe, hey!
Good as you’ve been babe, hey!
Good as you’ve been babe
‘Cause I’m just gonna show you now
And I’m just gonna make you want it now
‘Cause I ‘m just gonna give you a thrill
Say, good as you been babe,
Hurrah, good as you been babe,
Come on, good as you been babe,
I say, good as you been babe,
Oh daddy, good as you been babe,
My man, good as you been babe,
All right, yeah hey.

Janis Joplin Woodstock

To Love Somebody

Still not taking any time, next Janis covers (steals), Barry and Robin Gibbs’s To Love Somebody, which she’d also included on I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!

There’s a light, certain kind of light
Never ever, never shone on me, no, no
Honey, I want, I want my whole life
To be lived with you, babe
That’s what I want oh, was to be
Living and loving you
There’s a way, oh everybody say
You can do anything, every thing yeah
But what good, what good
Honey, what good could it ever bring
Because I haven’t got you with my love
And I can’t find you babe, no I can’t
You don’t know, you don’t know what it’s like
No you don’t, honey no you don’t know
You don’t know what it’s like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I’ve been loving you babe
In my brain, oh I can see your face again
I know my frame of mind, yeah
But nobody, nobody has to ever be so blind
Honey, like I did, I know I was blind
Honey, I tell you that I was, I was very, very blind
Oh but I’m just a girl
Can’t you just take a look at me and tell
Tell that I live, honey I live and I breathe for you
Don’t you know I do!
But what good, what good
Honey, what good could it ever bring
Because I haven’t got you with my love
And I can’t find you babe, no I can’t
You don’t know, you don’t know what it’s like
No you don’t, honey no you don’t know
You don’t know what it’s like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I’ve been loving you babe
Oh, I know that there’s a way
Because everybody came to me one time and said
“Honey, you can do anything
Every little thing, and I think I can
Oh, but what good, what good
Honey, what awfully good can it ever, ever bring
Because I can’t find you with my love
And I can’t find you babe, oh anywhere
You don’t know, you don’t know what it’s like
No you don’t, honey no you don’t know
You don’t know what it’s like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I’ve been loving you babe
You don’t know, you don’t know what it’s like
No you don’t, honey no you don’t know
You don’t know what it’s like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I’ve been loving you babe

Janis Joplin Woodstock

Summertime

Janis Joplin Woodstock

Janis had done Summertime on the classic Cheap Thrills album with Big Brother and the Holding Company. “Summertime” is an aria composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based.

The band’s intro briefly reflects that legacy.

Summertime, time, time,
Child, the living’s easy.
Fish are jumping out
And the cotton, Lord,
Cotton’s high, Lord, so high.

Your daddy’s rich
And your ma is so good-looking, baby.
She’s looking good now,
Hush, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby,
No, no, no, no, don’t you cry.
Don’t you cry!

One of these mornings
You’re gonna rise, rise up singing,
You’re gonna spread your wings,
Child, and take, take to the sky,
Lord, the sky.

But until that morning
Honey, n-n-nothing’s going to harm you now,
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Don’t you cry,
Cry.

Janis Joplin Woodstock

Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)

Still no patter, Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) is the third song of her set that will appear on her forthcoming album. Jerry Ragovoy and Chip Taylor wrote it.

Try, try, try just a little bit harder
So I can love, love, love him, I tell myself
Well, I’m gonna try yeah, just a little bit harder
So I won’t lose, lose, lose him to nobody else.
Hey! Well, I don’t care how long it’s gonna take you now,
But if it’s a dream I don’t want No I don’t really want it
If it’s a dream I don’t want nobody to wake me.

Yeah, I’m gonna try yeah, just a little bit harder
So I can give, give, give, give him every bit of my soul.
Yeah, I’m gonna try yeah, just a little bit harder
So I can show, show, show him love with no control.
Hey! I’ve waited so long for someone so fine
I ain’t gonna lose my chance, no I don’t wanna lose it,
Ain’t gonna lose my chance to make you mine, all mine.
All right, get it! Yeah!

Try yeah, try yeah, hey, hey, hey, try yeah,
Oh try whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
Oh anybody, oh anybody, oh anybody,
Try oh yeah (just a little bit harder)
Whoa I gotta try some more,
I said try yeah, aw I said try,
I said try try try try try try,
Oh try oh yeah, try oh yeah!

Hey hey, I gotta talk to my man now,
You know I, I gotta feel for my man now,
I said I, I gotta work for my man now,
You know I, I gotta hurt for my man now,
I think-a every day for my man now,
You know it, every way for my man now.
I say try, try yeah, oh try yeah,
Hey hey hey, try yeah-hey, oh, try…

 

Janis Joplin Woodstock

Kozmic Blues

Kozmic Blues is the sixth song in the set and the first that Janis wrote (with Gabriel Makler). It would also appear on  I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!

Janis mentions the album and its title and cryptically says, “Talkin’ about the cosmic blues. You know what I mean, man. If you don’t know what I mean, you will soon enough. So…”

Time keeps moving on,
Friends they turn away.
Well, I keep moving on
But I never found out why
I keep pushing so hard a dream,
I keep trying to make it right
Through another lonely day.
Whoa don’t discover it lasts
Honey, time keeps a-moving on, hey yeah, yeah yeah.
Well, I’m twenty-five years older now
So I know it can’t be right
And I’m no better baby and I can’t help you no more
Than I did when I was just a girl. Yeah!
But it don’t make no difference baby, no, no,
Cause I know that I could always try.
There’s a fire inside of everyone of us, huh-uh,
I’m gonna need it now,
I’m gonna hold it yeah,
I’m gonna use it till the day I die.
Don’t, honey, don’t you expect any answers, dear,
Ah, I know they don’t come with ease, no, no, no, no.
Hey, I ain’t never gonna love you any better baby
Cause I’m never gonna love you right
So you better take it now, I said right yes now, yeah.
But it don’t make no difference baby, no, no,
Cause I know that I could always try.
There’s a fire inside of everyone of us, huh-uh,
I’m gonna need it now,
I’m gonna use it yeah,
I’m gonna hold it till the day I die.
Don’t make no difference babe, no, no, no,
Honey, I hate to be the one.
I said you’re gonna live your life
And you’re gonna love, love, love your life.
I’m gonna need it now,
I’m gonna hold it yeah,
I’m gonna use it, say, whoa
Don’t make no difference, baby, no, no, no,
Honey, I hate, I hate to be the one.
I said every time you’re gonna want to love somebody,
Every time you’re gonna want to need somebody,
You’re gonna want to turn around, I’m gonna be there.
No no no no no, no no no no no, no no no no.
When you’re gonna put out your hand,
All your want is some kind of lovin’ man,
He ain’t gonna be there, I said, not here.
No no no no, no no no no, no no no no,
No no no, no no no, no no no no,
No no no no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
Whoa, wah wah, whoa,
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
Honey when I want to reach out my hand
I said darling all I ever wanted
Was for you to understand me now, whoa
Ah baby, I want to sing about me Lord, honey, every day yeah!

Janis Joplin Woodstock

I Can’t Turn You Loose

Before the cover of Otis Redding’s I Can’t Turn You Loose  begins, Janis introduces saxophonist Snooky Flowers with a silly goose joke, laughs, and lets Snooky take over. He’s the song’s lead vocalist giving Janis a brief break. She jumps back in briefly about five and a half minutes into the song, but Snooky finishes. The horns get a chance to blow the roof off the place.

I can’t turn you loose,
If I do I’m gonna lose my mind.
I can’t never turn you loose,
If I do I’m gonna lose my mind.
Whoa!! I can’t turn you loose for nobody,
I love you, yes I do, huh!
Hip-shakin’ mama, I love you,
Love no one but you.
Hear me, baby, I call you,
Call you.

I can’t turn you loose,
If I do I’m gonna lose my mind.
I can never turn you loose, huh!
If I do I’m gonna lose my mind.
I can’t turn you loose for nobody,
I love you, yes I do, huh!
Hip-shakin’ mama, I love you,
Love no one but you.
Hear me, baby, I call you,
Call you.

Ah, tell me mama, baby!
Hey, baby, baby, baby
Now, Wooh, baby, huh!
Talkin’ about my baby
Oh baby, – huh! – about my baby
Baby, baby I love you,
I gotta do everything, ha!

Baby!
My!
My, my, my, baby!
Baby, baby, baby, baby yeah
Whoa!! Baby, baby, baby, huh!
Talkin’ about you
Every, every day, baby,
Gotta keep on holdin’
Gotta keep on holdin’ on you, baby
Holdin’.
Oh baby, huh! Talkin’ about you, ah!

Huh! Baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby,
Huh! Baby I love you
Every, every day, baby,
Huh! Love you
Baby, let me hear you say yeah!
Over here, yeah!
Yeah!!!! I feel good.
Sam, I need a little help.
Bring it down a little bit, Maury,
Bring it down a little bit.
I need a little help.
Fellas, get your hands from under your girl’s dress for a minute,
Young ladies, yeah we’re about to get into this.

Hold on a minute
Aah!!
Yeah!!
Every day, baby, every day, baby, aahh!!
Lord!!

Yeah, baby, every, every day, baby
Whoaa, whooo, ahh, aahhha
Every, every day, baby
Huh! Bring it on down, bring it down!
Mercy! Do you feel alright?
If you don’t, fuck you, you oughta go home!
Mercy! Do you feel alright?
Get on in, daddy!
I feel good, woohh, mercy, I can dig it, aww!

Say you’re lookin’ good to me,
Say you’re lookin’ fine.
Say you’re lookin’ good to me,
Hon you’re lookin’ fine.
Hey you’re lookin’ good to me,
Hon you’re lookin’ fine.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah!!
Oh!! Oh!! Oh!! Oh!! Oh yeah!! Oh yeah!! Oh yeah!! oh yeah!!
Woh yeah!! Woh yeah!! Woh yeah!! Wo yeah!! – alright!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, baby
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I feel good because I love you
You know I love you
Huh! I love you
Every day
Huh!
Babe, aw!! wooh! Huh!
Say you’re looking good! Mercy!
Let’s get the horns in
Do you want to hear the horns blow?
Do you want to hear the horns blow?
Do you want to hear the horns blow?
Yeah!! Huh, talkin’ about you
Say look-a here, here we go
One, two, three, four, ah!!

Hey!
Ooh!
Shit!
Wohh!

Janis Joplin Woodstock

Work Me, Lord

Another song from the upcoming album (no surprise) and also written by Nick Gravenites. It is the “last” song, but of course it isn’t.

Work me Lord, work me Lord.
Please don’t you leave me,
I feel so useless down here
With no one to love
Though I’ve looked everywhere
And I can’t find me anybody to love,
To feel my care.
So ah work me Lord, whoa use me Lord,
Don’t you know how hard it is
Trying to live all alone.
Every day I keep trying to move forward,
But something is driving me, oh, back,
Honey, something’s trying to hold on to me,
To my way of life.
So don’t you forget me down here, Lord,
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Ah, ah, don’t you forget me, Lord.
Well I don’t think I’m any very special
Kind of person down here, I know better,
But I don’t think you’re gonna find anybody,
Not anybody who could say that they tried like I tried,
The worst you can say all about me
Is that I’m never satisfied. Whoa.
Whoa, oh, oh, work me Lord, hmm, use me Lord,
Please, honey, don’t you leave me,
I feel so useless down here.
I can’t find me anybody to love me
And I’ve looked around,
I’ve looked everywhere, everywhere
And I can’t find me anyone to love,
To feel my care.
So honey don’t you go and leave me, Lord,
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Honey, don’t you go off and leave me, Lord.
Can’t I show you how hard it is
Trying to live when you’re all alone.
Everyday I keep pushing,
Keep trying to move forward
But something is driving me, oh, back,
And something’s trying to hold on to me,
To my way of life, why.
Oh please, please, oh don’t you go and
Forget me down here, don’t forget me, Lord.
I think that maybe you can ease me,
Maybe I can help you, said uh whoa,
Oh please, please, don’t you go and leave me Lord,
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, whoa, whoa please,
Hmm please, don’t you leave me, Lord.

Janis Joplin Woodstock

Piece of My Heart

Jerry Ragovoy (again) and Bert Berns (2016 R  & R Hall of Fame inductee) wrote it and Erma Franklin originally recorded in 1967, but few think of anyone other than Janis’s  cover.

Janis would likely have done an encore no matter what, but the crowd’s response certainly helped make it happen.

Oh, come on, come on, come on, come on
Didn’t I make you feel like you were the only man? Yeah
And didn’t I give you nearly everything that a woman possibly can?
Honey, you know I did
And each time I tell myself that I, well I think I’ve had enough
But I’m gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough
I want you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby (whoa, break it)
Break another little bit of my heart now, darling, yeah, yeah, yeah (whoa, have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
You know you got it if it makes you feel good
Oh, yes indeed
You’re out on the streets looking good
And baby, deep down in your heart, I guess you know that it ain’t right
Never, never, never, never, never, never hear me when I cry at night
Babe, and I cry all the time
But each time I tell myself that I, well I can’t stand the pain
But when you hold me in your arms, I’ll sing it once again
I said come on, come on, come on, come on and take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby
Break another little bit of my heart now, darling, yeah
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
Well, you know you got it, child, if it makes you feel good
I need you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby (whoa, break it)
Break another little bit of my heart, now darling, yeah, c’mon now (whoa, have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
You know you got it, whoa
Take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby (whoa, break it)
Break another little bit of my heart, now darling, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (whoa, have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby, hey
You know you got it, child, if it makes you feel good

Janis Joplin Woodstock

Ball and Chain

Written by Willie Mae Thornton, Janis’s cover is another example of stealing a song.

The crowd continues to call for an encore. Before her actual final song, Janis speaks to the crowd.

“How are you out there? Everybody OK? You’re not, ah…you’re stayin’ stoned and you have enough water? You got a place to sleep and everything [the crowd calls out]? What does that mean? Because we oughta’ all of us–I don’t mean to be preachy, but–we oughta remember–and that means promoters, too–that music’s for grooving, man, not for putting yourself into bad changes. You don’t have to go and take anyone’s shit man, just to like music. You know what I mean? You don’t. So if you’re getting more shit than you deserve, you know what to do about it man. You know, it’s just music. Music’s supposed to be different than that.”

The band blasts.

Sitting down by my window
Honey, looking out at the rain
Sitting down by my window, looking out at the rain
All around that I felt it
All I can see was the rain
Something grabbed a hold of me
Feel to me, oh, like a ball and chain
Hey, you know what I mean that’s exactly what it felt like
But that’s way too heavy for you, you can’t hold them all
And I say, oh, whoa, whoa, oh, that cannot be
Just because I got oh, your love, please
Why does every
Oh, this can’t be just because I got to need you, daddy
Please don’t you knock it down now, please
Here you’ve gone today
What I wanted to love you and I wanted to hold you, yeah, till the day I die
Yes, I did, yes, I did, yeah, hey, hey, alright
Say, whoa, whoa, whoa, honey
This can’t be anything I’ve ever wanted from your daddy tell me now
Oh, tell me, baby
Oh, say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, honey
This can’t be, no, no, no, no, no
Yeah, yeah
I hope there’s someone out there who could tell me
Tell me why just because I got to want your love
Honey, just because I got to need, need, need, need your love
I said I understand
Honey, what I’m wanna trying to say hi
Trying, try, try, try, try, try, try
Honey, everybody in the world, also same, baby
When everybody in the world what needs, seem lonely
What I wanted work for your love, daddy
What I wanted trust your love, daddy
I din’t understand how come you’re gone
I don’t understand why half the world is still crying, man
And the other half of the world is still crying too, man
I can’t get it together
I mean if you go to ? Oneday, man
I mean, so baby, you want ? Three and sixty five days, right
You ain’t gonna within sixty five days, you gonna for one day, man
I tell you, that one day, man, better be your life, man
Because you know, you can stay oh man, you can cry about the other three and sixty four, man I said whoa, whoa, whoa
But you gonna lose that one day, man
That’s all you got, you got to call it love, man
That’s what it is, man
If you got today, you don’t worry about tomorrow, man
Because you don’t need it
Because the matter of the fact, as we discovered tat’s rain, tomorrow never happens, man
It’s all the same fucking day, man
So you gotta when you want to hold someone
You gotta hold them like it’s the last minutes of your life
You gotta hold, hold, hold and I say, oh, whoa, whoa, now babe, tell me why
Hold, baby, ’cause some come on your shoulder, baby
It’s gonna feel too heavy, it’s gonna weigh on you why does every thing, every thing
It’s gonna feel just like a ball
Oh, daddy and a chain

Janis Joplin Woodstock

The next act was Sly and the Family Stone.

Peace Love Art and Activism

Mountain Woodstock

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Mountain Woodstock

Mountain Woodstock

It was about 9 PM and dark. Country dark. Mountain appeared.  I hesitated, but cautiously decided to attempt a picture knowing there wasn’t enough light. This post’s featured image is that picture. A cannabis haze covered the field. All was good.

Personnel

Setlist:

  • Blood of the Sun
  • Stormy Monday
  • Theme for an Imaginary Western
  • Long Red
  • Who Am I But You And The Sun
  • Beside the Sea
  • Waiting to Take You Away
  • Dreams of Milk and Honey
  • Southbound Train

They would play about 55 minutes.

Mountain Woodstock

Blood of the Sun

Cover of Leslie West’s debut album called “Mountain”
Leslie West had played with a well-known New York band called the Vagrants. In fact, Bert Sommer had written several songs for the band.
West released a solo album in July 1969. He called the album Mountain, and shortly afterwards, that became the band’s name.
Blood on the Sun was on that album. West, Pappalardi, and Pappalardi’s wife Gail Collins wrote the song.
Standin’ on my pillow
Talkin’ to the moon
Wadin’ in the ocean
I’m sendin’ for you soon
Reachin’ for the handle
Achin’ in my head
Woven in the bed sheets
And then I will understand
Politicians are screamin’
Runnin’ from the gun
Caught in webs of invention
It’s the blood, it’s the blood of the sun
Leanin’ out of the window
With the sunshine at my side
To leave the hard road behind me
There’s a light on the road that I ride
Hidin’ in the ocean
With the sunshine at my side
To leave the hard road behind me
There’s a light on the road that I ride
Standin’ on my pillow
Talkin’ to the moon
Wadin’ in the ocean
I’m sendin’ for you soon
I’m sendin’ for you soon
Mountain Woodstock

Stormy Monday

Rock and Roll Hall of fame inductee T-Bone Walker wrote the song. B.B. King once said it was Walker who ‘‘really started me to want to play the blues. I can still hear T-Bone in my mind today from that first record I heard, ‘Stormy Monday.’ He was the first electric guitar player I heard on record. He made me so that I knew I just had to go out and get an I electric guitar.”

Perhaps the Allman Brothers’ cover is the best known.

They call it stormy Monday, yes but Tuesdays just as bad.
They call it stormy Monday, yes but Tuesdays just as bad.
Wednesdays even worse; Thursdays awful sad.

The eagle flies on Friday, Saturday I go out to play.
The eagle flies on Friday, but Saturday I go out to play.
Sunday I go to church where I kneel down and pray.
And I say, “Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Just trying to find my baby, wont you please send her on back to me.”
The eagle flies on Friday, on Saturday I go out to play.
The eagle flies on Friday, on Saturday I go out to play.
Sunday I go to church, where I kneel down, Lord and I pray.
Then I say, “Lord have mercy, wont you please have mercy on me.
Lord, oh Lord have mercy, yeah, wont you please, please have mercy on me.
Im just a-lookin for my sweet babe, so wont you please send him home,
Send him on home to me
Mountain Woodstock

Theme for an Imaginary Western

Mountain Woodstock
Mountain’s official debut studio album, Climbing! Recorded 1969 – 1970; released March 7, 1970
The third song of the set was one of the songs that would appear on the band‘s debut album, Climbing!, in six months. Cream bassist Jack Bruce and Pete Brown wrote it.
When the wagons leave the city
For the forest and further on
Painted wagons of the morning
Dusty roads where they have gone
Sometimes traveling through the darkness
Met the summer coming home
Fallen faces by the wayside
Looked as if they might have known
Oh the sun was in their eyes
And the desert was dry
In the country town
Where the laughter sounds
Oh the dancing and the singing
Oh the music when they played
Oh the fires that they started
Oh the girls with no regret
Sometimes they found it, sometimes they kept it
Often lost it along the way
Fought each other to possess it
Often died in sight of day
Oh the sun was in their eyes
And the desert was dry
In the country town
Where the laughter sounds
Oh the sun was in their eyes
And the desert was dry
In the country town
Where the laughter sounds
Mountain Woodstock

Long Red

Written by Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi, John Ventura, and Norman Landsberg, Long Red would not appear on any album until the band’s live release: Live: The Road Goes Ever On in 1972.

The long red, flowing through my mind
Dream here, dreamin’ there
Two pieces all the time
Sobered, wisdoms in my dreams
Bits and pieces in my arms
This is always what it seems
Long red, helpin’ you to find a day
Bright red, how am I gonna find a way?
Bright red
You have changed me too
Stranger now it seems somehow
Bright red has turned to blue
Long red
Tears and shades of gray
I have [Incomprehensible] you
I’ve lost forever from today
Long red, helpin’ you to find the day
Bright red, how am I gonna find a way?
Long red
Tears and shades of gray
I have changed you
I’ve lost forever from today
Mountain Woodstock

Who Am I But You And The Sun

Who Am I but You and the Sun would also appear on their debut album but re-titled For Yasgur’s Farm 

Who am i but you and the sun
A slight reflection in everyone
Was it me who let you walk away
Were you the one
Or is it we’re the same
What are we in time going by
The simple story of a younger life
Happy dreams and somehow through the day
Were you the one
Or is it we’re the same
Look at me, now
I’m a part of you
Love is only what we come to live
The waking, breathing and all with you
A crystal passing reflected in our eyes
Were you the one
Or is it we’re the same
Quiet as the voices in a dream
Without two shadows the things I’ve seen
Remember the evening I let you walk away
Were you the one
Or is it we’re the same
Look at me, i believe it’s true
You’re a part of me
I’m a part of you
Mountain Woodstock

Beside the Sea

There’s no patter. No Canned Heat re-tuning. Not a segue but pretty close.

A unique and interesting fact about this performance is that Bert Sommer co-wrote the song  with West and Gail Collins and is likely the only song at Woodstock that one Woodstock band covers another Woodstock performer’s song.

Ironically, Gail Collins is the wife of Mountain’s Felix Pappalardi and she would shoot and kill Pappalardi in 1983.

I am excluding “Wooden Ships” because that was written and performed by members of both C, S, & N and Jefferson Airplane.

Mountain Woodstock

Waiting to Take You Away

The song would appear on the Mountain Live album.

Yesterday went through until tomorrow
A pile of dreams appear
Better plan the hours to come
Today we shed our fear
And it’s waiting to take you away
It’s waiting to take you away

Rise you up to take my hand
Away from yesterday
I have a love within my heart
Which clearly shows the way
And it’s waiting to take you away
It’s waiting to take you away

No one can laugh but cannot cry
To begin we’ve got to end
Two together yet, in love
Within our love transcend
And it’s waiting to take you away
It’s waiting to take you away

Mountain Woodstock

Dreams of Milk and Honey

Written by West, Pappalardi, John Ventura, and Norman Landsberg, Dreams of Milk and Honey also appeared on West’s solo album.

Sitting in a blue room, staring at the wall
Trying to get into anything at all
Cigarettes taste funny as I sink into my bed
Dreams of milk and honey are running through my head
Look at me, Lord
Listen and see
Look at me, Lord
Listen and see
Girl, you say you love but the truth is in your eyes
Your heart for me is empty and your lips are gilded lies
And it seems I’m in a blue room, spending all my time
Trying so to catch you while you’re running through my mind
Mountain Woodstock

Southbound Train

Written by (West, Ventura, and Landsberg, Southbound Train appeared on West’s solo album. The  lyrics West sings aren’t quite what the internet shows.

Well she was born in a north woods town
Twenty-one winters ago
And she grew tired of the freezing cold
And living in the blinding snow
But this girl knew she wouldn’t be there long
‘Cause she had plans and dreams
And she’d seen pictures of the sunshine state
In the pages of the magazine
So she waited them tables and she used her smile
Saving every penny she can
For a one-way Dixie bound Amtrak ticket
Headed for the promised land
Her momma and daddy begged her not to go
When the day she dreamed of came
And she waved goodbye sittin’ way up high
From the window of a southbound train
Now she’s got a fire burnin’ deep inside
Ridin’ on a southbound train
And the clickity-clack of that railroad track
Only helps to fan the flames
No more worries, no more cares
She left them up in Bangor, Maine
Now she’s startin’ a brand new life
Ridin’ on a southbound train
Whoa…
She said, ‘Hello sun, good mornin’ Daytona
You’re sure lookin’ good to me
With your ocean breeze and your tall palm trees
And your southern hospitality’
Now she’s a knockout queenie in a string bikini
She’s drivin’ all the boys insane
And this all started with a small town dream
And a ticket on a southbound train
‘Cause she had a fire burnin’ deep inside
Ridin’ on a southbound train
And the clickity-clack of that railroad track
Only helps to fan the flames
No more worries, no more cares
She left them up in Bangor, Maine
Yeah she likes the boys with the southern drawl
Soakin’ up the sunshine, havin’ a ball
She’ll be the first to tell you that she owes it all
To ridin’ on a southbound train
Whoa…oh…
Mountain Woodstock

The next act was the Grateful Dead.

Peace Love Art and Activism

Canned Heat Woodstock

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Canned Heat Woodstock

Canned Heat Woodstock

Canned Heat is on the Monument. Canned Heat is in the original movie release. Canned Heat is on the original soundtrack. They certainly deserved the triple.

It was around 7:30 PM when Chip Monck introduced Canned Heat. The sunset at 8 to end a sunny warm day.  The band would leave the stage about an hour and fifteen minutes later to cheers and applause.

Personnel:

Setlist:

  • I’m Her Man
  • Going Up the Country
  • A Change Is Gonna Come / Leaving This Town
  • I Know My Baby
  • Woodstock Boogie
  • On the Road Again
Canned Heat Woodstock

I’m Her Man

Canned Heat Woodstock
Canned Heat Hallelujah album cover

I’m Her Man  had appeared on their recently released Hallelujah album. Bob Hite wrote the song.

I found love sure is good to me
I found love sure is good to me
You know a man needs a woman though to keep him company
It feels good not to be alone
Oh so good not to be alone
I’m gonna make sure not to lose my happy home
Love can come and go
Why i sure don’t know
Never gonna let her go
You know love, is hard to understand
I said love is hard to understand
But it sure feels good to know that I’m her man
Love can come and go
Why i sure don’t know
Never gonna let her go
Canned Heat Woodstock

Going Up the Country

Canned Heat Woodstock
Living the Blues album cover. Release November 1, 1968

Going Up the Country was on their Living the Blues album, their third and a double alum. Alan Wilson wrote the song.

Before starting it, Bob Hite, as many other performers had, commented on the whole scene, mentioned a personal issue, and introduced a new band member.

“You know, this is the most outrageous spectacle I’ve ever witnessed, ever. There’s only one thing I wish: I sure gotta’ pee. And there ain’t nowhere to go. We’re gonna get one out here on the guitar and do a little Going Up the Country and I’d also like to take this  time to introduce you to our newest member. So now being official that Henry Vestine has left Canned Heat to form a group called Sun, we now have playing lead guitar Harvey Mandell…so everything’s together.”

I’m goin’ up the country, baby don’t you want to go?
I’m goin’ up the country, baby don’t you want to go?
I’m goin’ to some place, I’ve never been before
I’m goin’ I’m goin’ where the water tastes like wine
I’m goin’ where the water tastes like wine
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away
All this fussin’ and fightin’ man, you know I sure can’t stay
So baby pack your leavin’ trunk
You know we’ve got to leave today
Just exactly where we’re goin’ I cannot say
But we might even leave the U.S.A.
It’s a brand new game, that I want to play
No use in your runnin’, or screamin’ and cryin’
‘Cause you got a home as long as I’ve got mine
Canned Heat Woodstock

A Change Is Gonna Come/Leaving This Town

There is no studio recording of “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Bob Hite comments before, “Nothing like suckin’ on an orange. Kinda’ something neat about it. Reminds me of something…I do believe it’s a lovely evening for a boogie.”

During the song  a young man from the audience climbs on stage but instead Hite allows him to stay. The kid grabs the pack of Marlboro cigarettes from Hite’s tee-shirt while they hug each other. They share a cigarette. It was a perfect Woodstock moment.

I said I believe…
Yeah ’bout a change is gonna come

I said I believe…
Yeah people the change… will surely come

We all have good peace of mind
Lord, I free they will surely surely come

Yeah, I believe in the morning
I believe I go ah back home

Well, I’ll tell I believe I’m gonna get up in the morning
Yeah, people ah people, I’m gonna go back home

Well, now I gotta find my little mama
You know I gotta have some gratitude beyond

Well…I’m standing sown at he crossroads, 

My friend began to shout

Well, ah it’s all I’ve got my self a friend
Dolla I try… ah surely done

Well, when you’ve got yourself a good friend
You are the luckiest man on earth

I say you got yourself a good friend
Yeah now do know you’re the luckiest man on earth

‘Couse you’ve got love in your heart
Lord God’s good… all is winin’ call

Oh you gotta cool down

Well, I got to go an’ to when
When your troubles through to down mile

I said what you’re gonna do babe
Yeah time when your troubles show you to the line mile

Well, now you take youself a mouth full of sugar
You drink yourself a put of bottle turpentine

Well I believe in the morning yeah
‘Tou for it moun too tough

I said I believe in the big time
Lord roar the moan too tough

Well, I gotta find my little ride’
You know this time I’m goin’ back home

Well, I believe in this time on
Lord I wont be back for long

Well, I believe in this time …
Lord people I wont be back… go home

Well, now I got myself a grand of nothing
Child don’t you know it’s shocking I’ve been told

Canned Heat Woodstock

Rollin’ Blues

From the Woodstock Fandom site: “Rollin’ Blues”, originally written by John Lee Hooker, is a version of the Blues traditional “Rollin’ and Tumblin.'” Canned Heat recorded their version of “Rollin’ and Tumblin'” (which has hardly any similarities to “Rollin’ Blues”) on their first self-titled album. They also recorded and performed with Hooker, so it is not unusual that they played one of “his” songs at the festival.

Canned Heat Woodstock

Woodstock Boogie

Bob Hite again says the guitarists need some time to tune and that Sharon’s dad is looking for her backstage.

Alan Wilson says that new member Harvey continues the Canned Heat tradition of extensive re-tuning.

Again from the Woodstock Fandom site: The song “Woodstock Boogie” is basically an almost 30-minute jam, including a drum solo. On their album Boogie With Canned Heat  the song is called “Fried Hockey Boogie.“

Canned Heat Woodstock

On the Road Again

Before their encore, Hite explains how difficult the previous two weeks had been, that they even thought that the band might end.

Chip Monck has pretty much lost his patience with the tower climbers. He asked Hite if he could interrupt to tell them, “Get the fuck down!”

“On the Road Again” first appeared on their second album, Boogie with Canned Heat, in January 1968; when an edited version was released as a single in April 1968, “On the Road Again” became Canned Heat’s first record chart hit and one of their best-known songs.

Well, I’m so tired of crying
But I’m out on the road again
I’m on the road again
Well, I’m so tired of crying
But I’m out on the road again
I’m on the road again
I ain’t got no woman
Just to call my special friend
You know the first time I traveled
Out in the rain and snow
In the rain and snow
You know the first time I traveled
Out in the rain and snow
In the rain and snow
I didn’t have no payroll
Not even no place to go
And my dear mother left me
When I was quite young
When I was quite young
And my dear mother left me
When I was quite young
When I was quite young
She said, [“Lord, have mercy on my wicked son.”]
Take a hint from me, mama
Please don’t you cry no more
Don’t you cry no more
Take a hint from me, mama
Please don’t you cry no more
Don’t you cry no more
‘Cause it’s soon one morning
Down the road I’m going
But I ain’t going down
That long old lonesome road
All by myself
But I ain’t going down
That long old lonesome road
All by myself
I can’t carry you, baby
Gonna carry somebody else
Canned Heat Woodstock

The next act is Mountain.