100

Music therapy has been so profound for me this whole journey… this week alone probably three or four songs… this month probably 20 or more…. this last three months maybe 100 – or more – i won’t get to write about all of them – maybe I will start a separate chapter for them…

But today this song is me. WOODSTOCK

WOODSTOCK, Journey Back to the Garden, 19MAR

Joni Mitchell never made it Woodstock in 1969, she had to get on the Dick Cavett show, it was so important for her career so she could not risk getting stuck there with the millions and the mud.  But she wrote this song for her comrades in song, CSN, as well as for herself: “WOODSTOCK”.

Joni Mitchell is my favorite female artist my favorite female songwriter. I invoke not only my Joni Mitchell hair but I so feel myself in so many of her pieces. I didn’t make it to Woodstock, either, I was born the year of Woodstock, 1969. For the 25th anniversary I turned 25 and my friend Bruce (who was at Woodstock) felt so old…  but that is life – we all join this journey at different times of man.

As I am journeying – everything in this song calls out to me:   “I came upon a child of God he was walking along the road and I asked him where are you going?”   Please read ALL the lyrics below because they really pertain to me – they all so mean so much…

I have met so many “child of God” folks walking… journeying… making their way to Woodstock.. making their way back to the garden. I have connected with so many of them on so many levels…

So many references in this song: “a child of God in a rock and roll band” – yep I know him – I know her – (actually quite a few hims and hers);

“Trying to get my soul free” – we don’t achieve this – we have to actually openly receive this – yes this is Grace – but we have to accept it;

“Can I walk beside you?” – yes, I had to call out for help for prayer for discernment and for learning… the Holy Spirit moves in and thru me… a wild ride;

Getting ourselves “golden” –  yep that matches a Kintsukuroi pottery sermon piece from Pastor – about showing our flaws where God, our Potter, has repaired then with golden healing as an example to others – we are more beautiful because of these golden repairs;

The “butterflies” – yep that’s something my friend is looking for as a sign;

Being “stardust” –  so much stargazing in my life and my essays these days – and the comfort from the stars is amazing – and the dust? yup – for dust you are and to dust you will return;

“I don’t know who I am but life is for learning” –  me me me;

“bombers turning into butterflies” – that’s world peace –  always a prayer;

“getting back to the garden” – a devotional teaching piece that Pastor used this month for my UMW meeting – I thought he meant the garden of Gethsemane but no – the garden of Eden (see, I need education and reflection so much);

and are “WE caught in the devil’s bargain” ? –  you better believe we are!!!  That’s why we are all journeying –  walking along the road back to the garden.

I have always loved this song –  now I know it’s me..

Do you think you could come walk with me? I could use the company…

I think we will get back to the garden – just not in our time here on earth – but we will get there…in God’s time… if we keep walking…

———————–

“WOODSTOCK”

JONI MITCHELL

I came upon a child of God

He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me…
I’m going on down to Yasgur’s farm
I’m going to join in a rock ‘n’ roll band
I’m going to camp out on the land
I’m gonna try and get my soul free

We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it’s the time of man
I don’t know who l am
But ya know life is for learning,

We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation

We are stardust
Billion-year-old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

——–

I recommend: a 1970 live  https://youtu.be/cRjQCvfcXn0 version

and many years later  https://youtu.be/ZEaRuuTKvyM