<P> According to Matthews his band's BBC Radio performance of "Woodstock" echoed the Joni Mitchell original: however for their studio recording of the song - made at the Willesden Green studio Morgan Sound - the band radically customized the song's arrangement . Matthews would later admit to unease upon eventually meeting Joni Mitchell because he had changed the melody - (Ian Matthews quote:) "I couldn't reach (her) high notes" - but Mitchell replied that she preferred his arrangement . Matthews Southern Comfort bassist Andy Leigh would recall: "We took (the song) apart and reassembled it and we knew we had something . We were an album band . We didn't do singles" - in fact Uni had issued one single off each of the first two of the three Matthews Southern Comfort albums - "But we knew this (track)... was something special". </P> <P> MCA Records - Uni's parent company - agreed to release Matthews Southern Comfort's version of "Woodstock" only if the Crosby Stills Nash & Young version failed to chart in the United Kingdom: when that proved to be the case MCA (Andy Leigh quote:) "reluctantly released ours because of that agreement but they wouldn't spend a penny on promotion...But our managers, who were excellent, hired a PR, a songplugger . Tony Blackburn, who had the breakfast show on Radio 1, played' Woodstock' and kept playing it and other DJs started doing the same ." Matthews would recall that once Tony Blackburn made "Woodstock" by Matthews Southern Comfort his record of the week, "it began to sell 30,000 copies a day, eventually going from #10 to #1 in a week ." </P> <P> Issued on 24 July 1970, "Woodstock" debuted on the UK Top 50 on 26 September 1970 and reached #1 on 31 October 1970 remaining there for two additional weeks: a #2 hit in Ireland, "Woodstock" also had widespread success on the European continent, charting in Austria (#15), Denmark (#9), Finland (#23), Germany (#27), the Netherlands (#17), Norway (#2), Poland (#2), and Sweden (#2). In early 1971, the track also reached #3 in South Africa, #4 in New Zealand, and was a minor hit in Australia (#55). </P> <P> In November 1970 "Woodstock" by Matthews Southern Comfort had its US single release on the group's regular US label: MCA affiliate Decca Records . Initially the single's US release had only marginal impact, with "Woodstock" by Matthews Southern Comfort spending six weeks on the 101 - 150 singles chart in Record World in December 1970 - January 1971 and then dropping off having peaked at #110 . However upon "Woodstock" 's January 1970 single release in Canada - where a 30% Canadian Content radio airplay quota was being phased in - the track received airplay at least partially because of its Canadian authorship, and assisted by airplay on Canadian radio stations with US listeners - notably CKLW, the Windsor ON station credited with the track's Canadian "breakout" - "Woodstock" accrued newfound US interest, debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 6 March 1971 at #83 to rise to a #23 Hot 100 that May . In Canada "Woodstock" reached a #5 peak on the RPM 100 singles chart . </P>

We are stardust and we've gotta get ourselves back to the garden