On August 15, 1969, the Woodstock music festival opens on a patch of farmland in White Lake, a hamlet in the upstate New York town of Bethel.

Promoters John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield and Michael Lang originally envisioned the festival as a way to raise funds to build a recording studio and rock-and-roll retreat near the town of Woodstock, New York. The longtime artists’ colony was already a home base for Bob Dylan and other musicians.

Despite their relative inexperience, the young promoters managed to sign a roster of top acts, including the Jefferson Airplane, the Who, the Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival and many more.

Lyrics

Well, I stand up next to a mountain

And I chop it down with the edge of my hand

Well, I stand up next to a mountain

And I chop it down with the edge of my hand

Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island

Might even raise a little sand

Yeah

'Cause I'm a voodoo child

Lord knows I'm a voodoo child, baby

I want to say one more last thing

I didn't mean to take up all your sweet time

I'll give it right back to you one of these days, hahaha

I said I didn't mean to take up all your sweet time

I'll give it right back one of these days

Oh yeah

If I don't meet you no more in this world, then

I'll meet you in the next one

And don't be late

Don't be late

'Cause I'm a voodoo child, voodoo child

Lord knows I'm a voodoo child, baby

I'm a voodoo child, baby

I don't take no for an answer

Question no

Lord knows I'm a voodoo child, baby