"Woodstock" became an international hit in 1970 and 1971 thanks to a recording by Matthews Southern Comfort. The group performed "Woodstock" in the UK's Live in Concert program, broadcast by BBC Radio 1 on 28 June 1970. Front man Iain Matthews recalled later that the group had prepared three songs for the session but the BBC needed one more, and he had suggested an impromptu cover of "Woodstock", having heard Joni Mitchell's version on her Ladies of the Canyon album earlier that week. There was a positive response to the song after the broadcast and the BBC contacted Matthews's label, Uni Records. According to Matthews, the label "had no idea what the [BBC] were talking about and contacted my management, who asked me about it. Uni suggested that we record the song and add it to the newly recorded Matthews Southern Comfort album, Later That Same Year (ultimately appearing on its US edition and subsequent re-issues). I declined to mess with the completed album, but agreed to have them release the song as a single.