Richie Havens

Richie Havens opened the Woodstock Festival in 1969, the emblematic event of cultural revolution in the late 60s, although he was initially scheduled to appear fifth on the bill.  His performance received continuous ovations in response to which he kept playing encores until he ran out of songs. Finally, he decided to weave together a version of the slave spiritual "Motherless Child," to which he added a repeated refrain of freedom.* The song became an international hit and Havens has continued to perform it for audiences until this day. 

*Motherless Child links to explanatory text in Wikepedia outlining the extensive interpretations and covers of the slave spiritual, stemming back to its performance by the 

Fisk Jubilee Singers in the late 1880s.