by Robert Wilkinson
Today we celebrate the birthday of an antiwar musical icon born on New Year’s Day, known for one big thing. But what a huge thing it was. Today we go Bay Area psychedelic!!
Country Joe McDonald (January 1, 1942) was the founder of the 60s Bay area psychedelic band, “Country Joe and the Fish.” Definitely anti-war and psychedelic in a major way, their sound was “very trippy,” as we used to say back in the day. This morning we'll fly, taking off from the corner of Haight and Ashbury!
First, the GREAT BIG THING he’s known for. Vietnam was one helluva a war, waged for no particular purpose except to prove to someone somewhere that we would bomb the hell out of a country just to prove we could. As I was draft age and had a card and a number, I was definitely one who had no problem singing along with Country Joe when his “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag” hit the airwaves.
In fact, it became somewhat of an anthem for millions of us. It is legend that he was booked on Ed Sullivan, but once the “Fish Cheer” took off, Ed told him to keep the money and don't bother to show up! That song sure did make a lot of war mongers very uptight. In fact, Country Joe's outspoken "leftist" views made a lot of fascists uptight. He actually made Nixon's "enemies list." Now THAT'S a political statement!!
For your enjoyment and amazement, here’s his very live performance at Woodstock in 1969 of the iconic “Fish Cheer” and “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag” which had been preceded by “Rock and Soul Music.” His first set at Woodstock was solo acoustic, and this clip surfaced this year of the tender ballad he wrote for his former girlfriend, “Janis” This video clip just surfaced! It’s the band at Woodstock performing “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine.” We’ll close his Woodstock set with “Love”
From the legendary Monterrey Pop Festival in the 1967 Summer of Love, the video of “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine” and the extremely psychedelic “Section 43."
Here’s the 21 minute audio set! Country Joe and the Fish Live at the Monterey Pop Festival
Everything which follows is before their classic performance at Woodstock.
Here’s an excellent 40 minute performance from Sweden in November 1968 which just surfaced! Country Joe and the Fish Live in Sweden 1968 (complete with the Acid Commercial and “The Bomb Song.”)
We now go to audio-only clips, some of which are great!
Here’s the first album, a protypical psychedelic offering in 1967 by CJ&TF titled Electric Music for the Mind and Body (I especially dig “Flyin’ High” and “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine,” but really the entire album is a great snapshot of acid music!)
Here’s a great score! It’s a live 27 minute performance by Country Joe and the Fish in February 1967! Country Joe and the Fish Live at the Carousel Ballroom - 1967 (They really were great players!)
I found this 41 minute gem from February 1968, same place! Country Joe and the Fish Live at the Carousel Ballroom - 1968
From 2 months later in April 1968, also at the Carousel, Joe and Barry joined Quicksilver Messenger Service in another great 42 minute show! Country Joe and a Fish with Quicksilver Messenger Service - 1968
From their 1967 second album, Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die, here’s the studio versions of “Janis” and “Thought Dreams,” which we'll follow “Eastern Jam”
Here’s 9 minutes of CJ&TF in 1968 live at the Bitter End in New York! Country Joe and the Fish Live “Who Am I,” “Love,” and “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die”
This is the first year I’ve seen this early EP. Recorded in June 1966 in Berkeley, it’s the earliest version of the band I’ve found. ”Bass Strings,” “Thing Called Love,” “Section 43."
It’s back! Here’s a great compilation album of an hour and 13 of his best over the years with different versions of the band! The Life and Times of Country Joe and the Fish – From Haight Ashbury to Woodstock
The original lineup broke up in January 1969, and their final show with Jack Cassidy filling in on bass was caught at the Fillmore West in Country Joe and the Fish Live! Fillmore West 1969
Right after Woodstock, they went on tv and performed this in front of a live audience. For your enjoyment, "The Love Machine."
He did an obscure tune in the UK in the early 1970s that most have never heard of. Musicians who played on the album included Fleetwood Mac founder and electric blues legend Peter Green, Spencer Davis, and some other greats. Check it out! "Hold On It's Coming."
Just in, a rare audio-only clip from The Bitter End that adds another facet to what millions of us believed at the time! For your enjoyment, "Tricky Dicky." ("... He's a genuine plastic man....")
For our closer, a little 33 second ditty advertising the virtues of their favorite medicine! "The Acid Commercial."
For our encore, the legendary Pete Seeger did his own version of the "Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag" in 1970! "Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag"
For our final encore, here' Country Joe and the Fish in a live intimate performance from June 9, 1970 on Playboy After Dark. For your enjoyment, an up close and personal live offering of "Sing Sing Sing." followed by "Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag"
Check out this one! This year’s special treat is a 31 minute movie about the band in 1967 titled A Day In The Life Of Country Joe & The Fish (It’s like a combination of A Hard Days’ Night shot as a home movie with a “plot” akin to an episode of the Monkees on acid without the gags.)
So a big happy to you, Country Joe! Kiss the Berserkeley skies for me! “What’s that spell, what’s that spell, what’s that spell....” For your consideration, the lyrics to the song that made a lot of warmongers very mad, and put a spotlight on Wall Street for good measure! Let's just hope we don't have to change the word Vietnam to Teheran, as we once did for Afghanistan. Maybe if we stop going to war in places that end in "an" or "am" we will be on track to restore sanity.....
Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag”
By Country Joe McDonald
Well, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Come on Wall Street, don't be slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of its trade,
But just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Now you can go out and get those reds
'Cause the only good commie is the one that's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Now come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, and don't hesitate
To send your sons off before it’s too late
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Article © Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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