Woodstock icon "Country" Joe McDonald, known for his Vietnam protest song, dies at 84
The Associated Press is reporting that counterculture icon “Country” Joe McDonald has died at age 84.
NEW YORK (AP) — “Country” Joe McDonald, a hippie rock star of the 1960s whose “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” was a four-lettered rebuke to the Vietnam War that became an anthem for protesters and a highlight of the Woodstock music festival, died Sunday. He was 84.
McDonald, who performed with his band, Country Joe and the Fish, died in Berkeley, California. His death from complications of Parkinson’s disease was reported by Kathy McDonald, his wife of 43 years, in a statement issued by his publicist.
McDonald was a longtime presence in the Bay Area music scene, where peers included the Grateful Dead, the Jefferson Airplane and his onetime girlfriend, Janis Joplin. He wrote or co-wrote hundreds of songs, from psychedelic jams to soul-influenced rockers, and released dozens of albums. But he was known best for a talking blues he completed in less than an hour in 1965 — the year President Lyndon Johnson began sending ground forces to Vietnam — and recorded in the Berkeley home of Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz.
Rolling Stone added:
McDonald, who recorded over 30 albums in a prolific career that spanned from the early Sixties to the mid-2010s, was best known for his 1965 protest song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag,” penned at the onset of the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. McDonald said he was inspired to “write a song about how soldiers have no choice in the matter, but to follow orders, but with the irreverence of rock & roll. It was essentially punk rock before punk existed,” he told the New York Times in 2017.
“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,” McDonald, a U.S. Navy veteran, sings. “And it’s five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates/Well there ain’t no time to wonder why/Whoopie! We’re all gonna die!”
And with Donald Trump getting us into a terrible jam in Iran, this song is as relevant today as it was in 1969 at Woodstock. “And it’s one, two, three, what are we fighting for?”
Here are the lyrics:
Intro Spoken
Give me an "F! ..."F"! give me a "U"! ..."U"!
Give me a "C"! ..."C" Give me a "K"! ..."K"!
WHATS THAT SPELL? ..."FUCK!" (x5)
Well come on all of you big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again,
he got himself in a terrible jam, way down yonder in Vietnam,
put down your books and pick up a gun, we're gunna have a whole lotta fun.
CHORUS
and its 1,2,3 what are we fightin for?
don't ask me i don't give a damn, the next stop is Vietnam,
and its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates. Well there aint no time to wonder why...WHOPEE we're all gunna die.
now come on wall street don't be slow, why man this's war a-go-go,
there's plenty good money to be made, supplyin' the army with the tools of the trade,
just hope and pray that when they drop the bomb, they drop it on the Vietcong.
CHORUS
now come on generals lets move fast, your big chance is here at last.
nite you go out and get those reds cuz the only good commie is one thats dead,
you know that peace can only be won, when you blow em all to kingdom come.
CHORUS
(spoken)- listen people i dont know you
expect to ever stop the war if you cant sing any better than that...
theres about 300,000 of you fuc|ers out there.. i want you to start
singing..
CHORUS
now come on mothers throughout the land, pack your boys off to vietnam,
come on fathers don't hesitate, send your sons off before its too late,
be the first one on your block, to have your boy come home in a box
CHORUS
Alright!!
Just a few changes to the lyrics and it could easily be changed into an Iran War protest song.
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