A CHAT WITH COUNTRY JOE

magazine had a brief chat with iconic protest-singer Country Joe McDonald before his apprearance at this years Wychwood Music Festival.

The name Country Joe McDonald might not immediately ring a bell. Type the name into the search bar on Youtube and watch the first video on offer, what you will witness is one of the iconic moments of the sixties, if not of all time. Following his famous F-U-C-K chant (paid homage to, in amongst other things, the film Forest Gump) Joe stands alone on stage at Woodstock, guitar in hand and proceeds to lead a euphoric sing-along of his anti-war classic ‘I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag’. Lines such as ‘What are we fighting for? I don’t give damn, next stop Viet Nam. Got no time to wonder why, whoopee we’re all gonna die!’ ring just as true in today’s global climate as they did back then.

Country Joe McDonald performs 'I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag’ at Woodstock 1969 (taken from the film Woodstock):

Country Joe has always been a political voice (a voice of ‘moral conscience’) and a thorn in side of the establishment. “I grew up with political music, so it was natural for me to write about political things. In high school I wrote a song about a Martian who came to Earth and said vote for someone (my friend who was running for office), so I guess that was my first political song.”
Moving to Berkeley in the early sixties to attend university Joe played in several groups (mainly ones he had put together) before his most famous act Country Joe and the Fish were created as a political device - part entertainment and part necessity, playing before marches for the Berkeley FSM (Free Speech Movement).

Country Joe and the Fish, iconic imagery and political nostalgia aside, were a pioneering set of musicians in the mid-to-late sixties. From their folk beginnings they became pioneers of the wave of psychedelic sounds emanating from the US at the time: as recorded and live favourites they sit happily alongside the names of the main innovators of the era.

Country Joe and the Fish on TV:


The band released several classic albums and as a live act they were regulars on the festival circuit, including the most famous and iconic of them all – Woodstock.

After much haggling last minute Joe and the Fish were allowed onto the bill after a series of last minute cancellations. It is a known fact that the amount of people that descended on the event was colossal - the roads were clogged, the weather was terrible and due to the estimated 500,000 revellers in attendance, it was almost impossible for the artists to get to the site, let alone appear at their intended time. On the first day most acts were either trapped in their hotels rooms or trying to get to the stage. Joe found himself onstage at the end of Richie Havens appearance and stepped in with a short set to keep the crowds entertained, after four or five songs he decided to ‘do the rag’ and the rest, as they say, is history.

Country Joe and the Fish perform 'I Got Love' at Woodstock:

Joe describes Woodstock simply as ‘huge and fun’ and despite his amazing performance with the Fish, it was his solo performance of ‘I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag’ that changed his career and made him an icon and solo-performer in his own right. What did it feel like seeing such a large audience connect with your song and message?

“At the time I was not aware of it happening but seeing the film [Woodstock] it all comes together and I am delighted and proud of that moment.”

To this day ‘I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag’ remains a ‘crowd pleaser’, but wouldn’t Joe like to be more widely recognised for some of his other achievements in music and political activism?
“It would be nice to have my other work more well known and appreciated but on the other hand I am lucky to have a job and be known for anything.”

Although his liberal politics have put him out of favour with the establishment on numerous occasions (in the early seventies when he was performing as part of the agit-prop theatre group The F.T.A. Show, with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, Joe, whilst never actively stopped by military intelligence or the FBI, made it onto President Richard Nixon's enemies list) it is his use of a single four-letter word (chanted at performances) that has angered people most.

The ‘FUCK’ chant came about in 1968, when at the Shaefer Summer Festival in Woilman Rink in New York's Central Park in front of around 10,000 (and a further 10,000 outside the fence), for whatever reason, Joe changed the letters of the bands celebratory ‘FISH’ chant. In the audience were several executives from the Ed Sullivan Show, which the band were set to appear on at Christmas that year. After hearing a chant that ended in the line ‘Gimme a Fuck’, the execs bottled it.

A week later the executives signed the contract for the show, and sent over the full agreed payment for the performance, but with a request – ‘please don’t appear on the show – keep the money.’ The band were also never asked back to the Shaefer Summer Festival.

“I don’t think in our life times the word fuck will ever be accepted. It is still powerful and a novelty and useful,” explained Joe. “It turns out that it is the most taboo word in the English language.”
In his time Joe has been actively censored on many occasions, as with Ed Sullivan, but does he feel he has more freedom to express his views today?

“Censorship is still big but we are freer to express ourselves. It still can be dangerous to tell the truth.”
Today’s world is not too far removed from the climate in which Joe’s protests songs struck such a chord in the late sixties/early seventies and Joe is, as ever, outspoken – expressing his dislike for both George Bush and his war on terrorism.

“During George W. Bush’s tenure he has made many American Conservative’s dreams come true. They see the world as a hostile and strange place and want to make everyone be like them. This is of course not the way of the ‘American Dream’ of diversity and democracy so there is a new image of America as not a friend but a foe.”

“The problem with war is that armies are instruments of the upper class and soldiers are in essence slaves. Today, because of ecology, war is no longer an option. Think of it in terms of oxygen.”
From his time in the US Navy Joe has always had an affinity with those serving in military service and has a long history of voicing the concerns and tribulations of veterans in song, most famously during and following the US’s ill-fated war in Vietnam – has Joe had much contact with those returning from the middle-east during the recent conflicts?

“Not too much contact with the current crop of soldiers, but some with the families of soldiers. It is always the same for the military family during war: pain, anxiety , misery, death, terror, etc.”
Joe has had contact with, and has large respect for one such military family, that of Casey Sheehan. Following his death in action in Iraq his mother Cindy became one of America’s most prominent anti-Iraq war activists, garnering her international attention in August 2005 for her extended demonstration at a peace camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch garnering her both support and criticism.
“I had some interaction with Cindy Sheehan and her husband before they become activists. I have some experience with parents and siblings of soldiers who have been killed in war. Sometimes they are motivated by the death of their loved on to change their way of thinking and work against war. This is a very powerful statement about the loss and futility of war.”

The ‘futility of war’ isn’t the only thing that Joe has been vocal about. Since the 1970’s he has been a voice on environmental issues, and this has recently manifested itself with Joe partaking in a campaign to save several oak trees on the University of California campus. The university in Berkeley propose to cut down the trees to build a 142,000 square foot gymnasium and concrete plaza. Joe says that the action to save the trees in ongoing and ‘may or may not be successful.’

It’s not all political rhetoric with Country Joe, as he discusses his other interests it transpires that as well as being a musical pioneer, and protest icon he is also a world authority on Florence Nightingale.
“I became interested in her from getting to know Vietnam War nurses and wanting to write a song about them. She is after all the world’s first modern war nurse and nurse commander. I find every aspect of her life interesting: the Victorian era, her dysfunctional family, her liberal circle of friends who changed the world in so many ways; the way she is ignored and forgotten by her profession, her country and the world; the fact that she predicted this would happen; her legacy of nursing and nurse; her call from God. Her long life, her relationship with cats and more.”

To prove his knowledge Joe offers up the facts that Nightingale wrote more letters than anyone else in history and that she also invented the pie-chart – interesting stuff.

We have discussed his thoughts on politics, his music and events in his life but the question of what music currently moves him offers somewhat unexpected reply – Country Joe is a huge fan of hip-hop.
“Well I have been listening for maybe 10 years so it started back with De La Soul, Mix Alot, and Sugarhill Gang through Digital Planet, Beastie Boys and the Death Row Crew into Dre and Too Short and Paris and NWA. I don’t pay much attention to the new stuff now. I also like what we call party music which is rave music mixes. I just listen to it on the local party channel, I used to buy mixes sometimes but not any more.”

“I like the scene of hip hop for graffiti art and break-dance and its roots music samples and blackness. I also like the street language and political content. But of course some of it now is pop crap. I also like the rave stuff because it reminds me of the psychedelic scene – it’s ambient and bringing a total experience.”

Country Joe McDonald is an infinitely interesting character, and our brief correspondence has only scratched the surface of his life – we haven’t hit upon his career in underground films and television for starters. Reading the biography on his website throws up more and more interesting aspects to what he has done and is doing – he is a man worth reading up on.
Everyone may not agree with his liberal protests and political stance, but one thing that everyone can agree on is Joe’s place in musical and protest history.

Country Joe McDonald is visiting the UK this summer and will appear at the Wychwood Music Festival.

More at: countryjoe.com