The Fish Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To Die Rag Live Woodstock 1969
Country Joe and the Fish
Country Joe McDonald is named after Josef Stalin.
McDonald and Melton met as members of the Instant Action Jug Band. The original incarnation of the Fish was a jug band.
They were all arrested in Worcester, Massachusetts for inciting a crowd to lewd behavior by leading them in the infamous "FISH" cheer (Gimme an F - Gimme a U - etc.).
The band remained together long enough to appear in the 1971 film Zachariah.
McDonald has become involved in causes ranging from Vietnam veterans to saving the whales.
McDonald has a daughter named Seven. No joke, Seinfeld fans.
The Fish briefly reunited in 1977 for a tour and an album, Reunion.
In 1992, Melton ran for a city judgeship in Mendocino, California. He lost.
Country Joe McDonald performed solo and with The Fish at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. McDonald says he was "scared to death" and had to be pushed onstage for his solo performance.
1965-1970
Country Joe McDonald Vocals, guitar 1965-1970
Barry Melton Guitar 1965-1970
David Cohen Guitar, keyboards 1965-1970
Bruce Barthol Bass 1965-1970
Chicken Hirsch Drums 1965-1970
The Fish Cheer is a satire of US government attitudes toward the Vietnam War. Country Joe McDonald released it at the height of the war after he had been discharged from the US Navy for several years. He wrote it in about 30 minutes after it popped into his head.
The song attempts to put blame for the war upon the politicians and leaders of the US military and the industry that makes its money from war, but not upon those who had to fight the war: the soldiers. It expresses the thoughts of a person trapped in the military system and forced to go to war by something called "conscription." Conscription, or the "draft" as it was called, was a system that picked young people and forced them into the military and into the war. The only other choice was jail or an attempt to "dodge the draft" for religious, physical or mental reasons. It was very hard to get out of the draft because so many people were being killed in the war that they would take just about anyone.
The Fish Cheer attempts to address the horror of going to war with a dark sarcastic form of humor called "GI humor." GI humor is a way people have of complaining about their situation so it will not get them in trouble and keep them from going insane in an insane environment like war.
This was the title song for Country Joe & the Fish's second album. When they performed it at Woodstock, they created one of the more memorable moments of the festival when they led the crowd in the "Fish Cheer":
The album version of the Fish Cheer: "Gimme an F... Gimme an I... Gimme an S... Gimme an H..."
At Woodstock, the Fish Cheer was uncensored.
The first version of this song was an acoustic rendition recorded at Arhoolie Records Studios in El Cerrito, California, in 1965. McDonald released a limited number of copies on his own text limit
