cannabisnews.com: Country Joe McDonald Revives Anti-War Anthem










  Country Joe McDonald Revives Anti-War Anthem

Posted by CN Staff on April 16, 2004 at 11:32:58 PT
By Richard Brenneman 
Source: Berkeley Daily Planet  

Born on New Years Day 1942 in Washington D.C. to a Jewish mother and a Presbyterian minister father and named after Soviet leader Josef Stalin, Berkeley’s Country Joe McDonald went on to star at two of the seminal musical events of the ‘60s—the 1968 Monterey Pop Festival and, a year later, Woodstock.With their “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag,” his Country Joe and the Fish band became icons of the anti-Vietnam War movement. Their notorious “Fish Cheer” captured on film at Woodstock (“Gimme an F! Gimme a U! Gimme a C! Gimme a K!”) heralded a new and widely celebrated defiance of convention.
And then it was over, the band dissolving at the peak of their popularity.The Berkeley-born band has now reunited, minus guitarist Barry “Fish” Melton, as the Country Joe Band. And while they may be a little more sedate and a lot grayer, McDonald and company have kept the puckish spirit that made them band a major force in the countercultural and anti-war scenes of three decades ago.Berkeley residents will get a chance to see the resurrected Fish perform in Berkeley this Sunday at 8 p.m. in the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St., in a concert benefit for Options Recovery Services.“I’m really glad to get this event in Berkeley,” McDonald said. “Options Recovery is a really good 12-step program. They operate out of the Veterans Memorial Building, working with homeless people with drug and alcohol problems—many of them vets, which is a cause dear to my heart.“[It’s] thanks to a 12-step program [that] I don’t do drugs or alcohol anymore,” he explained, adding with a smile, “although I’ve had my share.” The last entry in the marijuana news section of his web site is dated Nov. 19, 2001.“I’ve been trying to bring the band back together for a long time, especially since I’d been unsuccessful in getting other musicians to play the psychedelic music of that era,” McDonald said. “I started working on it about six months ago, and it soon became apparent that Barry Melton’s schedule was too full, and since he’s the ‘Fish,’ we’re now the Country Joe Band. We’re sounding very good.”Lead guitarist Melton now heads the Yolo County Public Defenders Office in Woodland, supervising the 21 lawyers who represent poor and indigent criminal defendants and playing gigs in clubs across Northern California.The band’s partial reunion was sparked by the announcement that the World Peace Music Awards had decided to honor them as American musicians who lent their musical talent to the movement to end the war in Vietnam.Other recipients of the “Life of Peace” awards at the June 26 ceremony in Hanoi are other veterans of Berkeley in the ‘60s: Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Harry Belafonte, the folk-singing trio Peter Paul and Mary, and the late Vietnamese composer Trinh Cong Son.Meanwhile, the “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” has renewed meaning in the days of an Iraqi war that is being increasingly compared to Vietnam. “A lot of young people haven’t heard the rag, but a lot have because of the Woodstock film. We’ll be doing some of the psychedelic instrumentals and love songs from our first two albums, a few songs from Woody Guthrie, and a new song, “Cakewalk to Baghdad,” about the Iraq war,” McDonald said, leaning back in his perch on the comfortable couch in his 1915 home on a quiet North Berkeley street.“We’re thinking about making a CD, but we’re just handling it one day at a time. We’ll just see what happens.”One hopeful sign for longtime fans is the planned DVD of an upcoming performance in Sebastopol, part of a tour that includes the Berkeley appearance.“What we hope to do with our tour is provide a little humor and validate our audiences’ goodness,” McDonald said. “We play pretty nice and we try to make fun of the president—a fine old American tradition. We hope to have a few reverent moments.” The he grinned. “And maybe make a few bucks, too.”Meanwhile McDonald, who lives in a comfortable North Berkeley bungalow with his spouse and two children, said he’s spent much of his time in recent years caring for his children and home while his wife works as a delivery room nurse.Nursing has become one of McDonald’s special passions, and led to his creation of a web page (www.countryjoe.com/nightingale/fnstore.htm) devoted to Florence Nightingale, who’s heroic effort tending for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War is considered the founding event of modern nursing. McDonald’s efforts on behalf of nursing have garnered considerable praise from the profession.McDonald grew up in El Monte, Cal., where his parents moved because their Communist Party activities had brought down too much heat. “They became disenchanted with the Communist Party,” he said, “and growing up I knew them as what you’d call left-wing liberals, the kind ‘compassionate conservatives’ loathe.”He’s been a familiar face around Berkeley since he first arrived here in 1965, as the campus was moving from the era of the Free Speech Movement into that of the Anti-War Movement. He teamed up with Melton not long afterward. Country Joe and the Fish started out as a duo, and turned into a band after McDonald and Melton signed a recording contract with Vanguard Records.Gary “Chicken” Hirsh had come to Berkeley from Chicago “where any self-respecting drummer is born,” he said. He’d “been playing with a few other bands when I ran into Barry Melton in the Café Mediterraneum on Telegraph Avenue, having recently been kicked out of the California College of Arts and Crafts for using the word ‘fuck’ on a final. I was critiquing the teacher’s questions.”It was two weeks before recording was to commence on the first album, and Melton was looking for a drummer. “So I raised my hand and said, ‘I’ll go,’” Hirsch said.He was joined by bass player Bruce Barthol and David Bennett Cohen on keyboard and guitar. And though McDonald wrote the ban’s trademark “Fixin’-to-Die Rag” before their first album, it didn’t appear until their second.With their appearance at Woodstock, the band became an international sensation before dissolving at the peak of their popularity. They reunited briefly for two gigs in 1994, one in Berkeley and the other at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Melton bowed out the day before the first performance.Hirsh eventually moved to Ashland, Ore., where he established himself as a painter while he continued to play his drums. Barthol is well-known to Bay Area residents as a performer and the resident composer and lyricist with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Cohen now lives in New York, where he continues to perform.For fans who can’t wait until Sunday evening to catch a reprise of Joe’s signature song, go to -- http://www.countryjoe.com/ -- and scroll do to “Musical Notes” and click on the song. That leads to a page with the lyric and a place for click for a streaming audio rendition.Then sit back, relax and enjoy—especially the memorable chorus that begins:“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. . .”The Country Joe Band benefit for Options Recovery Services takes place this Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets $20. Call 666-9552 for information and tickets.Source: Berkeley Daily Planet (US CA)Author: Richard BrennemanPublished: Friday, April 16, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Berkeley Daily PlanetContact: opinion berkeleydailyplanet.net Website: http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/Country Joe McDonaldhttp://www.countryjoe.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml

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Comment #31 posted by FoM on April 17, 2004 at 16:13:14 PT
I Really Enjoyed This Thread
I guess wishing that a thread could stay fairly close on topic just is a dream. What can I say. Thanks everyone for what Country Joe and The Fish said to you from way back many many years ago.
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Comment #30 posted by Virgil on April 17, 2004 at 15:46:46 PT
Not me but Melamede says two things
One of the facts that surfaced recently because of the new laws proposed for Illinois is that 100,000 people will be diagnosed with glaucoma this year in Illinois. We are all familiar with the glaucoma issue and even the Jamaician medicine for the condition. The first paragraph by Melamede raises an entirely new issue in that cannabis may prevent blindness in people with diabetes. The second paragraph was just hard hitting to the prohibitionist cause and talk like that from a doctor no less is extremely damaging. It shows why the media must be controlled for prohibition to gasp on.I thought the second paragraph to be brilliant word smithing and the first contained a very new idea concerning blindness in diabetics. Here is the way it looks at MAPinc] Subj: 003 US CO: PUB LTE: Medical Marijuana
] Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 21:48:54 -0700
] URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n586.a03.htmlPubdate: Fri, 16 Apr 2004
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2004 The Gazette
Contact: Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165
Author: Dr. Robert Melamede
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)MEDICAL MARIJUANAAllard Ignores Legalization BenefitsI and my family attended the Town Meeting hosted by Senator Allard. I left 
saddened by his inability to consider the scientific facts discovered by 
scientists all over the world that support the use of marijuana to relieve 
the suffering caused by many diseases. It was particularly sad to see blind 
diabetics who might still have their vision had they used medical marijuana.I am puzzled by those conservatives who make decisions that not only ignore 
facts, but are anti-capitalist, anti-free market, anti-states rights, and 
anti-individual freedom and responsibility when it comes to marijuana. 
Furthermore, the black market, made by making marijuana use a law 
enforcement issue rather than a medical one, now provides financial 
support for terrorist organizations such as seen with the hashish trade 
supporting the terrorists in Madrid. Recent anti-terrorist legislation 
makes it a crime to aid and abet terrorist organizations. The drug warriors 
of America do just that, but who will prosecute them?Dr. Robert Melamede, Associate Professor and Biology ChairmanBiology Department, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, CO
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on April 17, 2004 at 15:33:41 PT
Virgil
I'm sorry but I don't understand what you are saying. Can you explain so I know? Thanks.
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Comment #28 posted by Virgil on April 17, 2004 at 14:10:39 PT
Robert Melamede in comment24
Robert Melamede is the doctor that is on pot-tv from time to time and resides in Colorado. The link Jose put up was only two paragraphs. The first one mentioned that Free Cannabis might save the eyesight in diabetics. The second one is like a thunderous right to the head in boxing. 
       
It is a powerful paragraph that by someone with MD after their name that ran the informational blockade. It is very noteworthy. The only reason it is not copied here is because it is more fitting to copy it to http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread18663.shtml#8
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on April 17, 2004 at 11:28:00 PT
billos 
I didn't know that. 
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on April 17, 2004 at 11:26:57 PT
Aragorn 
Thanks that was very interesting to read.
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on April 17, 2004 at 08:20:53 PT
Jose
Please try to comment on the articles and not post links that are off topic. I know you know it is important to me. Thanks.
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Comment #24 posted by jose melendez on April 17, 2004 at 05:23:21 PT
and AGAIN!
This message resonates. Keep writing, everyone! "Recent anti-terrorist legislation makes it a crime to aid and abet terrorist organizations.  The drug warriors of America do just that, but who will prosecute them? " Dr.  Robert Melamede, Associate Professor and Biology Chairman Biology Department, University of Colorado http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n586/a03.html?397
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Comment #23 posted by jose melendez on April 17, 2004 at 04:23:34 PT
speak OUT!
Check out this letter to the editor. Sound familiar? Sic' em!" . . . criminalize prohibition, prosecute prohibitionists as the enablers and deluded enrichers of organized crime . . . "http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n586/a09.html?397
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Comment #22 posted by billos on April 17, 2004 at 03:37:29 PT:
Nixon hated Country Joe Mc........
all that he stood for and represented....ie: hippies.The story of how Nixon had an official report in his slimey hands that recommended cannabis be decriminilized
 
for it is no more a threat than caffiene or cigarettes haunts me.
I can picture Tricky Dicky sitting there with the report
while listening to Country Joe. Half way through the song Tricky got pissed and threw the report in the trash, called Congress and told them to put cannabis in shedule I.honestly - the way it really did happen would probably not be far from the context of this scenario. 
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Comment #21 posted by E_Johnson on April 17, 2004 at 00:11:20 PT
Dunedain
I was in Golden Gate Park.
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Comment #20 posted by Aragorn on April 16, 2004 at 22:41:18 PT
Remembering...
    On May 4, 1971, I sat in a tree on the Capitol lawn at the front of a crowd of 500,000 people, marveling at the spectacle before me. Country Joe McDonald had just sung the “Fixin’ to Die Rag” and led the crowd into the “Fish Cheer”-the modified version-and as the call “What’s that spell?” followed by the thunderous one-word response continued for at least ten minutes, all the way down Pennsylvania Ave. , the tree I was in-and all the trees around me-began to shake from the soundwave generated by a half a million people shouting...
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on April 16, 2004 at 21:13:02 PT
Just a Comment
The news today has made me think about how things were and how they are now. It's been interesting and all because of this article about Country Joe McDonald. The Internet is just so great and we all are great here too on CNews. I don't take anything lightly so I mean it when I say it is a remarkable journey we've been on these last 5 years. I believe the reform movement surrounding cannabis has matured and turned into a force that will be hard to stop. The Internet has done it for us. I've mentioned before that I talk on a Neil Young board. I mostly read but now and then talk and the people are just as dedicated to what they are into as we are here. Everything that is important is getting connected online and I marvel at the life that the Internet has and almost on it's own. It works fine and it gets bugs and viruses and it gets punch around by hackers and it stands. We are so lucky to be doing what we are doing now in this time in history. 
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on April 16, 2004 at 20:32:37 PT
A Story Some Might Want To Read
This is an article with many names in it. I thought you might want to read it so I'm posting a portion and the link. Here it is.***Judge Refuses Probation for Man Convicted of Selling MarijuanaHahn gets 10 years for drug offenseDaily Journal Staff WriterApril 15, 2004FARMINGTON -- A Farmington man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling marijuana.Circuit Court Judge Sandra Martinez sentenced Robert H. Hahn, 26, to 10 years for sale of a controlled substance. The sentence will run concurrent with another case he had been on probation for.According to court records, Hahn sold more than five grams of marijuana to a confidential informant.Hahn's attorney, Daris Almond, asked the judge to consider probation or 120-day drug treatment despite the State Board of Probation and Parole's recommendation against probation.Almond argued that Hahn is not a dangerous man and the presentence investigation report did not say he was a threat to society.Almond said Hahn has already taken enormous steps toward rehabilitation. He said his probation officer said Hahn has made a complete turn-around.Almond said Hahn has had problems with drugs and alcohol since he was a teen.But Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Patrick King said he didn't think it was possible for Hahn to succeed on probation. King pointed out Hahn had completed a 120-day shock treatment and had been on probation only six months when these violations occurred.Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.mydjconnection.com/articles/2004/04/15/community/news4.txt
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on April 16, 2004 at 19:07:06 PT
mayan
Thank you for the link. I believe the draft will be activated once we lose a large number of troops within a short time frame. They then will say what choice do we have we need men and women to defend us! It's that simple in my mind.
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Comment #16 posted by mayan on April 16, 2004 at 18:19:45 PT
GCW...
You're right. As unfortunate as that is, a military draft might be the only thing that can wake Americans up out of their slumber. http://www.bushdraft.com/
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Comment #15 posted by goneposthole on April 16, 2004 at 18:16:01 PT
lighter side.. how's this?
Well, come on pot heads, let's get baked;Our big chance to eat that cake.Gotta go out and get those buds —The only good bud is bud that's toked,And you know that peace can only be funWhen we've smoked 'em all to kingdom come.
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Comment #14 posted by Virgil on April 16, 2004 at 18:12:20 PT
Not whistling Dixie
I wish I was in a land not rottenwhere common good was not forgoten.Gone away! Gone away!Gone away! Common sense.The thinking land where I was bornnow fills the world with scorn.Gone away! Gone away!Gone away! Common sense.Oh I wish there was reality.Hooray! Hooray!In common sense I'll take my standTo live and cry in reality.Away, away,Away far out in reality.A link to the words of Dixie- http://www.countrygoldusa.com/dixie.asp
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Comment #13 posted by The GCW on April 16, 2004 at 18:06:31 PT
Bush must restart the draft
to continue.Talk about an issue that should get high school youth to rush out and register to vote...
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on April 16, 2004 at 17:09:10 PT
I Got One Too!
Well, come on swat teams, let's move fast;Your big chance has come at last.Gotta go out and get those heads —The only good hippie is the one who's deadAnd you know that peace can only be wonWhen we've blown 'em all to kingdom come. 
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Comment #11 posted by E_Johnson on April 16, 2004 at 16:25:26 PT
Here's another verse
And it's one two three What are we fighting for?Don't ask me 'cause I'm too afraid to talk.There's a new rapist on my cell block.And it's five six seven Open up the pearly gates.I'm not waiting to get raped.Instead I'd rather just die!
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Comment #10 posted by E_Johnson on April 16, 2004 at 16:20:28 PT
We need one for this war
The war that everyone calls a war but nobody wants to admit is a war.
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on April 16, 2004 at 15:09:07 PT
billos 
I like the new words too! Thanks! Vietnam what a time it was. It was a time where we started asking why and dared to disagree. It was a bitter sweet time for me. I'm glad you made it home!
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Comment #8 posted by billos on April 16, 2004 at 15:05:18 PT:
Just change a few words.....
and the song can remain the same for Iraq. Something like........Well common' all of you big strong menUncle Sam needs your help again.Got hisself in a terrible rackway oer yonder in Big Iraq....Put down ur books and pick up a gunwere gonna have a whole lotta fun! ! ! !.......FOM.............I was in Nam too in '72.....I remember it well as I do this song. 
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on April 16, 2004 at 14:24:07 PT
For Those Who Don't Know This Song
And for those who remember it very well!I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag: http://www.countryjoe.com/col9.ram
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 16, 2004 at 13:40:32 PT
Fear The Great Disabling Word
Fear stops so much good from happening. It's hard when no one really knows who the enemy is. Who should we fear and why?
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Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on April 16, 2004 at 13:30:04 PT
We ARE the new Soviet Union
We have the GULag, and we have the citizens who don't care, and we have the citizens who do care but are afraid to speak out.We supposedly have a two party system but on this issue, we don't, not really.NO debate on this subject will be allowed during the campaign. Just watch.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 16, 2004 at 12:26:07 PT
Dankhank
That's a cool story. My husband was in Vietnam from 69 to 71 ( two tours) and when I met him he wore a boonie hat and a camouflage jacket. On the back of the jacket was Snoopy laying on the top of his dog box. It said when I die I'm going to Heaven because I spent my time in Hell - 1969 - 1971. I just loved it!
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Comment #3 posted by Dankhank on April 16, 2004 at 12:14:34 PT:
Fixin to die ...
I was in basic training in Apr71 at Fort Campbell during the VietNam War having recently been drafted.
After basic I was held over for a security clearance issue, I was born in Germany and had no proof of American citizenship with me.It took a while to get straight, so, along with a couple of other guys we were "holdovers" till we got straight.We did stuff like guarding the weapons of the new recruits as they attended classes and were gofers for the "Drills," Drill Sergeants.On the second Sunday of the new cycle the Drill that had "Duty" that day got bored, formed the company of trainees in the yard and had a sing-a-long.I was on the step with the other holdovers and the Drill helping to chivvy the recruits. We sang easy patriotic songs, some cadence songs and then things slowed down while we were thinking of more songs to sing.I had an idea, communicated it to a couple ofthe other holdovers and we ran into the barracks, found paper and pens and wrote four copies of the lyrics to a song.We ran back out and passed the papers to the guys, spreading them out.Then we told the drill that we had another song, he agreed, and we started to sing the Fish Cheer with the kinda gusto you'd expect from a bunch of mostly draftees.Needless to say, the songfest ended abruptly, though we got a complete verse/chorus in and had started the next before it ended.
Hemp N Stuff
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 16, 2004 at 12:10:06 PT
I Know What You Mean EJ
What is he saying? How does he feel now about the war on drugs and the war in Iraq. Hopefully he will speak out for us. Fear keeps artists from talking and yet what do they have to lose? They have their lives and most have enough money so what keeps them so quiet? Artists must be true to themselves and us.
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on April 16, 2004 at 12:02:24 PT
What are they really trying to say?
So -- what is his position on the current war, that is, the war on drugs? It's hard to tell from this. We have him playing at a recovery benefit, and we have this Vietnam antiwar nostalgia.This is giving me Soviet deja vu. Nothing is said but at the same time, the fact that nothing is said means that in fact everything was said.
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