Country Joe and the Fish "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die
Rag"
History
The group's name is derived from communist politics[citation needed];
"Country Joe" was a popular name for Joseph Stalin in the 1940s, while
"the fish" refers to Mao Zedong's
statement that the true revolutionary "moves through the peasantry as the
fish does through water." The group began with the nucleus of "Country Joe" McDonald (lead vocals) and Barry "The Fish"
Melton (lead guitar), recording and performing for the "Teach-in"
protests against the Vietnam War in
1965. Co-founders McDonald and Melton added musicians as needed over the life
of the band. By 1967, the group included Gary "Chicken" Hirsh (drums) (born
March 9, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois);
David Cohen (keyboards) (born August 4, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York) and Bruce Barthol
(bass) (born November 11, 1947 in Berkeley,
California). The 1967 lineup lasted only two years, and by the
1969 Woodstock Festival, the lineup included Greg 'Duke' Dewey
(drums), Mark Kapner (keyboards) and Doug Metzler (bass).
The band came to perform an early example of psychedelic rock.
The LP Electric Music for the Mind and Body
was very influential on early FM Radio in 1967. Long sets of psychedelic tunes
like "Section 43", "Bass Strings", "Not So Sweet
Martha Lorraine", "Janis" (for and about Janis Joplin) and
"Grace" (for singer Grace Slick) (all
released on Vanguard
Records) were often played back to back on KSAN and KMPX in San
Francisco and progressive rock stations around the country. Their first album
charted at #39 on September 23, 1967, their 2nd album at #67 on February 3,
1968, and their third at #23 on August 31, 1968. Country Joe and The Fish were
regulars at the original Fillmore
auditorium, the Fillmore West, Fillmore East, and Chet Helms' Avalon Ballroom.
They were billed with such groups as Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Moby Grape, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, and Iron Butterfly.
They played at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. In 1971 the band appeared in a
Western film starring Don
Johnson as an outlaw gang called the Crackers. The film, titled Zachariah, was written by the Firesign Theatre
and was billed as "The First Electric Western". They also appeared in
the George Lucas film More American Graffiti and in the 1971 Roger Corman film Gas-s-s-s.
Their biggest hit was the anti-war "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die
Rag",[1] which
debuted the same year as the band, but became best known after Country Joe's
solo acoustic performance of it at Woodstock. Country Joe was sued in 2001 by Kid Ory's daughter,
Babette Ory, who claimed McDonald's "Fixin" Rag infringed her
copyright to Kid Ory's Dixieland jazz standard "Muskrat Ramble".
In August 2003, the court case was decided in McDonald's favor, since Kid Ory,
Babette Ory, and the Muskat Ramble publisher had all known of the song in the
late 1960s, but no complaint was made for decades. Finding the complaint
objectively unreasonable, the court awarded McDonald some of his attorney's
fees and costs. Due to the long delay and prejudice, including death of key
witnesses, the court did not even reach the lack of substantial similarity issue. Babette Ory and her attorney
appealed, and the appellate court affirmed the decision in favor of McDonald.
Country Joe's anti-war activity led to his being called as a
witness at the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial in 1969, where he recited the
lyrics to "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die
Rag".[2]
Country Joe continued to tour and practice with other California
based bands.
Barry "The Fish" Melton was later a founding
member of The
Dinosaurs and has recently released new recordings of that band
whose members included Peter Albin from Big Brother and The Holding Company and John Cipollina from
Quicksilver Messenger Service and Copperhead.
Melton studied law while on the road as a musician and was admitted to practice
by the State Bar of California in 1982. In 2009, Melton retired as
the Public Defender of Yolo County, California, although he continues to tour
internationally from time to time.
Melton and McDonald have occasionally reunited to play music
in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and as recently as 2002 in support of a Christmas
toy drive in San Francisco for Toys for Tots.
2004 and 2005 saw several short United States and UK tours
and the release of a live CD by the Country Joe Band, at that time comprising
McDonald, Cohen, Barthol and Hirsch.
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin was the premier for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR),
and attended the Yalta Conference.
Note:
Alger Hiss attended the Yalta Conference with Franklin
Delano Roosevelt (FDR), and was
the president of the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace (think tank).
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank).
George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman
for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open
Society was
a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), the Roosevelt Institute, the International Rescue Committee, and the Aspen Institute
(think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is the president of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a
2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States
in war)
Ted
Turner is a co-chairman for
the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think
tank), the founder of CNN, and
was married to Jane Fonda AKA Hanoi Jane.
David L. Grange
is a military analyst for CNN, and a director at the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial.
Jane Fonda AKA Hanoi Jane
Jane Fonda was married to Ted Turner & Tom Hayden.
Tom Hayden was married to Jane Fonda AKA Hanoi Jane, a defendant in the Chicago Seven trial,
a co-founder for the Students for a Democratic Society, and[S1]
is an editorial board member for The Nation.
Stephen
F. Cohen is a contributing editor for The Nation, married
to Katrina vanden Heuvel, and a friend of Mikhail Gorbachev
Katrina
vanden Heuvel is married to Stephen F. Cohen, an editor &
publisher for The Nation, a director at the Roosevelt Institute, and
was a governor for the Roosevelt Institute.
Laura Delano
Roosevelt is a governor for the Roosevelt Institute, and Franklin
Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) granddaughter.
Anna Eleanor
Roosevelt is the chair for the Roosevelt Institute, and an advisory
board member for the Wheelchair Foundation.
Mikhail Gorbachev
is an advisory board member for the Wheelchair Foundation, a friend
of Stephen F. Cohen, was the general secretary at the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union, and the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR).
Joseph Stalin was
the premier for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and attended
the Yalta Conference.
Gore Vidal was a
contributing editor for The Nation, and feuded in 1960s with William
F. Buckley Jr.
William F.
Buckley Jr. feuded in 1960s with Gore Vidal, and Christopher
Buckley’s father.
Christopher
Buckley is William F. Buckley Jr’s son, a member of the Bohemian
Club, and was George H.W. Bush’s speechwriter.
George H.W. Bush’s
speechwriter was Christopher Buckley, is a member of the Bohemian
Club.
Bob Weir is a member
of the Bohemian Club, and the founder of the Grateful Dead.
Mickey Hart is a member
of the Bohemian Club, and the drummer for the Grateful Dead.
Henry A. Kissinger is a member of the Bohemian Club, an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), a trustee at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (think tank), was a lifetime
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Andrew S. Grove
is an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, and was a
benefactor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Henrietta Holsman Fore is a member of the Belizean Grove, a trustee at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies (think tank), and a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Theodore G.
Osius III was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (think tank), and is a U.S. ambassador nominee for Vietnam.
Center
for Strategic and International Studies (think tank) was a funder
for Vietnam.
James S.
Crown is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a member
of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
James S.
Crown is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a member
of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of
Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday,
December 17, 2013
Newton N. Minow
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Sidley Austin
LLP was the lobby firm for Vietnam
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP, Mayor Richard M. Daley’s
staffer, and is a friend of Valerie B. Jarrett.
Barack Obama was an
intern at Sidley Austin LLP, a chairman for the Chicago Annenberg
Challenge, and a director at the Woods Fund of Chicago.
Bernadine Dohrn
was a litigator for Sidley Austin LLP, a member of the Weather
Underground, and is married to William C. Ayers.
Weather Underground
The Weather Underground Organization (WUO), commonly known as the Weather
Underground, was an American radical left organization founded on the Ann Arbor
campus of the University of Michigan. Originally called Weatherman, the group
became known colloquially as the Weathermen. Weatherman organized in 1969 as a
faction of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)[2] composed for the most part of the national
office leadership of SDS and their supporters. Their goal was to create a
clandestine revolutionary party for the overthrow of the U.S. government.
Tom Hayden was a co-founder for the Students for a Democratic Society, married
to Jane Fonda AKA Hanoi Jane, a defendant in the Chicago Seven trial,
and[S2]
is an editorial board member for The Nation.
William C. Ayers
is married to Bernadine Dohrn, Mayor Richard M. Daley’s adviser, a
was a member of the Weather Underground, a chairman for the Chicago
Annenberg Challenge, and a director at the Woods Fund of Chicago.
Richard M. Daley’s
adviser is William C. Ayers, is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, was the Chicago (IL) mayor, Michelle Obama was his
staffer, and Valerie B. Jarrett was his deputy chief of staff.
Valerie B. Jarrett
was Mayor Richard M. Daley’s deputy chief of staff, is a friend of Michelle
Obama, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and the senior
adviser for the Barack Obama administration.
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