If I had known what the end result of that clip being in the film would have been, I dont know if I would have done it, McDonald said. Ive been doing work with veterans now for 15 years, and I probably know more about Vietnam veterans than any other person in the entertainment industry.. Imagine this scenario: Woodstock, 1969. He also started his work with military nurses. So what a recording, some airplay and countless performance could not do, the film did instantly. "Some people alluded. Likewise, For What Its Worth by Buffalo Springfield, the song frequently played to accompany film depictions of antiwar protests, had nothing to do with Vietnam per se Stephen Stills wrote it about a riot on the Sunset Strip yet it was as treasured by scores of Vietnam soldiers as it was by protesters in America. One of his solo albums, the 1973 Vanguard LP Paris Sessions, was reviewed by Robert Christgau in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), in which he said: "Amazing. See how this article appeared when it was originally published on NYTimes.com. In need of someone to entertain the crowd while they waited, Joe McDonald, who happened to be backstage, stepped up to perform. Over six summer Sundays, an estimated 300,000 people in total gathered to see acts including Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & the Pips and like the upstate Woodstock crowd Sly and the Family Stone. Al Sharpton sent a letter to McDonald's as they face . There were no reports of violence, and a local police chief called the crowd "the most courteous, considerate and well-behaved group of kids" he'd encountered in his career. Joe had signed with Vanguard as a solo performer and went to Nashville with Sam Charters to record an album of Woody Guthrie songs. Sam Charters, noted blues writer, producer and poet, was in charge of the record which was entitled Electric Music For The Mind and Body. I'm a singer and songwriter, I used to be in Country Joe & the Fish, and I live in Berkeley, California, Planet Earth. With both numbers preserved on film and record--complete with bouncing ball for the sing-along--they remain among Woodstocks most recognized moments. The fast-food chain will be giving UK customers the chance to tuck into the . Joe at 75. Ironically, he noted, he appeared at Woodstock wearing a military shirt. ", But, she says: "It feels like something that could never happen again.". For Vietnam veterans and those who listen to their stories, the iconic music of the 1960s and early 70s provides access to a truer, deeper story of what Vietnam meant, and continues to mean. You could hear it in the difference between I Get Around and Good Vibrations; between She Loves You and Happiness Is a Warm Gun; between Please Please Please and Say It Loud Im Black and Im Proud; between the Shangri-Las and Grace Slick. Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942) [1] is an American musician, singer and political activist. ", A portion of the 400,000 concert goers who attended the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival held on a 600-acre pasture near Bethel, N.Y. in 1969. thats some liberal hippie stuff. One for sure was Hendrix and his version of "The Star Spangled Banner." "I am the only major entertainer that advocates for military veterans and is one, he says. In 2003 McDonald was sued for copyright infringement over his signature song, specifically the "One, two, three, what are we fighting for?" Joe left the troupe in late 1971 feeling that Fonda had missed the point; she did not seem to understand the problems the GIs and the returning Vietnam veterans were going through, and perhaps never would. The band worked regularly in Berkeley at the Jabberwock coffee house on Telegraph, and became familiar faces at the two San Francisco ballrooms, the Avalon and the Fillmore Auditorium. Bruce Lint (L) of Meriden, Connecticut and another Marine (unidentified) provide a little musical entertainment for fellow leathernecks at a fortress in northwestern south Vietnam. This series highlights the artists who performed at Woodstock August 15-18, 1969. He has explained that he was inspired to write a folk song about how soldiers have no choice but to follow orders, but with the irreverence of rock 'n' roll. On Saturday April 23rd he played at Kezar stadium in San Francisco and on Sunday, on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, DC. He did say that! Country Joe performing at the 1979 Woodstock reunion. Things changed in the summer of 1968 at the Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park, when the bands drummer, Gary Hirsh, suggested altering the cheer, replacing fish with a four-letter expletive. The whole thing.". [20], For discography of Country Joe and the Fish, see that entry. Joe's last album for Vanguard was recorded in New York and later released as Country Joe. His first big audience was at a V.V.A.W. McDonald was known for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, and many of his songs from that era reflected his anti-war views. The court, however, upheld McDonald's laches defense, noting that Ory and her father were aware of the original version of the song, with the same questionable section, for some three decades without bringing a suit. It was a trek to get near the stage. [14] In 1968, Menken gave birth to the couple's first daughter, Seven Anne McDonald, in San Francisco. Childs Play contained mostly out-takes from the Fantasy era, but the 1984 release Peace On Earth with great production values was a critical success. Talley and McDonald characterized this as a first step in healing the wound left on the United States by the trauma of Vietnam. says Beatty Barnes, who became a Broadway actress and singer. Tonights show is the first fund-raising event sponsored by Welcome Home Inc., a nonprofit organization supporting various Vietnam veteran outreach and counseling programs and public consciousness-raising projects, including Gov. Naturally, this is reflected in McDonalds music. It was the mid-1960s, just as the Free Speech movement on campus was morphing into the antiwar movement. . In fact, McDonald and a host of other musicians, actors and athletes will be cheered as they lead an event billed as the official welcome home celebration for our Vietnam veterans.. The show went on to make a film of a Far Eastern tour, F.T.A., released theatrically in '72, then withdrawn. If you werent there, its possible to imagine this as so much postproduction editing, imposing a relationship between the sounds and the experience of the war. I was proud to be a veteran, the connection I had with the other soldiers, but I also understood the military dysfunction of capitalism combined with a large bureaucracy.. McDonald's stage name included "Country Joe," which was Joseph Stalin's nickname. "Patriots: the Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides", Christian G. Appy, pp. Since decades had already passed from the time McDonald composed his song in 1965, Ory based her suit on a new version of it recorded by McDonald in 1999. ED, who also wrote for the weekly Berkeley Barb, concocted with Joe the idea of letting the audience know what was happening at all times; so they took out a 52 week 1/4 page ad in the Barb informing their audience where they were going to be in the coming week -- even if it was in Canada. The next night, some 75 police officers with billy clubs, sidearms and mace welcomed the band to Boston. It, along with "Masked Marauder" and the other instrumental added to the album "Section 43," were notable in that they were instrumentals and were not only played on the radio, but played in performance as well. After his enlistment, he attended Los Angeles City College for a year. Breda didnt go to Woodstock looking for a societal vision. Plans for a sprawling commemorative Woodstock 50 event elsewhere collapsed amid permitting and other problems . For those who watched the war unfold on the evening news, the music of Vietnam blurred with the sounds rising from the streets of America during a time of momentous challenge and change. Some sources state that he performed after Richie Havens on Friday, while others, including photos and recordings, seem to confirm that he performed at about 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, right after Quill. Street Spirit Interview with Country Joe McDonald Part 1 (April 2016 . This series of articles32 in allcovers each of the artists who performed at the original Woodstock festival August 1518, 1969. By December 1966, they had a recording contract with Vanguard Records, the home to progressive acts like the Weavers and Joan Baez. Day 2 at Woodstock meant the rock acts were up, and the 11th act to appear on Saturday (actually Sunday a.m.) was already a legend. In 2007, he put together a song-and-spoken-word one-man show about Woody Guthrie, and followed it up with another about Florence Nightingale. . And here I got to send out this shocking antiwar message to a couple hundred guys singing along. 5. Country Joe McDonald: Yeah, he did that! After 30 albums and more than four decades in the public eye as a folksinger, Country Joe McDonald qualifies as one of the best known names from the 60s rock era still performing. His work with military nurses led him to become a respected scholar on the life of Florence Nightingale, the first military nurse. Country Joe McDonald. Music was more than just background for us. Free shipping for many products! By 1968 they had released a third album Together and were touring successfully around the world. It's one of those indelible images from the Vietnam War era -- 1969, Woodstock, Country Joe McDonald up on the stage, belting out the era's anti-war anthem to more than half a million gyrating . The picture dealt with the intrigue and drama surrounding the election of Salvador Allende as President of Chile and the forces attempting to prevent it. He has continued to write and record, having issued 36 albums since his start as a solo artist in 1969. King as she encouraged G.I.s to lay down their weapons. Country Joe McDonald was a military veteran, a seasoned folk and blues artist, and the editor of an underground newspaper when he decided to cut a record of political tunes in 1966 that led to the formation of one of the leading bands of the San Francisco psychedelic explosion, Country Joe & the Fish.While the group's day in the sun would prove to be short-lived -- they broke up in 1970 . 2. 1 song of 1966, is as much a reflection of the shifting politics of the country as it is about changes in musical tastes. From "The Fish Cheer / I-Feel-Like-Im-Fixin-to-Die Rag". Later that year through a series of "Vet Tapes," provided to Veterans Administration Outreach Centers, he helped to bring the gap between the Vets "being home" and "coming home". Collection CountryJoeMcDonald Band/Artist Country Joe McDonald. This was unusual in an era of short three-minute singles. Free shipping for many products! (hed eventually pay a $500 fine). Im sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/opinion/vietnam-war-rock-music.html. He did and the resulting songs, "Mara," "Ny's Song," "Hungry Miller and the Hungry World" and the title song "Quiet Days In Clichy" were released on a Vanguard album as part of the soundtrack. Discover Best of Country Joe McDonald by Country Joe & the Fish, Country Joe McDonald released in 1998. On Saturday, Santana was set to take the stage, but the organizers were still working to set it up. On the same day his band, Country Joe & the Fish, played at Woodstock, another audience of thousands was in a Harlem park for a concert with its own sense of community and yearnings to challenge the status quo. Country Joe McDonald was born on January 1, 1942 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. Some of the artists also appeared at Woodstock: Neil Young, Graham Nash, John Sebastian, Richie Havens and Sha Na Na. Header image: LBJ Library photo, C2491-14A. His upcoming album is titled The Vietnam Experience, and the latest issue of Tape Talk, Rag Babys audio cassette magazine, features music of Vietnam veterans. Ever wonder who played at Woodstock? Though he has no qualms about his veteran status now, he believes the climate has not improved significantly. Ever wonder who played at Woodstock? "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine," released as the band's first 45, only made it to #98 on Billboard's "Top 100," but became a staple of American college radio. It blames leaders and parents, not soldiers. ; In a video, Biden framed next year's . [19], McDonald has four other children, Devin (b. This series highlights the artists who performed at Woodstock August 15-18, 1969. 2.Country Joe and the Fish At the age of 17, he enlisted in the United States Navy for three years and was stationed in Japan. While on tour in Scandinavia, he was asked by concert promoter and film producer Knud Thorbjorsen to write some songs for a film production of Henry Miller's classic book Quiet Days In Clichy. During the summer of 1968 the band played on the Schaefer Music Festival tour. 195196. The most noteworthy releases were Joe's. Despite his activism, McDonald has never pursued a career in politics, preferring to remain "the guy who sang the songs, pointed out the wrongs; not the guy who fixed them.". It was at Woodstock that McDonald, whose band Country Joe & the Fish had risen to prominence on the San Francisco psychedelic scene, inadvertently became a counter-culture spokesman. It was an early lesson about how powerful music can be.. The cheer was on the original recording of "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag", being played right before the song on the LP of the same name. Born a red-diaper baby he was named after Joseph Stalin he grew up in a Communist household in Southern California. In 1969, a warrant was issued for Mr. McDonalds arrest for inciting an audience to lewd behavior in Worcester, Mass. It included the first recording of the song that would go on to define Mr. McDonalds career. Relatively unknown, Santana was a festival hit. Notable for their arrangements and the players on them, they were all well crafted; Planet Earth, however, was the first recording Joe had done using Los Angeles studio musicians most of whom went on to achieve individual success in their own right. In 1982, McDonald began working with organizations such as the Vietnam Veterans of America to raise awareness about issues affecting veterans and their families. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for COUNTRY JOE McDONALD 1970 original POSTER ADVERT HOLD ON ITS COMING & the fish at the best online prices at eBay! I remember the big hype Woodstock was at the time. The hits were our hits: I Feel-Like-Im-Fixin-to-Die Rag, Fortunate Son and the song more than one Vietnam veteran has called our national anthem, the Animals We Gotta Get Out of This Place.. ", He added: "I think America has to take notice.". "The Fish Cheer" had already gained popularity among kids in the New York City area due to McDonald's earlier Central Park performance and underground radio play. [10] The modified cheer continued at most of the band's live shows throughout the years, including Woodstock and elsewhere. Their best-known song is his "The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" (1965), a black comedy novelty song about the Vietnam War, whose familiar chorus ("One, two, three, what are we fighting for? The show was part of the Harlem Cultural Festival, a concert series that would later be dubbed a "Black Woodstock.". And some didn't look to Woodstock to celebrate their own sense of music and identity. He went on to produce a musical rendition of the World War I poems of Robert Service, a collection of country and western standards, "Vietnam Experience" in 1985, "Superstitious Blues" in 1991 with Jerry Garcia, and an album of songs about nursing in 2002. Though he continues to perform and support a broad array of progressive causes, if you didn't know anything about his past, you'd think McDonald was just another middle-aged man enjoying life. This series highlights the artists who performed at Woodstock August 15-18, 1969. Navy veteran Country Joe McDonald, lower right, and his band Country Joe and The Fish. Thirty years after his appearance at Woodstock, Country Joe McDonald has settled down as a family man. The familys middle-class life was upended when his father, a lineman for Pacific Bell, was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and lost his job, just as his son was entering his teenage years. His anti-war I Feel Like Im Fixin To Die Rag became a memorable Woodstock moment. Likewise, the Jimi Hendrix Experiences Purple Haze meant one thing in an LSD-friendly dorm room and another to troops who associated it with the color of the smoke grenades used to guide helicopters into landing zones. This series highlights the artists who performed at Woodstock August 1518, 1969. They also appeared in and performed music for underground cult film Zachariah where Joe is the leader of a band of outlaws in the old west, carrying amplifiers on their horses and calling themselves "The Crackers.". Day 2 at Woodstock meant the rock bands were up, and the third act to appear at Woodstock on Saturday August 16, 1969 was Santana. His leading of the F . Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Concertgoer lets out a loud full body orgasm while L.A. Phil plays Tchaikovskys 5th, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. Seven had a career as a TV child actor in the late 1970s and early 1980s,[15] managed Johnny Depp's Viper Room nightclub and the alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins in the 1990s,[16][17] and wrote for Details, Elle, LA Weekly and Harper's Bazaar magazines in the 1990s and 2000s. I believe if we had the music of all these different armies, all the infantries everywhere, youd have the same attitude expressed within their songs that we expressed in ours.. He sang one of the great anthems of the era, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag," to an audience of half-million at the Woodstock Arts and Music Festival in 1969. Just about all the guys I served with in Vietnam in 1970 and 1971 laughed at Edwin Starrs War because we knew better than he did that it was good for absolutely nothin., Many of those tensions and crosscurrents came to a head around Country Joe McDonald, the guiding spirit of Country Joe and the Fish, whose unplanned, slightly reluctant performance of I-Feel-Like-Im-Fixin-to-Die Rag at Woodstock in August 1969 placed a veterans perspective on Vietnam at the center of musical protest.
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