The psychedelic sound of Country Joe & the Fish captivated the Bay Area scene. 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. Biden Has to Be Bailed Out by Small Child When He Can't Remember Answer It was haunted by military intelligence and the FBI though curiously not to the point of actually disrupting its activities -- just a subtle presence, and one which rewarded Joe with a spot on President Richard Nixon's enemies list. Breda and her friends slept in their car after getting separated from another vehicle carrying their camping supplies. This series highlights the artists who performed at Woodstock August 15-18, 1969. Ironically, he noted, he appeared at Woodstock wearing a military shirt. 5. In 1982, McDonald began working with organizations such as the Vietnam Veterans of America to raise awareness about issues affecting veterans and their families. Ironically two records released later that year -- The Doors' 45, "Touch Me," and the Rolling Stones' LP Let It Bleed, also made use of horns and strings. 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.. Since the group's breakup in 1971, McDonald has continued to musically espouse his political views through his original folk-like songs. McDonald was known for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, and many of his songs from that era reflected his anti-war views. A folk rock flavored album, it featured songs from the Chile film and "Memories," a long introspective song about growing up in the 60s. 195196. By 1979 Joe and Bill Belmont had re-started Rag Baby records and released, in Europe through various licensing arrangements, Barry Melton's Level With Me. Music was more than just background for us. . [2] His father, Worden McDonald, from Oklahoma, was of Scottish Presbyterian heritage (the son of a minister) and worked for a telephone company. As a high school dropout, Mr. Earle played a coffeehouse near Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. The fall of 1970 found him in Chile scoring the music for the Saul Landau film Que Hacer. 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. [14] In 1968, Menken gave birth to the couple's first daughter, Seven Anne McDonald, in San Francisco. It was certainly the biggest. Talley and McDonald characterized this as a first step in healing the wound left on the United States by the trauma of Vietnam. The first official act on Day 3 was the mad Englishman, Joe Cocker. I wrote the song Who Am I? for a play I was working on, and after I was done, I literally paused, sat down, and banged out Fixin-to-Die in a half an hour, he said. Returning to the Bay Area after his discharge from the Navy, Joe threw himself into the growing counterculture. The crowd at Woodstock, half a million strong, rose to their feet and joined in Country Joe McDonalds antiwar war cry, chanting along from the opening expletive all the way to the Whoopee! The second broke new ground in its use of horns and strings as "sweetening," a common device in standard pop, but until this record, not used at all in new "progressive" rock. See how this article appeared when it was originally published on NYTimes.com. Ever wonder who played at Woodstock? [14] McDonald has noted that his girlfriend at the time, Janis Joplin, showed much anger for breaking up with her to be with Menken but asked him to write a song about her; the result was "Janis". Country Joe McDonald - Hold On It's Coming - Used Vinyl Record - eBay And here I got to send out this shocking antiwar message to a couple hundred guys singing along. Peter Fonda will serve as emcee, with Whoopi Goldberg and John Voight hosting. By now he had decided that his records were to come out on his label, and a series of them did. They would have thought I was making a joke., When McDonald stands on the Forum stage tonight as a proud Navy veteran, the crowd will know its no joke. They appeared on Day 3 of the festival. 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. 1988) and Ryan (b. He started performing at folk clubs and coffeehouses, and even started his own magazine called "Rag Baby" which featured the San Francisco folk music scene. It was to have contained Joe's most topical song "Fixin' to Die Rag" but it was left off at the urging of the Vanguard's president Maynard Solomon who felt that it would become a "thorn in their side and prevent the band from getting any single play on the radio." This last song appeared at a time of growing national awareness of the plight of whales worldwide spurred by the efforts of the Canadian activist group Greenpeace to whom the song was dedicated. He said on his show that me doing a Veteran's Day event in Berkeley was like having Fidel Castro in charge of it, after we got publicity because we wanted to have a Gold Star father speak in one of our Veteran's Day events. Nonetheless, since that time McDonald has been something of a man for all causes, performing in the name of various social issues. After some abortive attempts at reuniting the original Country Joe and the Fish, he formed the "Country Joe Band" with original members David Bennett Cohen, Bruce Barthol, and Gary "Chicken" Hirsh; the Country Joe Band toured throughout 2004 and 2005. Starting in 1982 Joe began actively working with and for Vietnam Veterans Against The War, Swords To Plowshares and Vietnam Veterans Of America to further the cause of the thousands of veterans who had become disenfranchised by the system's neglect. In 1990 this is commonplace, but in the early 70s it was quite outrageous. And some didn't look to Woodstock to celebrate their own sense of music and identity. It was about being together. Joe's participation was crucial as during the afternoon at least 250,000 people sang along to "Fixin' To Die Rag" and yelled the famous "cheer". [8][18], Seven's name was the inspiration behind the character Six on Blossom, cited by Don Reo on PeopleTV special Blossom Cast Reunion aired 2017, timestamp 10:07-10:33. Header image: LBJ Library photo, C2491-14A. With anti-military sentiments at a high, Country Joe McDonald steps up to the microphone, but instead of launching into his anti-war anthem Feel-Like-Im-Fixin-to-Die Rag, he tells the 300,000 members of Woodstock Nation that hes a veteran of military service--and hes proud of it. If you were fortunate enough to return home from Vietnam, music echoed through those secret places where you stored memories, including some you never shared with your parents, spouse or children for decades. Joe McDonald may have written the most in-your-face anti-war, anti-military song to come out of the '60s, but he was also one of the very few musicians on the San Francisco scene who'd served in uniform. 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.
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