A FolkWax Reprint

This article originally ran in

FolkWax's Front Porch March 29, 2007

Country Joe McDonald Live

Two Nights in Oregon

By Bob Gersztyn

Country Joe McDonald

Photo by Bob Gersztyn

The first time that I heard of Country Joe McDonald was back in the spring of 1968 when I was on a weekend pass in Dallas, Texas. I was staying at a college hippie house with friends of another guy in my army unit. After everyone went to bed I sat there looking through their record collection and was fascinated by LPs that I had never heard of before. One of them was Electric Music For The Mind & Body by Country Joe & the Fish. It was one of the first psychedelic albums to come out of the Haight-Ashbury scene and would eventually become one of my favorite selections to consciously and unconsciously listen to.

After the release of the Academy Award-winning film Woodstock in 1970, Country Joe McDonald became a bona fide celebrity. Fate had insured that McDonald came to the festival early, because he wanted to see all the groups that were playing. When equipment and musicians couldn’t get through, Folk singers like Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie, and Country Joe McDonald were worth their weight in gold. They could entertain the crowd of nearly a half million with just an acoustic guitar and their voice. And they did.

Country Joe took the opportunity to try out the newly revised version of “The Fish Cheer,” that preceded "I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag," and the rest is history (You know, “Give me an ‘F”…”). The song was a controversial anti-Vietnam War composition that was dropped from their first album and became the title of their second. The band had been involved with the Free Speech movement in Berkeley, California, where antiwar protests were rampant.

Before the Fish, McDonald was a solo artist and in the early 1970s, when the band broke up, he went that route again, racking up over twenty solo albums. The title song from his 1971 album, Hold On It’s Coming, was an underground hit and he’s continued to perform well into the 21st century. When he recently hit Oregon I made it a point to catch both shows.

After performing in Seattle the night before, he and co-headliner John Stewart drove down to Oregon’s capital, Salem, with only three hours sleep. By the time that they hit the stage they were pretty well exhausted. McDonald and Stewart alternated opening and closing the show from night to night and in Salem it was McDonald’s turn to close.

At 9:48 p.m. McDonald came out, grabbed an acoustic guitar with a peace symbol on it, sat down, and told the packed house "Give me an ‘F’." After they shouted back "F," he said, "Thanks, I needed that." Then he began with “Entertainment Is My Business,” an audience-participation song that continued the energy flow. This contrasted to Sunday night which began with 1971's hit “Hold On It’s Coming,” one of my personal favorites.

Both nights included “Janis,” a song that McDonald introduced as being inspired by his then live-in girlfriend, Janis Joplin. Saturday night was the only night that he played “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine.” It demonstrated his guitar virtuosity, as he served up one of the most psychedelic-sounding songs that I’ve ever heard, played with only a single acoustic guitar. What was equally impressive by this time was the power and range of his voice. I had just watched McDonald’s performance at Woodstock on video earlier that afternoon and I couldn’t hear a difference, but then after forty years of concerts the continual ringing in my ears drowns out some details.

Then McDonald changed guitars to an acoustic steel-stringed lap model as he introduced “Thinking Of John Fahey,” a composition that he contributed to one of the four John Fahey tribute albums that came out last year. Both nights included the John Fahey segment wherein McDonald told a story about Fahey playing at the Jabberwok in Berkeley, California, during the 1960s.

"John had a table next to him," McDonald began. "On the table he had a jar with a lid that contained all his finger picks, because he used finger picks just like I do. Next to the jar was an ashtray with his butts in it and next to that was a glass of whiskey. On the floor he had a bottle of Coke that he took a swig out of after the whiskey. The first set wasn’t that good because he was still nervous. The second set was great, but the third set was bad, because he got too drunk by then. [FolkWax was lucky enough to publish the last interview with John Fahey before his untimely passing. Bob Gersztyn interviewed Fahey for FolkWax and the resulting interview was one of the most important articles that we have ever published. If you haven’t read the interview you can do so now by clicking HERE to read it in our ARCHIVES.]

"Every time that John got up or finished his set he would take off all his finger picks and put them back in the jar and put the lid on. One night he stopped in the middle of playing and said, ‘I’ve got to piss.’ Then he took a drag off his cigarette, a drink of whiskey and a swig of coke, and got up to go to the bathroom. When he returned he sat down, took a drag off his cigarette, a drink of whiskey, a swig of Coke, picked up his guitar, and started playing at exactly the spot that he stopped at."

McDonald immediately went into an incredible version of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads,” in the same intricate finger-picking style of the John Fahey song. Then he announced that he was doing a trilogy of songs in the same Fahey-esque style that included “A Color For Susan,” “Santiago,” and “Section 43.” They included the use of a “G” harmonica that he had to search for. The performance was absolutely incendiary.

Saturday’s show included more profanity than Sunday’s because the sold-out crowd was heckling him about his cleaned-up language. McDonald talked about how the "mushrooms should be kicking in right about now" as he began playing “I’ll Never Come Down.” Then another heckler yelled out, "Do you play that 12-string or is it just there as a prop?"

A couple of songs later McDonald grabbed the 12-string guitar and began talking about being part of Paul Kantner’s Jefferson Galactic Family Reunion tour, where he was one of the opening acts. He explained, "Kantner was the only original member of Jefferson Airplane, there was a drummer, guitar player, singer, keyboard player, and another singer, he of course sang and played 12-string guitar. I called it the ‘Magical Misery’ tour."

This led to “Nuclear Submarine,” a flashback for McDonald to the early 1960s when he was in the navy. “Support The Troops” was written for Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan. On Sunday the audience was more subdued and the 12-string accompanied “Silver & Gold” and “Come With Me And We Shall Make A Baby.” They were songs about McDonald’s 40-year-old daughter. Sunday’s show also included a provocative version of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” on the lap steel acoustic guitar in place of Saturday’s “Crossroads.”

McDonald introduced “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” by explaining how it’s the song that made him famous, after “The Fish Cheer” cheer became the “FUCK” cheer at a beer festival in New York City. As a result their scheduled appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was cancelled, but they got to keep the advance payment and then came Woodstock. "Give me an ‘F’!" Joe screamed! "F" the audience retorted. The cheer went through the other three letters until the crowd exploded in unison screaming "FUCK!" a dozen times as McDonald repeatedly asked the audience, “What’s that spell?” Then he began singing:

"Yeah, come on all of you big strong men/Uncle Sam needs your help again/He’s got himself in a terrible jam/Way down yonder in Vietnam/So put down your books and pick up a gun/We’re gonna have a whole lotta fun."

McDonald went through all four verses until he got to the last one, which goes: "Well, come on mothers throughout the land/Pack your boys off to Vietnam/Come on fathers, don’t hesitate/Send ‘em off before it’s too late/Be the first one on your block/To have your boy come home in a box."

Then he made a one-word alteration in the chorus: "And it’s one, two, three/Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn/Next stop is ‘Iran’/And it’s five, six, seven/Open up the pearly gates/Well there ain’t no time to wonder why/Whoopee! We’re all gonna die."

If you want to read all the lyrics or hear the song sung by McDonald go to his website at www.countryjoe.com. There’s even an online petition to have Country Joe & the Fish inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame linked from the website, along with many other items of interest.

Bob Gersztyn is a senior contributing editor at FolkWax. You may contact Bob at folkwax@visnat.com.

Real Sounds From the Work Place

The following are the Top Five most often listened-to recordings in the FolkWax office this week, March 29, 2007 (in no particular order):

1. The Nields – All Together In The Kitchen (Peter Quince) Release: April 17

2. Devon Sproule – Keep Your Silver Shined (City Salvage/Waterbug) Release: April 17

3. Kelly Flint – Drive All Night (Bepop)

4. Olav Larsen & the Rodeo Kings – Love’s Come to Town (Hyena)

5. Last Train Home – Last Good Kiss (Red Beet)

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