Country Joe McDonald, ’60s Counterculture Singer, Dead at 84

Country Joe McDonald, the 1960s folk-rocker who famously protested the Vietnam War with his song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag,” has passed away at age 84 after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Born Joseph Allen McDonald, the singer performed alongside Barry “The Fish” Melton in the psychedelic rock band Country Joe and the Fish, who formed in 1965 in Berkeley, California.

The chorus to “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” goes, “And it’s 1, 2, 3/ What are we fighting for?/ Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn/ Next stop is Vietnam/ And it’s 5, 6, 7/ Open up the pearly gates/ Well, there ain’t no time to wonder why/ Whoopee!/ We’re all gonna die.”

McDonald performed the tune at the original Woodstock festival in 1969, where he changed the intro chant from “Give me an F-I-S-H” to “Give Me an F-U-C-K.”

“Some people alluded to peace and stuff [at Woodstock], but I was talking about Vietnam,” McDonald told the Associated Press in 2019, calling the opening chant “an expression of our anger and frustration over the Vietnam War, which was killing us, literally killing us.”

When he performed the song with a similar chant in Worcester, Massachusetts, McDonald was arrested and fined. He was also called as a witness at the famous “Chicago Eight (or Seven)” trial against organizers of anti-war protests after he had befriended political activists Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin.

With Country Joe and the Fish, McDonald also penned their standout tune “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine,” as well as a song called “Janis” about his then-girlfriend Janis Joplin.

After Country Joe and the Fish broke up in 1971, McDonald pursed a solo career as a folk musician. He had already recorded a solo album titled Thinking of Woodie Guthrie in 1969, and continued to record albums through 2017.

Our condolences go out to Country Joe McDonald’s family and friends during this difficult time. Revisit his performance at Woodstock below.