Country Joe and the Fish – I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag

When it came to psychedelic and acid rock, Country Joe and the Fish were one of the foremost acts on the American circuit. As was the case with many of the American bands they were steeped in folk roots and this naturally gave their music a more political edge, making them prime movers on the protest scene.

That’s no better demonstrated than on the anti-Vietnam war anthem, ‘I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die’, taken from the sincere but patchy 1967 album of the same name. Unlike many of his peers, Country Joe McDonald wasn’t just content to spout crypto-revolutionary soundbites from the comfort of whatever mansion he was staying in that week; he actually made the effort to get involved at the grass roots level of the protest movement, a move that would see him placed on Richard Nixon’s infamous ‘enemy list’ alongside the likes of Paul Newman, Jane Fonda and John Lennon.

‘I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag’ begins with the ‘Fish Cheer’, a call and response spelling out of the word “F-I-S-H” that would later become “fuck” for their live shows, getting the band thrown off of one tour and banned for life from the Ed Sulivan Show. It then opens out into a jaunty, vaudeville-style, ragtime ditty, bitterly laced with a scathingly satirical attack on the war and those in the US government waging it. This juxtaposition of throwaway tune and serious political comment works surprisingly well -- perhaps morseo than had the entire thing been some po-faced dirge -- and became a rallying cry amongst the protest movement throughout the 60s and into the 70s, also giving Country Joe and the Fish their best known song.

‘I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die’ was originally released in 1965 as a Country Joe McDonald solo effort, prior to appearing on the band’s second album.

It goes to show the strength of the actual song that if you were to replace Vietnam with Iraq, Afghanistan, or whichever country America sees fit to invade next; and substitute “Commie” with whoever the perceived threat is this week, it would be as apt today as it was in ’67. Just goes to show, some people never learn.

‘I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag’ appears on I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin-To-Die, released by Vanguard Records and available from Amazon.co.uk

For your listening pleasure, take your pick from the original album version or a live, acoustic, Country Joe solo version recorded at the 1969 Woodstock Festival:

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psychedelic rock, song reviews