Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942)[1] is an American singer/songwriter, musician, film composer and the lead singer and co-founder of the 1960s psychedelic folk-rock group Country Joe and the Fish.[2]
Since the group's breakup in 1971, McDonald has performed as a solo artist and continued to musically espouse his political views through his original songs.
His father was the son of a Presbyterian minister of Scottish heritage. Born in Oklahoma, and raised on a farm a 100 miles from Woody Guthrie's birthplace of Okemah, Worden worked for a telephone company and, as a young man, traveled the country riding the rails, working odd jobs.[4] His mother, Florence Plotnick,[5] was the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants and served for many years as the City Auditor of Berkeley, California.[6][7][8] In their youth, both were Communist Party members and named their son after Joseph Stalin, before renouncing the cause.[9][10]
His best known song, The Fish Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag (1965), is a black comedynovelty song about the Vietnam War, whose familiar chorus --"One, two, three, what are we fighting for?"[17] is well-known amongst the Woodstock generation and Vietnam veterans of the '60s and '70s. McDonald wrote the song in about 20 minutes for an anti-Vietnam War play.[18] The Fish Cheer was the band performing a call-and-response with the audience, spelling the word "FISH", followed by McDonald yelling, "What's that spell?" twice, with the audience responding, and then, the third time, "What's that spell?" followed immediately by the song. The Fish Cheer evolved into the "Fuck Cheer" after the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. The cheer appeared on the original recording of "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag", right before the song on the LP of the same name. The cheer became popular and the crowd would enthusiastically spell out F-I-S-H when the band performed live. During the summer of 1968 the band played on the Schaefer Music Festival tour.[19]Gary "Chicken" Hirsh suggested before one of the shows to spell the word "fuck" instead of "fish". Although the crowd loved it, the management of the Schaefer Beer Festival did not and kicked the band off the tour for life. The Ed Sullivan Show then canceled a previously scheduled appearance by the band, telling them to keep the money they had already been paid in exchange for never playing on the show.[19] The modified cheer continued at most of the band's live shows throughout the years, including Woodstock and elsewhere. In Worcester, Massachusetts, McDonald was arrested for obscenity and fined $500 for uttering "fuck" in public.[20]
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. The man (repeat: man) has written feminist songs that are both catchy and sensible. Despite the real/honest prison poem and the silly, outdated record fan routines, his best in about five years."[21]
In 2003 McDonald was sued for copyright infringement over his signature song, specifically the "One, two, three, what are we fighting for?" chorus part, as derived from the 1926 early jazz classic "Muskrat Ramble", co-written by Kid Ory. The suit was brought by Ory's daughter Babette, who held the copyright at the time. 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. 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. In 2006, Ory was ordered to pay McDonald $395,000 for attorney fees and had to sell her copyrights to do so.[citation needed]
In 2004, McDonald regrouped with three of the original members of Country Joe and the Fish (Bruce Barthol, David Bennett Cohen, and Gary "Chicken" Hirsh) and they toured the United States and the United Kingdom as the "Country Joe Band".
In 2005, McDonald joined a larger protest against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts at the California State Capitol Building. Later in 2005, political commentator Bill O'Reilly compared McDonald to Cuban President Fidel Castro, remarking on McDonald's involvement in Cindy Sheehan's protests against the Iraq War.[22]
In 2019, McDonald was scheduled to play on Woodstock's 50th Anniversary festival, which was cancelled after negotiations between partners failed.
Personal life
Photo from Country Joe's 1968 marriage to Robin Menken
McDonald was married to Kathe Werum from 1963 to 1966.
McDonald has noted that his girlfriend at the time, Janis Joplin, showed much anger for breaking up with her to be with Robin Menken but asked him to write a song about her; the result was "Janis".[17][23]
On 31 March 1968, McDonald married Robin Menken, a year after his divorce from Werum.[24]
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. Don's son went to school with Seven, Don asked his son if she would be cool with his naming a character Seven, Seven said no, so it was either Six or Eight.[28]
McDonald has four other children, Devin (b. 1976) and Tara (b. 1980) from his marriage to Janice Taylor, and Emily (b. 1988) and Ryan (b. 1991) from his marriage to Kathy Wright.[24]
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