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Country Joe McDonald (born Joseph Allen McDonald; January 1, 1942) was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe & the Fish.
McDonald was born in Washington, D.C. He started his career busking on Berkeley, California`s famous Telegraph Avenue in the early 1960s. His father, Worden McDonald, was of Scottish Presbyterian heritage, and his mother, the late Florence Plotnick (McDonald), was the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants, and served for many years on the Berkeley city council. Both of his parents were active in progressive politics. As of 2009, Country Joe still lives in Berkeley, California. McDonald`s daughter, Seven, is a columnist for the LA Weekly. He has two other children, Devin, Tara, and Ryan.
Country Joe has recorded 33 albums and has written hundreds of songs over a career spanning 40 years. He and Barry Melton co-founded Country Joe & the Fish which became a pioneer psychedelic rock band with their eclectic performances at The Avalon Ballroom, The Fillmore, Monterey Pop Festival and both the original and the reunion Woodstock Festivals.
Their best-know is his "The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I`m-Fixin`-To-Die Rag," a black comedy novelty song about the Vietnam War, whose familiar chorus ("One, two, three, what are we fighting for?") is well known to the Woodstock generation and Vietnam Veterans of the 1960s and 1970s. He is also known for "The Fish Cheer" which was a cheerleader-style call-and-response with the audience where Joe spelled out "fish" ("Give me an F!").
The cheer was on the original recording of the I-Feel-Like-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die, being played right before the song on the LP of the same name. The cheer became popular and the crowd would 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. 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 Country Joe and the Fish and told the band to keep the money they had already been paid in exchange for never playing on the show. The change of the cheer from “fish” to “fuck” would continue at most of the band`s live shows throughout the years, including Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival.
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 "Fixin`", with the same section in question, for some three decades without bringing a suit until 2003, and dismissed the suit. In 2006, Ory was ordered to pay McDonald $750,000 for attorney fees, and had to sell her copyrights to do so.
In 2004, Country Joe re-formed some original members of Country Joe and The Fish as the Country Joe Band – Bruce Barthol, David Bennett Cohen, and Gary "Chicken" Hirsh. The band t
Biography Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Joe_McDonald
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His most famous composition is also his most controversial; "I-Feel-Like-I`m-Fixin`-To-Die Rag".
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