Joseph “Country Joe” McDonald has died. The singer/songwriter who fronted counterculture folk-rock icons Country Joe And The Fish passed away last night due to Parkinson's disease, according to TMZ and Best Classic Bands. McDonald wrote the psychedelic Berkeley, California band’s most enduring songs, including the Vietnam War protest anthem “The Fish Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” and “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine,” their sole Hot 100 hit. Country Joe And The Fish were a fixture of San Francisco’s Summer Of Love in 1967 and also played one of the most famous sets at Woodstock. Over his career, he released dozens of solo albums in addition to his output with the group, most recently 50 in 2017. McDonald was 84.
Joseph Allen McDonald was born in Washington, D.C. in 1942 to Florence and Worden McDonald, who were both members of the Communist Party in their youth. McDonald was raised in El Monte, California, outside of Los Angeles; as a teenager, he began writing his own songs, started his first rock band, and performed in his high school marching band. He served in the Navy for three years, and after coming home from being stationed in Japan, he enrolled at Los Angeles State College. There, he published a zine called Et Tu Brute featuring "poetry and drawings and some song lyrics."
McDonald moved to the Berkeley in 1965 with aspirations of becoming a folk singer. Between busking on Telegraph Avenue, working at a guitar shop, and getting involved in Vietnam War protests, he also co-launched a magazine called Rag Baby that centered around the Bay Area folk music scene. McDonald had the idea to release "talking issues" of the magazine featuring audio supplements. When he co-founded Country Joe And The Fish in 1965, the band — blending classic folk with LSD-fueled psychedelia — began self-releasing their first music through the Rag Baby "talking issues."
Country Joe And The Fish got popular and relocated to San Fransisco. From there, they began to tour and play iconic festivals such as Monterey Pop Festival and New York's Schaefer Music Festival, but their snarky and progressive lyrics also got them banned from The Ed Sullivan Show. Following a few lineup changes, McDonald assembled Country Joe And The Fish's final lineup for a last-minute appearance at Woodstock, during which they roused the crowd in an unexpected round of their infamous "Fuck Cheer" — altering the lyrics to "The Fish Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” to spell out "fuck" instead.
Though McDonald Country Joe And The Fish disbanded in 1970, McDonald kept up a prolific solo career covering classic country standards and continued writing original anti-war songs. He also appeared at subsequent Woodstock reunion festivals and continued to tour, occasionally with his former bandmates.
Revisit some of McDonald's most famous songs below.
