60s and 70s Music Country Joe and the Fish

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Country Joe & the Fish

'Country Joe McDonald' © Rob Altman

Flying High
By CJF
I'm stuck on the L.A. freeway,
Got rain water in my boots,
My thumbs done froze, can't feel my toes,
I feel a little destitute.

Wheels throwing water all over my axe
And Mr. Jones won't lend me a hand.
Up come two cats in a Cadillac
And they say, "Won't you hop in, man ?"

I went flying high
All the way — all the way.

The one that's driving's got a bowler hat,
The other's got a fez on his head.
They turn around and grin and I grin back
But not a word was said.
So I took out my harp and I played 'em a tune,
I could see they were diggin' it,
Then the one with the fez, well he turns and he sez,
"We'd like to help you make your trip."

And I went flying high
All the way — all the way.
He said, "We can't leave him out in the rain,
He just might freeze and die,
So why not put him on a plane
And send him home in the sky ?"
So they took me to the L.A. airport,
Laid twenty dollars in my hand.
Well, I paid my fare, I'm in the air
Flying back home again.

And I went flying high
All the way, yeah, all the way, all the way,
You know I went flying high all the way,
Don't you know I went flying high all the...

Country Joe & The Fish

Country Joe McDonald Website

Barry Melton Website

Country Joe & the Fish Legacy

The lead singer was "Country" Joe McDonald. The lead guitarist was Barry "The Fish" Melton. Co-founders McDonald and Melton added musicians as needed over the life of the band.

The band was an early example of Psychedelic music. The LP "Electric Music for the Mind and Body" was very influential on early FM Radio in 1967. Long sets of psychedelic tunes like Section 43, Bass Strings, Sweet Lorraine, Janis and Grace were often played back to back on KSAN and KMPX in San Francisco and progressive rock stations around the country.

Country Joe and The Fish were regulars at Fillmore West and East and the Family Dog at the Avalon. They were billed with such groups as Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Led Zeppelin, and Iron Butterfly. They played at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and at Woodstock in 1969. In 1971 the band appeared in a Western film starring Don Johnson as an outlaw gang called the Crackers. The film, entitled Zachariah, was written by the Firesign Theater and was billed as "The First Electric Western". They also appeared in the George Lucas film More American Grafitti.

Their biggest hit was the anti-war "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag," which debuted the same year of the band, but became best known after Country Joe's performance of it at Woodstock. Country Joe was involved with legal disputes with the family of Kid Ory due to the tune's similarity to Ory's Dixieland jazz standard "Muskrat Ramble". In August of 2003, the court case was decided in Joe's favor due to the long time between the debut of "Fixin' to Die" and the first legal claim against it by Ory's family.

Barry Melton was later a founding member of The Dinosaurs and has recently released new recordings of that band whose members included Peter Albin from Big Brother and The Holding Company and John Cippolina from Quicksilver Messenger Service and Copperhead.

For listen samples and reviews, click on CD cover photo. In new window,
click on CD photo again and scroll down.

Electric Music for the Mind and Body (1967)
I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die (1967)
Together (1968)
Here We Go Again(1969)
CJ Fish (1970)

Life and Times of Country Joe and the Fish (1971)
Collector's Items: The First 3 EPs (1980)
Collected Country Joe and the Fish (1988)
Live! Fillmore West 1969
War War War by Country Joe McDonald

True 60s Memorabilia!

Zachariah (1970) DVD
Starring: John Rubinstein, Barry Melton
Director: George Englund
Two gunfighters separate and experience surreal visions on their journey through the west.
Gunfights and electric guitars in the Old West? You bet! Zachariah gets a mail order gun, practices a little, and kills a man in the local saloon. He and his friend Matthew set out to become gunfighters, joining with the Crackers, a rock band (Country Joe & The Fish) who are also (pitifully inept) stage robbers. Having quickly outgrown that gang, Zachariah and Matthew set out to become bigtime gunslingers. Before long, they part company and a rivalry grows between them.

Despite what the reviewer below writes, this movie is supposed to be a comedy with dramatic elements, not an accidentally comic drama. Co-written by the Firesign Theater (buy their CD's!), this was the first (and apparently only) rock and roll western (not a 'western rock opera' as the other Marc writes below -- 'opera' gives it different conotations -- no one sings in character). Although I applaud the ulitmate message of the movie (a hippyish exhortation to slow down and follow your heart, not the whims of society), the acting does hinder it a bit. I've read that the producers took Firesign's first draft and filmed it, rather than letting them rework it, as they usually do with their works -- and it shows. It comes off as a good first draft. A must see for Firesign Theatre fans, fans of Elvin Jones and Don Johnson (if any) and the James Gang, but that may really be all. Otherwise, definitely rent it.

It IS worth seeing if you're in the mood for fun and don't have big expectations (in other words, if you're drunk or high).

Acid Commercial
by Country Joe & the Fish

Hands up Charlie and-uh...
Now if you're tired or a bit run down,
Can't seem to getcha feet off the ground,
Maybe you oughta try a little bit of L.S.D.
Only if you want to
Shake your head and rattle your brain,
Make you act just a bit insane,
Give you all the psychic energy you need —
Eat flowers and kiss babies
L.S.D.
For you and me!