Country Joe&The Fish-Janis

Country Joe & The Fish - Eastern Jam

From album "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die", Vanguard, 1967. Country Joe & The Fish was "Country"Joe McDonald's acid-rock 1965-1971 act. "Eastern Jam", great instrumental tune, written by the team Bartol, Cohen, Hirsh & Melton, features a great acid fuzz Barry "Fish" Melton's guitar solo.

        

Flying High - Country Joe McDonald

Lyrics:

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 and The Fish - Section 43

Country Joe and The Fish - Happiness Is A Porpoise Mouth

Lyrics:

The white ducks fly on past the sun,

Their wings flash silver at the moon.

While waters rush down the mountain tongue

My organs play a circus tune.

I dance to the wonder of your feet

And sing to the joy of your knees.

The cold white dress on the mountain breast

Paints the frozen trees.

The maple plants patterns in the sky

Its leaves to kiss the wind

While scores of glittering bugs and flies

Dance polkas on her limbs.

I whistle symphonies of your face

And laugh for your hair so fine.

In startled greens of playground grass

A child jumps rope to rhyme.

Reeds and brass, the marching drums

Make a joyous sound

Trees bend low with nuts and plums

Then fall to find the ground.

I hunger for your porpoise mouth

And stand erect for love.

The sun burns up the winter sky

And all the earth is love.

About The Band:

The group's name is derived from leftist politics; "Country Joe" was a popular name for Joseph Stalin in the 1940s, while "the fish" refers to Mao Tse Dung's statement that the true revolutionary must "swim among the people as a fish." The group began with the nucleus of "Country Joe" McDonald (lead vocals) and Barry "The Fish" Melton (lead guitar), recording and performing for the "Teach-In" protests against the Vietnam War in 1965. Co-founders McDonald and Melton added musicians as needed over the life of the band. By 1967, the group included Gary "Chicken" Hirsh (drums) (born in 1940, in Chicago, Illinois); David Cohen (keyboards) (born 8 April 1942, in Brooklyn, New York) and Bruce Barthol (bass) (born 11 November 1947 in Berkeley, California). The 1967 lineup lasted only two years, and by the 1969 music festival Woodstock, the lineup included Greg 'Duke' Dewey (drums), Mark Kapner (keyboards) and Doug Metzler (bass).

The band came to perform 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", "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine", "Janis" (for and about Janis Joplin) and "Grace" (for singer Grace Slick) (all released on Vanguard Records) were often played back to back on KSAN and KMPX in San Francisco and progressive rock stations around the country. Their first album charted at #39 on September 23, 1967, their 2nd album at #67 on February 3, 1968, and their third at #23 on August 31, 1968. Country Joe and The Fish were regulars at Fillmore West and East and Chet Helms' Avalon Ballroom. 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 the Woodstock Festival 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 Theatre and was billed as "The First Electric Western". They also appeared in the George Lucas film More American Graffiti and in the 1971 Roger Corman film Gas-s-s-s.

Electric Music For The Mind And Body, Country Joe and The Fish's debut album, was one of the first psychedelic albums to come out of San Francisco in 1967. Many timed their acid trips to peak during Country Joe and The Fish performances at The Avalon or The Fillmore, where they were frequent performers.

Tracks from the LP, especially "Section 43", "Grace", and "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" were played on progressive FM rock stations like KSAN and KMPX in San Francisco, often back-to-back. A famous version of the song "Love" was performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival

Country Joe & the Fish - Who Am I

Who am I

To stand and wonder, to wait

While the wheels of fate

Slowly grind my life away.

Who am I ?

There were some things that I loved one time,

But the dreams are gone I thought were mine,

And the hidden tears that once could fall

Now burn inside at the thought of all

The years of waste, the years of crime

Passions of a heart so blind;

To think that, but even still

As I stand exposed, the feelings are felt

And I cry into the echo of my loneliness.

Who am I

To stand and wonder, to wait

While the wheels of fate

Slowly grind my life away.

Who am I ?

What a nothing I've made of life

The empty words, the coward's plight

To be pushed and passed from hand to hand

Never daring to speak, never daring to stand

And the emptiness of my family's eyes

Reminds me over and over of lies

And promises and deeds undone

And now again I want to run

But now there is nowhere to run to.

Who am I

To stand and wonder, to wait

While the wheels of fate

Slowly grind my life away.

Who am I ?

And now my friend we meet again

We shall see which one will bend

Under the strain of death's golden eyes

Which one of us shall win the prize

To live and which one will die

'Tis I, my friend, yes 'tis I

Shall kill to live again and again

To clutch the throat of sweet revenge

For life is here only for the taking.

Who am I

To stand and wonder, to wait

While the wheels of fate

Slowly grind my life away.

Who am I ? Who am I ?

Country Joe And The Fish, - Rock And Soul Music - Woodstock 1969

Country Joe & the Fish Live at the Monterey Pop Festival '67

Country Joe McDonald - "Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die"

"Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die"

Come on all of you big strong men

Uncle Sam needs your help again

he's got himself in a terrible jam

way down yonder in Viet Nam so

put down your books and pick up a gun we're

gonna have a whole lotta fun

And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for

don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Viet Nam

And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates

ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die

Come on wall street don't be slow

why man this war is a go-go

there's plenty good money to be made by

supplying the army with the tools of its trade

let's hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,

they drop it on the Viet Cong

Come on generals, let's move fast

your big chance has come at last

now you can go out and get those reds

cos the only good commie is the one that's dead and

you know that peace can only be won when we've

blown 'em all to kingdom come

Come on mothers throughout the land

pack your boys off to Viet Nam

come on fathers don't hesitate

send your sons off before it's too late

and you can be the first ones on your block

to have your boy come home in a box

Country Joe & The Fish - We're the Crackers