Country Joe McDonald, whose performance of “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” at Woodstock became one of the legendary highlights of the festival, has died at the age of 84.
McDonald’s death Saturday in Berkeley, California, was confirmed in a post on social media. The post says he died from complications from Parkinson’s disease.
“McDonald was widely recognized as one of the defining voices of the 1960s counterculture movement,” said an official obituary from the band Country Joe and the Fish. “His music blended folk, rock and political commentary, capturing the spirit of a generation deeply affected by social upheaval, civil rights struggles and the Vietnam War.”
According to his online biography, McDonald was born Joseph Allen McDonald in 1942 in Washington, D.C.. He grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte, California. He was influenced musically by artists performing at El Monte Legion Stadium, including gospel, jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll and country.
He served in the U.S. Navy for three years. In the early 1960s, he moved to Berkeley and focused on music. He also became politically active, protesting against the Vietnam War.
He helped form Country Joe and the Fish in 1965, NPR reports. The group blended folk music and rock ‘n’ roll, and was known for its political commentary.
The group’s best-known song was “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” and McDonald’s performance of the song in 1969 at Woodstock became part of the festival’s lore.
The song had a large presence in pop culture and was used in movies such as “Hamburger Hill” and “More American Graffiti.” It also was used in the HBO series “Generation Kill.”
“The important thing about the ‘Fixin’ to Die Rag’ was that it had a new point of view that did not blame soldiers for war,” McDonald said of the song, according to Variety. “It just blamed the politicians and it blamed the manufacturers of weapons. It didn’t blame the soldiers.
“Someone who was in the military could sing the song and the attitude is, ‘Whoopee, we’re all going to die.’ Most peace songs of the era blamed the soldiers for the war.”
Country Joe and the Fish disbanded in 1971, but McDonald continued recording as a solo artist.
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