Country Joe McDonald, the American musician best known for his anti-Vietnam war anthem 'I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag' and his iconic performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival, has died at the age of 84. His wife of 43 years, Kathy McDonald, confirmed that he died on Sunday in Berkeley, California, from complications of Parkinson's disease.
Born in Washington DC in 1942 and raised in El Monte, California, McDonald taught himself folk, blues and country guitar as a teenager. He became a prominent figure in the Bay Area music scene, alongside acts such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, and wrote or co-wrote hundreds of songs across dozens of albums.
McDonald’s most famous song, 'I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag', was written in 1965 in less than an hour. A talking blues track in the style of Woody Guthrie, it was a satirical protest against the Vietnam War. At Woodstock, he famously led the crowd in a 'F-U-C-K' chant before performing the song, replacing the earlier 'F-I-S-H' chant used by his band Country Joe and the Fish.
The song brought him fame but also legal trouble; in 1968, Ed Sullivan cancelled a planned TV appearance, and after Woodstock, McDonald was arrested and fined for using the chant at a show in Massachusetts. He later testified in the 'Chicago Eight' trial, where he was stopped by the judge when he began singing the song in court.
McDonald continued to tour and record for decades, releasing albums such as 'Country', 'Carry On' and 'Time Flies By', and remained active in protest music, including the 1982 track 'Save the Whales'. Despite his anti-war activism, he helped organise a Vietnam veterans memorial in Berkeley in the 1990s, describing the ceremony as 'one of reconciliation, not confrontation'.
McDonald is survived by his wife Kathy, five children and four grandchildren. He was married four times.
