WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
“WHooPee We’Re ALL GoNNa DiE…” by BY WILLIAMBANZAI7 –or– How to Rewrite a Protest Song from the Left to the Right
byVanderleunonFebruary 25, 2022
Once upon a time, I was smoking weed with my high school pal and Berkeley roommate Tom Weller and other proto-hippies at Ed Denson’s apartment and office of “Takoma Records” down on (Was it Ashby and Adeline? ) when Joe was picking out this little ditty or dropping by with it, I disremember . . . the weed was good even if you bought only a matchbox, or a lid, or a key. Not as good as it would get decades later when Denson made better weed his cause up along the coast.
When we heard Fixin to Die we thought it was catchy if sketchy. So we all took a hit on the chillum and got with it . . . after only hearing it ten times. It was an instant hit on the protest circuit especially when they added the “Gimme an ‘F!’ ” chant. They used to play it in anti-war marches from the back of a flatbed truck. It was put out first as a record inserted into Ragbaby, Country Joe’s handmade Folk Music magazine for the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, we were back at Denson’s place inventing the Hippies and cooking up the eternal rumor that you could get high by toasting and smoking the white shreds inside banana skins. Cracked us up when “They call it mellow yellow. . .” made the radio.
Ah yes and then we. . . Don’t bogart that overflowing skull hard drive. Give me a hard copy for the book.
Yes, Good Times (Which was, now that I think of it, the name of one of our handcrafted underground newspapers– Good Times.)
The Original
FEEL LIKE I’M FIX’N TO DIE–Country Joe McDonald
Revised by WB7
Well, come on all of you, big strong trans,
Uncle Joe needs your help again.
He’s got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Ukie Land
So put down your MacBooks 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 Ukie Land;
And it’s five, six, seven,
Open up the rainbow gates,
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.
Come on Wall Street, don’t be slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go
There’s plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of woke trade,
But just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the old Scheng-a-n!
And it’s one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,
Next stop is Ukie Land.
And it’s five, six, seven,
Open up the rain bow gates,
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.
Well, come on Milley, let’s move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Now you can go out and shoot fur heads
‘Cause the only good Russkie is the one that’s dead
And you know woke world can only be won
When we’ve blown ’em all to kingdom come.
And it’s one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,
Next stop is Ukie Land;
And it’s five, six, seven,
Open up the rainbow gates,
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.
Come on mothers throughout the homeland,
Pack your tom boys off to Ukie Land.
Come on fathers, and don’t hesitate
To send your soy boys off before it’s too late.
And you can be the first ones in your block
To have your trans come home in a box.
And it’s one, two, three
What are we fighting for ?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,
Next stop is Ukie Land.
And it’s five, six, seven,
Open up the rainbow gates,
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we’re all gonna die!
missing in the clip is Joe falling into Bill Graham’s arms as he exits- he was terrified, the look was on his face.
Tom HylandFebruary 25, 2022, 12:41 PM
I thanked Country Joe for his great contributions… that song… and so much bravery for belting it out so swell. I was sitting at the bar in a tavern just outside Yosemite Park in 1982. He walked in and said, “Well, I’m here.” The bartender asked, “Who are you??” He replied, “I’m Country Joe for fuck sake… I’m playing here tonight.” Bartender said, “Oh, excuse me. I’ve got the key to your room, let me fetch it.” Joe sat down next to me and said, “Fuck!” Again. He didn’t spell it out letter for letter but I understood his angst. I sure had a great time talking with him.
TerryFebruary 25, 2022, 6:30 PM
Tom Hyland
Memories with live music in Tuolumne County.
Was it The Iron Door Saloon in Groveland? I hung out there a bit in the sixties and seventies. Could be a rough place at times. Bare fisted boxing out in the street. Damn that was a blast. I went to high school with the crowd from that area.
There was another saloon one could get in trouble at nearby Big Oak Flat.
Tom HylandFebruary 25, 2022, 8:00 PM
Hi Terry. I’ve been looking at the roadmap since I posted that this morning. It’s been so long I really can’t say exactly where I was. I spent the whole summer up in Grass Valley and just took a drive one week. It was a pretty big lodge-type house with rooms upstairs, pitched roof, and this spacious bar and stage downstairs. Not fancy at all… kinda beat. Could very easily been Groveland or Big Oak Flat. I was just a few miles away from entering Yosemite. I was 26 at the time. VERY impressed by Woodstock which happened when I was 13. I thought “Gimme an F” was an important part of growing up. So to sit there chatting with Joe was a great pleasure.
Despite “Fixin’ to Die” there are some very sweet cuts on that old LP. I still click on YT and listen from time to time. I’m thinking of “Thursday”, and “Eastern Jam”. CJ and the Fish caught the essence of the psychedelic experience better than any of the San Francisco/ Haight Ashbury bands of the late ’60’s. Politically, Joe McDonald was, and is an asshole. The old band put out some good stuff, though.
OH:
No mention that the song is actually a parody of an old jazz tune, Muskat Ramble” by a guy named Kid Ory. Louie Armstrong did an instrumental back in the day.
I still have a few Country Joe and the Fish albums and CD’s.
1,The life and times of Country Joe and the
Fish.
2, Live! Fillmore West 69!
Others don’t have time to dig thru the album pile now. I’m watch a war dammit?
Irk
Still think rockin soul music is an awesome.
Sweet Sweet Loraine
She hides in an attic concealed on a shelf
Behind volumes of literature based on herself
And runs across the pages like some tiny elf
Knowing that it’s hard to find
Stuff way back in her mind,
Winds up spending all of her time
Trying to memorize every line
Sweet Lorraine, ah, sweet Lorraine.
Sweet lady of death wants me to die
So she can come sit by my bedside and sigh
And wipe away the tears from all my friends eyes
Then softly she will explain
Just exactly who was to blame
For causing me to go insane
And finally blow out my brain,
Sweet Lorraine, ah, sweet Lorraine.
Well you know that it’s a shame and a pity
You were raised up in the city
And you never learned nothing ’bout country ways,
Ah, ’bout country ways.
The joy of life she dresses in black
With celestial secrets engraved in her back
And her face keeps flashing that she’s got the knack,
But you know when you look into her eyes
All she’s learned she’s had to memorize
And the only way you’ll ever get her high
Is to let her do her thing and then watch you die,
Sweet Lorraine, ah, sweet Lorraine.
Now she’s the one who gives us all those magical things
And reads us stories out of the I Ching,
Then she passes out a whole new basket of rings
That when you put on your hand
Makes you one of the Angel Band
And gives you the power to be a man,
But what it does for her you never quite understand
Sweet Lorraine, ah, sweet Lorraine.
Well you know that it’s a shame and a pity
You were raised up in the city
And you never learned nothing ’bout country ways,
Oh ’bout country ways, oh ’bout country ways,
Yeah, about country ways, oh, country ways …
Holy cow, Dirk, you just spiked a motherlode of nostalgia for me. I remember dropping a hit of sunshine during my 7th period class in high school. I was just coming on as school let out, and all my space brother hippie pals were gathering on the the green at the front of the school. I bought a couple of joints from a buddy, and burned one on the way home. Both parents worked then, so I had the place to myself until almost seven in the evening. I got home peaking out on the sunshine, sparked the second reefer, and sat in my room with this album cranked up all the way.
SECTION 43. Oh, my God. SECTION 43.
What a journey. So much psychedelia from such a simple piece of music.
It was, like, totally righteous. 😉
Still is.
Excuse me… that was totally the wrong video. However, the Ukrainian general DOES have a couple of interesting remarks to share. This is “Section 43″… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yhiE03G0H4
Jwm, we must have gone to the same schools. I “ think” I miss those days! Maybe not, ahhh who knows.
Honestly I have been contemplating trying shrubs again, maybe Peyote buttons .
Memories, remember doing “25” ,,,over in Mendocino Ca, walking thru the Red Wood, talking to ALL the trees, and they were talking back to me. Standing on the point, thinking I was commanding a huge Spanish galleon, the rocks and brush were my crew!
Maybe those days are best left for youth?,,,, maybe not.
Dirk
TerryFebruary 25, 2022, 6:44 PM
Fillmore ’69
Yep, first wife and I saw lots of great performers there during that era. Jefferson Airplane and others.
Something to do as I slowly flunked out of SF State due to being unable to attend classes shut down by rioting leftists. And the horse mounted cops ran over rioters at SF State then as now being witnessed. That is until the rioters armed themselves with ice picks and stabbed the animals in the flanks and off went the cop to the cement. That was the end of horse mounted cops at SF State. Little damage to the horse, severe psychological damage to the bucked off cops.
Guys don’t forget Country Joes performance at Monterey Pop Festival 1967! Amazing.
I was purchasing album collections few years back, got some killer music, my good collections 2500/2700. Add all the beat to shit albums, pushing 3500 ish.
We’ve had the honor of growing up in truly amazing times. Those days, those shows, shaped who we’d all eventually become. Outside family influences.
TrangBang68February 25, 2022, 3:30 PM
The Joe McDonald song “Who Am I” is a powerful song about alienation. It haunted me for a few years of PTSD and drug induced psychosis. The album “Here We Go Again” is full of thoughtful little tunes. From that album , the song “Crystal Blues” was about the meth epidemic back then in California:
“Ah, crystal’s got my woman
Ah, dope is driving her insane, yeah
Dope is driving her insane ,yeah
Dope is driving her insane
Crystal’s got my woman
Ah, dope is driving her insane, yeah
She used to be so pretty
Now she can’t remember her own name
Now she can’t remember her own name”
It’s just as relevant today especially with the Cartel cookers using the old Hell’s Angels’ P2P formula which creates instant psychosis.
Boat GuyFebruary 25, 2022, 8:53 PM
Gimme “Paradise With an Ocean View” thanks very much
While older now, many of those still living band members work shows up and down the west coast. It’s not unusual to find your hero’s in a dive in Brookings, or Coos Bay, or an old church turned civic center, small quant personal shows.
We use to travel to these shows. Good times. The China bug slowed it down, killed it. Hoping the shows start again.
My brother in law over in Eureka jams with a lot of those guys often. Actually Fortuna Ca. An amazing musician in his own right.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Once upon a time, I was smoking weed with my high school pal and Berkeley roommate Tom Weller and other proto-hippies at Ed Denson’s apartment and office of “Takoma Records” down on (Was it Ashby and Adeline? ) when Joe was picking out this little ditty or dropping by with it, I disremember . . . the weed was good even if you bought only a matchbox, or a lid, or a key. Not as good as it would get decades later when Denson made better weed his cause up along the coast.
And it’s one, two, three,
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
missing in the clip is Joe falling into Bill Graham’s arms as he exits- he was terrified, the look was on his face.
I thanked Country Joe for his great contributions… that song… and so much bravery for belting it out so swell. I was sitting at the bar in a tavern just outside Yosemite Park in 1982. He walked in and said, “Well, I’m here.” The bartender asked, “Who are you??” He replied, “I’m Country Joe for fuck sake… I’m playing here tonight.” Bartender said, “Oh, excuse me. I’ve got the key to your room, let me fetch it.” Joe sat down next to me and said, “Fuck!” Again. He didn’t spell it out letter for letter but I understood his angst. I sure had a great time talking with him.
Tom Hyland
Memories with live music in Tuolumne County.
Was it The Iron Door Saloon in Groveland? I hung out there a bit in the sixties and seventies. Could be a rough place at times. Bare fisted boxing out in the street. Damn that was a blast. I went to high school with the crowd from that area.
There was another saloon one could get in trouble at nearby Big Oak Flat.
Hi Terry. I’ve been looking at the roadmap since I posted that this morning. It’s been so long I really can’t say exactly where I was. I spent the whole summer up in Grass Valley and just took a drive one week. It was a pretty big lodge-type house with rooms upstairs, pitched roof, and this spacious bar and stage downstairs. Not fancy at all… kinda beat. Could very easily been Groveland or Big Oak Flat. I was just a few miles away from entering Yosemite. I was 26 at the time. VERY impressed by Woodstock which happened when I was 13. I thought “Gimme an F” was an important part of growing up. So to sit there chatting with Joe was a great pleasure.
Despite “Fixin’ to Die” there are some very sweet cuts on that old LP. I still click on YT and listen from time to time. I’m thinking of “Thursday”, and “Eastern Jam”. CJ and the Fish caught the essence of the psychedelic experience better than any of the San Francisco/ Haight Ashbury bands of the late ’60’s. Politically, Joe McDonald was, and is an asshole. The old band put out some good stuff, though.
OH:
No mention that the song is actually a parody of an old jazz tune, Muskat Ramble” by a guy named Kid Ory. Louie Armstrong did an instrumental back in the day.
JWM
I still have a few Country Joe and the Fish albums and CD’s.
1,The life and times of Country Joe and the
Fish.
2, Live! Fillmore West 69!
Others don’t have time to dig thru the album pile now. I’m watch a war dammit?
Irk
Still think rockin soul music is an awesome.
Sweet Sweet Loraine
She hides in an attic concealed on a shelf
Behind volumes of literature based on herself
And runs across the pages like some tiny elf
Knowing that it’s hard to find
Stuff way back in her mind,
Winds up spending all of her time
Trying to memorize every line
Sweet Lorraine, ah, sweet Lorraine.
Sweet lady of death wants me to die
So she can come sit by my bedside and sigh
And wipe away the tears from all my friends eyes
Then softly she will explain
Just exactly who was to blame
For causing me to go insane
And finally blow out my brain,
Sweet Lorraine, ah, sweet Lorraine.
Well you know that it’s a shame and a pity
You were raised up in the city
And you never learned nothing ’bout country ways,
Ah, ’bout country ways.
The joy of life she dresses in black
With celestial secrets engraved in her back
And her face keeps flashing that she’s got the knack,
But you know when you look into her eyes
All she’s learned she’s had to memorize
And the only way you’ll ever get her high
Is to let her do her thing and then watch you die,
Sweet Lorraine, ah, sweet Lorraine.
Now she’s the one who gives us all those magical things
And reads us stories out of the I Ching,
Then she passes out a whole new basket of rings
That when you put on your hand
Makes you one of the Angel Band
And gives you the power to be a man,
But what it does for her you never quite understand
Sweet Lorraine, ah, sweet Lorraine.
Well you know that it’s a shame and a pity
You were raised up in the city
And you never learned nothing ’bout country ways,
Oh ’bout country ways, oh ’bout country ways,
Yeah, about country ways, oh, country ways …
Holy cow, Dirk, you just spiked a motherlode of nostalgia for me. I remember dropping a hit of sunshine during my 7th period class in high school. I was just coming on as school let out, and all my space brother hippie pals were gathering on the the green at the front of the school. I bought a couple of joints from a buddy, and burned one on the way home. Both parents worked then, so I had the place to myself until almost seven in the evening. I got home peaking out on the sunshine, sparked the second reefer, and sat in my room with this album cranked up all the way.
SECTION 43. Oh, my God. SECTION 43.
What a journey. So much psychedelia from such a simple piece of music.
It was, like, totally righteous. 😉
Still is.
JWM
Like wow man… I just listened to Section 43…. never heard it until now… like, groovy… yeah…..
https://www.bitchute.com/video/QgBJY4XbJHA5/
Excuse me… that was totally the wrong video. However, the Ukrainian general DOES have a couple of interesting remarks to share. This is “Section 43″…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yhiE03G0H4
Jwm, we must have gone to the same schools. I “ think” I miss those days! Maybe not, ahhh who knows.
Honestly I have been contemplating trying shrubs again, maybe Peyote buttons .
Memories, remember doing “25” ,,,over in Mendocino Ca, walking thru the Red Wood, talking to ALL the trees, and they were talking back to me. Standing on the point, thinking I was commanding a huge Spanish galleon, the rocks and brush were my crew!
Maybe those days are best left for youth?,,,, maybe not.
Dirk
Fillmore ’69
Yep, first wife and I saw lots of great performers there during that era. Jefferson Airplane and others.
Something to do as I slowly flunked out of SF State due to being unable to attend classes shut down by rioting leftists. And the horse mounted cops ran over rioters at SF State then as now being witnessed. That is until the rioters armed themselves with ice picks and stabbed the animals in the flanks and off went the cop to the cement. That was the end of horse mounted cops at SF State. Little damage to the horse, severe psychological damage to the bucked off cops.
Guys don’t forget Country Joes performance at Monterey Pop Festival 1967! Amazing.
I was purchasing album collections few years back, got some killer music, my good collections 2500/2700. Add all the beat to shit albums, pushing 3500 ish.
We’ve had the honor of growing up in truly amazing times. Those days, those shows, shaped who we’d all eventually become. Outside family influences.
The Joe McDonald song “Who Am I” is a powerful song about alienation. It haunted me for a few years of PTSD and drug induced psychosis. The album “Here We Go Again” is full of thoughtful little tunes. From that album , the song “Crystal Blues” was about the meth epidemic back then in California:
“Ah, crystal’s got my woman
Ah, dope is driving her insane, yeah
Dope is driving her insane ,yeah
Dope is driving her insane
Crystal’s got my woman
Ah, dope is driving her insane, yeah
She used to be so pretty
Now she can’t remember her own name
Now she can’t remember her own name”
It’s just as relevant today especially with the Cartel cookers using the old Hell’s Angels’ P2P formula which creates instant psychosis.
Gimme “Paradise With an Ocean View” thanks very much
While older now, many of those still living band members work shows up and down the west coast. It’s not unusual to find your hero’s in a dive in Brookings, or Coos Bay, or an old church turned civic center, small quant personal shows.
We use to travel to these shows. Good times. The China bug slowed it down, killed it. Hoping the shows start again.
My brother in law over in Eureka jams with a lot of those guys often. Actually Fortuna Ca. An amazing musician in his own right.