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Country Joe's next stop not Vietnam
By Richard S Ehrlich

BANGKOK - American singer Country Joe McDonald, whose satirical "Fixin' To Die" anthem condemned the US war in Vietnam, will not be go to Hanoi on June 22 to receive a World Peace Music Award, and he warns that Washington cannot win the guerrilla wars in Afghanistan or Iraq.

"As a hippie protest songwriter, I could not exist in Vietnam today," said McDonald, lead singer of the psychedelic band Country Joe and the Fish.

"Communism tends to be totalitarian, and I am not supportive of that," McDonald said in an e-mail interview on Monday while performing in England. "My parents were American communists for

some time, but they left the party because of a lack of democratic positions by the party."

The Second Annual World Peace Music Awards, which aim to promote peace through music, will honor McDonald along with Bob Dylan; Joan Baez; Harry Belafonte; Peter, Paul and Mary; and Vietnam's late Trinh Cong Son as "Life of Peace" singers on June 22 in Hanoi. Despite also being named "Life of Peace" honorees, Dylan,

Baez and Belafonte are not scheduled to attend.

In referring to the awards show, McDonald said: "My understanding is that the government is not giving me the award at all. The country is just renting space to the World Peace Music Awards, whoever that might be, to put on a show.

"It was explained that it was a benefit show, but it was not clear who the benefit was for," he said. "I found out that none of the other groups [or] acts being honored were going to be there. But of course it is an honor to be honored."

The snazzy chorus of Country Joe and the Fish's "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" reflected the mood of many Americans with its ricocheting rhyme: "One, two, three, what are we fighting for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Next stop is Vietnam."

"That is the song I am best known for," McDonald said.

"For many [US] soldiers in Vietnam, including those in Vietnamese prison camps, it served as a morale booster. For some in the USA, it served as a vehicle to change their minds from pro-war to anti-war," he said. "For some, it confirmed that I was a traitor to the cause of the Vietnam War.

"I [still] sing it the same, out of loyalty to those who fought the war and suffered the wounds of that war," he said. "I also find it interesting that Matt Taylor [a World Peace Music Awards promoter] had to run the lyrics by the Vietnamese government for approval, and that the approval was given."

McDonald was born in Washington, DC, in 1942, grew up in El Monte, California, and wrote the rag in 1965 after an honorable discharge from the US Navy.

Country Joe and the Fish immortalized the song on their second album and at countless performances, including the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

In 1970, at the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial, McDonald sang the chorus while testifying under oath despite the judge telling him: "No, no, no, Witness. No singing." When McDonald continued, the court's marshal put his hand on McDonald's chin to force his mouth shut.

The judge then relented and allowed him to "recite" the song. McDonald spoke the full lyrics, which conclude by inviting America's parents to "be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box".

In 1975, meanwhile, after North Vietnam defeated the US military, invaded US-backed South Vietnam and united the Southeast Asian nation, Hanoi's communist rulers enforced a regime rife with human-rights abuses.

When asked about the current political situation in Vietnam, McDonald said: "I agree that there are current human-rights violations that must be addressed by the Vietnamese government, and it will be a challenge for the Vietnamese to enter into the world community of free trade and free global communications under their current philosophy."

The singer-songwriter said he joked in another 1960s song about dosing then-US president Lyndon B Johnson, often called by his initials LBJ, with LSD to enlighten him about peace. But today, he said, the situation was too serious for such satire.

"It is my voice on the end of the 'Super Bird' song saying 'make him drop some acid', which at the time was an act of defiance and said as a joke," McDonald said. "I did not think that we actually could manage that with LBJ at that time, and do not imagine that we actually could manage that with George W Bush. Actually my desire is much more serious than that.

"I would hope that Bush would make more intelligent decisions for the government and the military, and [I] find it hard to apply satire to his actions as I find them terribly stupid and cruel as regards the lives of our military families and personnel," McDonald said.

"I personally did not find just reason for the war in Afghanistan or the war in Iraq. I do not think that these are winnable wars for America, for many reasons. Most of those reasons are the same as the Vietnam War," he said.

"Osama bin Laden, like George W Bush, is an upper-class rich person who has never seen battle," McDonald added. "I doubt that he [bin Laden] is a nice person, but he is not the only source of America's problems in the world today."

McDonald's website includes a photograph of a white-turbaned Osama bin Laden morphing into a portrait of Bush, and then into bin Laden again, on an endless loop.

"I am not a pacifist. I would kill to defend myself, or my country, or my family," McDonald said.

The World Peace Music Awards said its five-hour concert would draw an audience of more than 45,000 people in Hanoi, plus "more than 2 billion" television viewers worldwide. "We're designing the largest concert stage ever built in Vietnam," said promoter Matt Taylor.

According to the concert's website, "Legendary musical great Lionel Richie is composing a song exclusively for the show titled, 'One World'."

The lineup includes, from the United States, Gloria Gaynor, the Black Eyed Peas, Hootie and the Blowfish and Steven Seagal; Sarah Brightman from the United Kingdom; Joaquin Cortes from Spain; Tata Young from Thailand; Slank from Indonesia; Emma Shapplin from France; and Thanh Lam and a popular rock group called The Wall from Vietnam, among others, the concert's organizers said.

"Renowned folk musician Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary - who started the peace movement during the '60s - will kick off the concert with a special opening performance followed by the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan," they said.

The first World Peace Music Awards concert was held last June on Bali island in Indonesia and featured artists from several countries.

Promoters for the music awards show, which also poses as a "charity fund to help young victims of violence and terrorism" said that this year, "as a gift to the people of Vietnam, a portion of the proceeds will be used to help victims of [US herbicide] Agent Orange, HIV-positive children, and women veterans who were disabled during the Vietnam War".

(Copyright 2004 Richard S Ehrlich.)

Jun 10, 2004

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