Country Joe McDonald was a Vietnam vet by the time Woodstock happened. He was singing about what he knew.

I grew up at that time. The Vietnam war was horrible and a total waste. Almost every young man over 18 was drafted into the army to go over there and fight. If you got a student deferment for the draft, they came after you as soon as you finished college. Our two presidents at the time Johnson and Nixon LIED about it to the American people. over 50,000 Americans died over there for NOTHING. My anger is rekindled every time I think about it. Things are bad now, but I think it was worse then.

Don't lose sight of the fact that the men in the audience were subject to the draft. Also, as pointed out, McDonald was a vet.

The audience is so engaged because about 300,000 of them were Young Men ! We All had our lottery number .

The war in Vietnam was the first time that people saw ‘a war’ nightly in their homes on their televisions. Film crews took us into the fighting and photographers brought us pictures like Napalm Girl. That had a huge impact on us.

The song title is actually "Fixin' To Die Rag". I was there. Such a beautiful feeling being among all those people.

I served two combat tours (26 months) in Vietnam as a Marine Infantry machine gunner. I remember this song well. Tom Boyte, GySgt. USMC, retired

As a teen when this came out, the words, be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box, shook me then and still do. Peace from Northern Michigan.

We knew ALL the words to this song. We sang it in school for goodenss sake! OUR TEACHERS KNEW IT! . . .

The box reference was very accurate, I was 13 in 1969 and clearly remember two older kids in the neighborhood that were drafted and went to VietNam coming home in coffins.

Everyone who was a teenager at this time faced the real prospect of being drafted and sent off to war. I personally went to the Viet Nam memorial in Washington and found the names of the people who I knew that died in Viet Nam. Bob Seeger did a song called 2 + 2 = which was about this. The two plus two was , You turn 18, you get drafted, you get sent to Viet Nam and you die. This was a part of our lives.

Every young man had to register for the draft when we turned 18. And, every 18 year old who didn't have a deferment got drafted and sent to Vietnam to fight. Thus, the core to this song.

History has demonstrated that the Vietnam War was a useless, politically driven war. A pure proxy war between the USA and Communism. It was senseless, it was grotesque and it was devastating to people on both sides of the conflict. It also highlighted the terrible social divide in the US, as the vast majority of those drafted were poor &/or black. There were many great anti war songs from this era. CCR - "Fortunate Son" (1969), Barry McGuire - “Eve of Destruction” (1965), John Lennon "Give Peace a Chance" (1969) & "Imagine (1971). The most powerful movie I've watched was "Apocalypse Now". This is a classic Vietnam war film. I remember coming out of the movie theatre after watching it and the audience was totally quiet. Not a word was spoken until we left the theatre. The plot of the movie is that US Army Command is sending Capt Willard up the Nùng River on covert mission to terminate the rogue US Colonel Kurtz, who is waging his own brutal war within war. Kurtz is described as crazy and out of control. Reflecting on the movie it was clear that the farther Willard gets up the river, you begin to question just who the crazy ones are.

Hearing this on the radio then, it was shocking. The most stunning line in the whole song is actually obscured in this live version. "Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box." And here we go again....

Hello from Arizona. I'm 65 years old and I've been to every concert and if you notice in the audience there's all different colors and a cultures and we really didn't give a s***. And now today our government wants us to be about race. The 60s and the 70s were all about love and peace ❤

Saw country Joe play this at Woodstock. I was 13 at time. 3 days of great music even in the mud

Woodstock into the 70s the was Golden age Rock music, nothing has since compared to all the great bands that came out of that era

The song was culturally important in that it made those of us that weren’t “Hippies” take notice and ask (maybe for the 1st time) “Why ARE we there?!?” The unfortunate part was, these same “peace loving hippies” held the conscripted serviceman responsible for “Nam”, not the politicians who sent them🤬! It was shameful how those boys were treated in many parts of the country🤬🤬🤬

Sung this song in boot camp, nothing like two of us singing the song and the rest of the place joining in.

I graduated from high school in June '69, went to Woodstock in August, went back to California and joined the Army in October. What a year that was ! ! ! 🤠

I had just graduated high school before Woodstock; I remember that time well. If you'd like to hear another very popular song on the same lines, try "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire.

This was our anthem to Nam conflict. He did a couple more from that era Tricky Dicky and Kiss My Ass. Ya need to listen to these also. Jim

This song is part of the black humor that develops when people are in ugly circumstances. By Woodstock, some of the important lies had been found out and we were tired of watching loved ones go off to be killed.

To be clear, less than 3000 Americans died in Iraq, even less in Afganistan. During the height of Vietnam, several hundred died A WEEK on the news every night. And we were losing the war even with the biggest war machine in the world.

OMG! You reacted to Country Joe! What a pleasant surprise for me to watch your reaction to his performance at Woodstock! Phil, in your reaction you ask how does this kind of war happen when it didn't make any sense! Something to that effect. Here's a theory why Vietnam happened and with all the other senseless "wars" that took place afterwards. President Eisenhower before leaving office warned about the dangers of our military industrial complex. Our military industrial complex is made up of Wall Street companies such as Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. There's many more but these aforementioned 5 are the biggest ones. So how do they keep their stock holders happy! Create senseless damn wars like Vietnam AND supplying / selling other countries, with massive amount of arms, like to Saudi Arabia and Israel. It all starts according to this one theory with our military industrial complex needing to make profits, and my God!, do they make huge profits when we are involved in a conflict or needing to supply our allies with huge amounts of arms to keep them safe from 'terrorist". They're publicly traded companies for petesakes! Make bombs, sale bombs, make huge amounts of profits for stock holders as they celebrate deliriously and watch their stock price surge as they get shit faced on the golf course! Nice gig... assholes! My brother was a Sargent Major with the Special Forces (Green Berets) out of Ft Bragg, NC He had 4 tours in Vietnam. Thankfully came back all 4 times in one piece. The only thing he ever said was, it was a shit show. Once again I greatly appreciate you reaction to this video. The sentiment express by Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald's song "The Fish Cheer" is still, sadly enough, relevant today.

Country Joe McDonald sang this song solo at Woodstock. He didn’t have his band with him, although the song was originally recorded by Country Joe and the Fish. What fueled the anti-war movement was not only that most people couldn’t figure out why we were in Vietnam, but also the draft-most of the soldiers fighting for their lives weren’t volunteers, as with today’s military.

The best Woodstock performance is the one which put Carlos Santana on the map. They were mostly unknown at the time and were asked to fill a hole in the program when one of the scheduled acts didn't arrive in time to play. They slayed it! You don't know sixties music if you don't know Soul Sacrifice by Santana - it's a classic banger!

What I didn't hear you mention: the draft. Guys were being pulled out of college and sent to Viet Nam to fight a battle nobody wanted except the politicians. I was almost pulled out myself, but I failed the physical. I went to the physical with x-rays and doctor's notes -- all designed to keep me out of Viet Nam and it worked! I had x-rays from an old wrestling injury that I had an operation on, but the x-rays were from before the operation. We went to the army base on a bus from our campus. All of the atheletes on the bus failed the physical. All the nerds were drafted. We had an All-American tight end with us who failed the army physical, then got a Corvette from the Cowboys. It was a crazy time.

Country Joe's " I fell like I'm fixing to Die" Rag and Arlo Guthrie's " Alices Restaurant" were the Best Anti War Songs of all Time.

They estimated a crowd of 50,000 would come to Woodstock,, but they were a little off on that math! Almost 500,000 came, roads were blocked, food couldn't get in, it rained, but there wasn't any violence during those 3 days. Nobody can say that these days!! One of the greatest performances there was an unknown band named Santana doing Soul Sacrifice. Their album was 2 weeks from release yet so nobody knew who they were but they left with a 1/2 million new fans that day!

Not a music recommendation but about the Vietnam War: I highly recommend Ken Burns' series on the war. It explains everything: how it started (the roots of it were France and the aftermath of WWII), why the U.S. got into it, why it was so controversial, why the politicians kept it going, what we should have leaened from the experience. Really, really amazing and compelling documentary series.

As someone who came from these times....I was heartened to hear you realize that the same crap is still happening.... Another angle I view things like this is realizing all those "kids" are now grandparents......and I find myself wondering how their lives progressed....how many of them feel the same way today as opposed to how many "got off the bus" and turned conservative for example......

The newer wars that you are aware of are/were fought by a volunteer force. Vietnam was a US conscripted war. If you were not in school, you were eligible for the draft and you had no choice. Most draftees ended serving in the army, fighting in a jungle war, for reasons most didn't understand.

My life flashed in front of me and I almost cried.

The reason there was so much protest of the Vietnam War was that there was a draft.

I'm 76. I was lucky that my draft board deferred me for joining the Peace Corps. At least there was no draft for the Iraq War. I had to give up a graduate school or else I would have been drafted and sent to Nam. I first saw WOODSTOCK at a large theater in Bangkok, Thailand. Thanks for doing this reaction. Love you both.

Country Joe And The Fish had many great songs in the "acid rock" era. Some were very laid back and some were rockin'.

If you want to get a "feel" for Woodstock, watch the movie "Woodstock" it's a documentary about it, with many of the bands/songs and videos of many of the concert goers

One of the many great moments at Woodstock. Imagine getting hundreds of thousands of hippies to sing with you.

I was in my early 20s in the late 70s, when I started driving a semi truck across the USA. The vietnam vets were all coming home late 70s and early 80s, lots got in trucks. Some of the stories that I was told by guys who were my exact age, wow is all I can say still to this day, but, I met some of the most loyal friends I have ever known.

Great reaction guys... If you want another Woodstock performance I would suggest Joe Cocker singing "I'll get by with a little help from my friends"... Total fire... Thanks again guys... Keep being awesome !!!...

Country Joe is an under rated icon of the 60s. I grew up in Berkeley where country Joe and CCR are from during this time and it wasn't uncommon to see Country Joe with his guitar at the park doing a sing along. Keep in mind that Berkeley and SF were a hot bed of political and civil movements with the Vietnam protests along with the Civil Rights and Free Speech movements all taking place at the same time so socially there was a lot for artists to sing about to get the message across. As far as Country Joe wearing an army shirt, that was common with civilians, even at protest rallies. It meant we supported the unfortunate young men who had to be drafted into battle with no fault of their own only because of the age and eligibility, It was the politicians that was the subject of these protests and cause. Yes there were some who were up on soldier's faces but it was mainly the institution leaders, politicians and force they represented. Country Joe and most of the artists of the time had a lot to say and most songs were about these events.

There was a military draft back then, you were required to register when you turned 18 and most men were drafted. I turned 18 in 1972, by then there was a 'lottery' by month and day of birth, so first date pulled (lets say Jan 4), top of the draft list. I was lucky, my number was around 270 so I didn't go.

I'm an old guy from the Vietnam era. I did not serve, with the help of people of Resist the Draft, I got out of it. After my college deferments were completed, they showed me how to avoid getting selected. Some of my friends did tours of duty in Southeast Asia. One never returned. Those that did return were changed - some subtly, some radically. That war was a waste of lives and money. Let me add that I have nothing but respect for the men and women who did serve during that time.

One MAN with an Acoustic Guitar and a Voice rousing 400,000 folks to get on their feet and protest the Viet Nam War. Way to go Country Joe!!! Plus the "F-I-S-H" Cheer.

Country Joe. Little known to modern audiences. Everybody "hip" at the time knew him. Fixin' To Die Rag. Sang it on the bus on the way to school!!!

January of 1970 I saw Country Joe and the Fish in concert with a group called Spirit. I was 19. That was in San Antonio, Texas, at the Municipal Auditorium. They did this song, which at the time they introduced as "The Fish Call". I'd heard it before, sometimes on the radio where the beginning was chopped off. But a friend of mine had an album of theirs with this song on it. Everyone I knew thought it was a gas...fun to listen to. And relevant, since there were lots of protests going on against the Vietnam War. There were five more war years still to go, unbeknownst to us. There's a good song about the protests, too. Actually, several of them, I guess, but the best to me was Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth". Thanks reacting to this one by Country Joe!

It was a time of great change. 50,000 young Americans died in Vietnam and countless more had their lives virtually destroyed by wounds and PTSD. The big difference between Vietnam and Afghanistan was the draft. A third of the Americans sent to Vietnam were dragged away from their homes and families to fight and die in a war of which they did not approve. The streets and Universities here looked very much like the George Floyd protests of 2021, but x5 and all over the country. That's why songs like this and CCR's Fortunate Son became "anthems". Good reaction, guys.

I was at both of these events. Woodstock was probably one of the greatest memories of my life and Vietnam was hell. Little did I know when I was singing this on that Saturday afternoon in August that I would be participating the following year. The ODDS weren't good for survival honestly, at least surviving without some sort of damage physically or mentally. Agent Orange has killed so many of my brothers that I knew and was close to. Mental issues killed many more. THANK GOD that I came home with MOST of my faculties. Mom wanted me to go to Canada but my brother and I both decided not to. My brother didn't pass his physical but those were the days of the draft. You had not much choice. You could volunteer or get drafted. Volunteering was less time to be there. It was a gamble. 58,220 American soldiers paid a price for "NOTHING". We came home not honored, not treated well because at the time it was only a "conflict". It was a very very sad and bad time for America.

WOODSTOCK!!! What more do you need to say. The greatest music festival for all time!!!

Billy Joel’s song is “Goodnight Saigon” - We met as soul mates on Parris Island We left as inmates from an asylum And we were sharp as sharp as knives And we were so gung ho to lay down our lives We came in spastic, like tame-less horses We left in plastic as numbered corpses And we learned fast to travel light Our arms were heavy, but our bellies were tight We had no home front, we had no soft soap They sent us Playboy, they gave us Bob Hope We dug in deep and shot on sight And prayed to Jesus Christ with all of our might We had no cameras to shoot the landscape We passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapes And it was dark, so dark at night And we held on to each other, like brother to brother We promised our mothers we'd write And we would all go down together We said we'd all go down together Yes, we would all go down together

Santana - Soul Sacrifice at Woodstock is a must watch

Thank you for doing this near Veteran's Day. Many Vietnam vets came home to angry crowds, angry at vets for being part of the war, even though they didn't want to be there. Sad situation

Wearing military surplus gear was pretty much part of the '60s and '70s fashion. It was cheap and fairly popular among those of us that were anti-war.

Ken Burns’ documentary on Vietnam is excellent.

Perhaps one of the very greatest live rock performances ever, was Carlos Santana (well the whole Santana band actually) doing "Soul Sacrifice", well, well worth your time, if you haven't seen it already. Ohhhh the 60s, you can't possibly imagine, the music, the social unrest, the protests, the marches, 'love-ins', ohhh my...

I believe that is the most spot on reaction I've seen you two do so far!! 👍

What a great song had a great time do you know there was 400,000 people there at least and not one fight broke out lots of peace and love and great music

Joe and the rest of the band weren't getting along too well at the time but were contracted to play. Joe went up the first day just to hang out and take in the atmosphere and the band was to meet up with him on site later. With the traffic mess (a section of the New York State Throughway was closed due to the traffic) it was virtually impossible to get anybody on site on time and there was a time slot with no band present to fill it. Someone asked Joe if he would fill in but he didn't even have his guitar with him yet. Eventually somebody came up with one but had no strap for it. They came up with a piece of rope to substitute and Joe went on. He said in an interview later that nobody was actually paying much attention to this one guy on stage with an acoustic guitar so he asked the stage manager if he thought it would be okay to play this. The stage manager shrugged his shoulders and said, "Might as well. They aren't paying much attention to you anyway" So he did and you just saw the results. Richie Havens started the whole show off under what was basically the same type of circumstances. He was just about the only scheduled act (with none of his accompanists on site when the whole thing was scheduled to kick off. Even though he wasn't scheduled to play for a few hours, they asked him to go on so people wouldn't get upset about no music being played. He did a short set but, as he was trying to leave the stage, he was asked to keep playing since nobody else had managed to beat the logistics mess causing all the delays. He went back on stage and played a second sett but was told that there was still no other bands there yet so he went back out again. This went on for almost three hours/ By then he had ran out of prepared songs and was just ad libbing. One of his signature songs to be came out of that ad libbing though, the one he finished his set with .... "Freedom". As far as Viet Nam itself, I was the holder of a 1-A Selective Service classification in 1969 and was actually in boot camp in Great Lakes, IL when Woodstock took place. I"d try to explain the whole mess to you but I'm still not sure I truly understand all of it myself. I do know that we were lied to about just about everything from when we first sent troops and why we did to how many of them came home in the sealed aluminum "boxes" that Joe referred to in his song.

Billy Joel does a Vietnam song. I forget the name but it brings you to tears. If you're alive that is.

I tear up every time I hear this. Thank you.

I grew up during this period and I saw a video recently that reminded me very much of it. A group of veterans, of the Iraq war, and Afghanistan denouncing the wars and throwing their medals, reminiscent of Vietnam veterans doing the same . I can remember them posting the weekly numbers on the evening new of KIA and MIA along with number of wounded. If you have the time watch the movie "Born on the Fourth of July."

I was serving overseas in the U.S. Army when this song, and many other "anti war songs, came out. It seems it's always the young that die in these conflicts. Things are much different now with the volunteer army of today. I lost several good friends over there and it's still etched in my mind. I will never forget..... even after all these years. Great reaction. Take care.

I was "in country" about that time too, although we NEVER got back to a :safe area" where all the fun happened. Nope, out in the Triple Canopy Jungle, there was no fun, just rain and mud, slippery mud trails to walk on or sleep to the side of. There was also a small little, wire tough man who did his dead level best to kill us. We got to play with him while the Navy got to go see concerts. Eleven Months, 26 days, 18 hours and 16 minutes - My Tour.

ANd right here, you see the roots of the “ culture war” that continues in America to this day….just as virulent. These young adults were called “traitors” for not wishing to fight and die in Vietnam. That word is heard allot these days…….again. I was 22 the summer of ‘69, and I’m 76 today………and damn….it’s so disheartening. Never would I have dreamed back in “69 that we would be where we are in 2023 as a nation…..and as a world.

Shows your depth when you play songs like this. This was an important song in its era. I know, I was there. (Not at Woodstock, just the era. haha!)

As a Retired Marine Corp Vet I've been in VIETNAM YOU CAN VISIT NOW BEAUTIFUL

Need to check out Billy Joel’s Good Night Saigon he wrote it in honor of his friends who served in Vietnam

I'm of the Woodstock generation, even though I lived in New York City, I didn't go to Woodstock. I now live in the Bay Area, Country Joe still performs around this area. He has raised a lot of money for veterans, so he is the real deal. I believe he is a veteran himself.

I think the Fish Cheer exactly expressed the feelings of most of us who went through that period about the Vietnam "war". I served from 67 - 74 but managed to avoid the jungle spending 5 years in Germany instead. Check out the memorial in Washington DC to see the names of the 50 000 service men that died in that conflict - then you can better understand the "cheer"

McDonald enlisted in the Navy at 17. He served from 1959-62, mostly in Japan, and was only vaguely aware of something stirring in Vietnam.- Stirred a great controversial song.

Excellent and a huge thank you. Nam has a special place in my heart

Joe McDonald never served in Vietnam. He enlisted in the Navy at 17 & was stationed in Japan, he was honorably discharged in 1962, before America’s main involvement in the Vietnam war. Joe refers to himself as a “Vietnam era veteran.” He said, I’m a veteran first and a hippie second.

--“But a lot of my friends fought in Vietnam and two close friends were killed. But the people I knew who fought and came back encouraged me to write it. I picked their brains and asked them what music they listened to, what they did, and how they felt. --Billy Joel’s “Good Saigon”

I was 20 yrs old when this happened and in Army basic training at Ft. Benning GA. The first time i heard this was when I saw the Woodstock movie when stationed on the DMZ in Korea. I didn't go to Viet Nam because my three older brothers were there at the time, luckily we all came home fine. They each did over 20 years and I was in 6 yrs.

Country Joe is worth looking into more, he did a lot of good music.

Excellent reaction, guys. This and other protest songs of the time reflected and at the same time galvanized the anti-war protests of the 60s and 70s. You rightly point out that there are direct comparisons to what is going on in the world now, but I don't know any protest songs being written or many anti-war protest marches now or during Iraq and Afganistan. I think it's because the draft was abolished and so there is much less "skin in the game" for the average American kid and family than there was back then. Our wars are fought now largely by career professionals, not by the general American youth. For most of the Woodstock crowd, the war was a distinct reality and many had friends who were there or had come back, one way or another.

I get it, my father was there 1967-1968, it was on the news, on TV, every night. As a Marine I served with a number of other Marines who were there.

Wow… has been a few decades since I head this song… well done.

Good on you reacting to a classic like this.

A key factor that you might have missed is the Draft. All males had to register for the draft on their 18th birthday. On New Years the draft board held a lottery. The drawn numbers were the days of the year. OR your birthday. If your number was below that years quota you got a free 2 year trip to exotic locations. It included free training in what ever job your tests showed you might do well in. As well as free room board and transportation. Above that cut off line but below the next cutoff line put you in a holding category. Basically your were in reserve in case they needed you. The rest were free and clear. Attending college would exclude you from the draft. So basically it was the poor and Blue Collor who were drafted. As the war dragged on year after year more and more of middle America's young men were coming home in body bags. So more and more Americans of all ages turned against the war. BTW I still keep my draft card and my test scores from my day of tests at the induction center as a reminder,

I graduated high school in 70. This song along with Ohio was everywhere.

Between 1965 and 1972 the Draft was in effect. The Draft was enacted in almost every America War before 1974. This recording at Woodstock was a 3 day song festival in New York with about 500,000 attendees.

As always well done. If you want to do a reaction to a song that sums up the history of the 60’s it would be Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire. The Ironic thing is how it still resonates and resembles the problem of today. Anyone else agree?

While this song was being played in New York, I was just starting my first week in basic training at Fort Polk, LA. Of course we didn't hear this song for several months after Woodstock, but when we did, we loved it. We all had a pretty fatalistic attitude. We sang marching songs about dying in Nam.

I first saw him perform this in Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley, during the first Earth Day celebration. (There was a bit of audience participation during the Fish Cheer. 🤣)

Thank you so much for taking me back to my youth!! 💙💙☮️🕊✌️ Love your channel!!😎😎

Fun fact: A young Martin Scorsese was part of a documentary film crew that filmed the concert. It was later released as a movie.

Man there are soooo many amazing performances at Woodstock.One of my favorites is Carlos Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice”amazing and they played this tripping their faces off.(thanks to Jerry Garcia I here lol)

One of my favorite quotes from Full Metal Jacket: "They'd rather be alive than free, I guess. Poor dumb bastards."

I bought this album in the late 1960’s, there was a game attached. The game had cut-out pieces and a board to play on. I was a hippie back then and lived in a big house with 16-20 other hippies. The house was in an industrial area; at night in the summer we opened all the windows and climbed out onto the roof, turned the music up and danced on the roof top! Thanks for the memory!

I turned 13 exactly one week before Woodstock, and I was 8 months from turning 18 when they quit drafting for Nam.

Music of my youth

Got to be one of my best memories, when I first heard this song! After 50 years I still know all the words. There's one line that I want on my epitaph.

As a kid who grew up during the Vietnam War, the song most associated with that war is Gimme Shelter from the Rolling Stones. I saw first hand what these protest songs, and protesters did to the American soldier when they returned home. Country Joe being a Navy Vet must have realized they were staring hatred to American soldier which still exist to this day.

A big difference about the war in vietnam was the draft. 18 year old kids being taken straight from high school graduation to boot camp and then the jungles. No choice. I lost a few classmates. Thanks for doing this one.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Country Joe and the Fish, made one of the mystical masterpieces "electric music for the mind and body"

Fixin' To Die Rag Vietnam was the most significant and formative event from 1965 to 1972 resulting in the counter culture and was very influential on politics and music of the time.

I was in the Marine Corps when Woodstock happened. Joe was singing for all us vets.