HILARIOUSLY SAD! | Vietnam Song - Country Joe & The Fish (Live Woodstock 69') (Reaction) 

If you know every word and are singing along with Joe..... Massive Respect For You.

MILLIONS of us knew every word and feared the meaning.

I am a 73 year old Vietnam Vet. I am a lucky one. Some friends I went to school with, never saw their 20th birthday. We were not welcomed home as the Vets, rightfully are, now. We carried that shame for our entire lives. Shame that was not ours to bear.

This Boomer was 14 when I heard this song. Made sense even then. Proud of my father who served two tours as part of the Jolly Green Giants helicopter rescue. He came back emotionally damage. When G.W. Bush claimed invasion was justified in Iraq and then Afghanistan, I was the only one in the room that said, "You wait this is just another Vietnam." Too bad our politicians haven't learned a damn thing.

You have no idea. The war hung over every young man 's head like a sword.

As a young 19 year Marine I was there in 70-71 listened to this song over & over on a 8 track tape ! I was one of the lucky ones to make it home , it was one big shit show over there! God bless all veterans past and present !!

My husband who passed away in 2013 at the age of 63 was a Vietnam war veteran. He was blown up and spent 11 months in Walter Reed hospital. He was 100% disabled. He hated that song. He did have ptsd pretty much but he only remembered one of his troops name all others he could remember their faces let alone their names. But the one guy he remembered, said they had to watch him because he lost his mind there and would think they were the enemy. Ni loved this song but he asked me not to sing it one day it came on the radio and turned the station? He went through some nightmare stuff over there. God rest his soul. Good man, excellent husband, father and son. He would help anyone in need. But he wouldn’t really talk about Vietnam. I would ask him questions and sometimes and other times he would just say he really didn’t want to think about it. I do miss him greatly.

My best friend in 6th grade , LeeAnn, had a brother, Steve, who got his draft notice at Christmas before he graduated. He was the big football star but still took us to get ice cream every Saturday with his girlfriend. His dad had planned to give him a 1970Super Bee car for graduation but gave it at Christmas instead. We had a big graduation party and he left the next day. Her brother went to VietNam and was killed 8 months later. His pallbearers were the football team and they wore their jackets instead of suits. The Super Bee was parked parallel behind the casket. His car sat under the barn for decades only being driven once a week when his dad took it out to wash and drive through town. Fast forward to five years ago. LeeAnn and I are both turning 60. One day I looked out the window and here comes that yellow SuperBee with LeeAnn driving. Her father left it to her when he died and it has yet to turn over 25,000 miles. We take it out every weekend and wash it now. Hanging from the rear view mirror is a laminated picture of me and LeeAnn in front of the bus that would take us to summer camp. It was in his belongings when his body came home and her dad had it laminated.

Joe was a Vietnam vet-he knew of what he sang.

Damn! For a babe in the woods, you hit the nail on the head! This does not just apply Vietnam, it applies to all the political conflicts through the years where our Mother's children came home home in a bag!!! I know, nobody is reading this, but it is what it is brothers and sisters. See my tears!

I was a 17 year old kid in Marine Corps boot camp when he sang that at Woodstock , You have to remember we had the draft going on back then and at that particular time frame our casualty rate was 2-3 thousand troops a month. It was either volunteering and getting some options or getting drafted and a free trip to the war zone. It was on tv during the evening news not hidden from view like todays wars. Thats a lot of pressure to put on the shoulders of somebody who just turned 18. And for what?????

I was a VNW protester back in the day. I lost 4 friends and a husband in that effing 'war'. Whenever we need a boost to the economy, we somehow find a reason to fight a war. So glad you reviewed this song, it needed to be revisited in this era, since most Americans have a poor memory.

That was a crazy time. Young men getting drafted to Vietnam. It was a nightmare. The rich and powerful were able to buy their way out. 😢

Keep in mind during this time young men did not have a choice. You were drafted into the service right after High School.

You need to understand, a male high school student could graduate in June, get drafted, and easily be in Vietnam by the next June! Most Woodstock musicians and attendees were high school and college age kids!

Joe came and played by himself at the Alaska State Fair's outdoor stage in the 80's. It was pouring rain and late summer cold with snow capped mountains already so fairgrounds were thin of people, only 5 people in the very small late afternoon soaked crowd stayed to endure. Eventually, he told us to come up onto the covered stage with him. His eyes at a glance could read & connected with each of us, and his energy were soooooo deep, blue as the ocean, sharply piercing see thru xray focused and packed full of feeling it was hard to look away for his inviting openness was mezmerizingly beautiful- what a soul he has! We got to talk as well after he stopped singing, wow, what an experience. He signed cassette tapes we purchased of his latest "Paradise with an ocean view" album. What a moment in time to have intimately shared with such a deep compassionate experienced near everything soul. 💜☯️💜 Thanks for playing his whole song here. First time viewer. ✌️

The alternate, some say real the real title of this song is "The Fixin' To Die Rag". It is pretty amazing what one man with a borrowed Guitar held up with a piece of rope can do in front of a crowd of 300 to 400,000, solo. The 60's were a different time, I'm still sort of glad I lived through that decade.

Severe culture shock for me when my draft number was 16. My dad who flew 50 missions over Europe during WWII was considered a war hero, brought me up strict. He took me to one side and told me he didn't want his son going to that bullshit war and pulled strings to get me into a reserve unit. He became my best friend after that.

Well JM, I'm going on 80 and I was in Vietnam at 17 (1967-1969) and after two tours and two Purple Hearts live in Vietnam every day. You will never understand, but that was the we paid so you can do what you do today. Colonel Gregory Pischea USMC Ret.

I’m 70 years old, and STILL remember every word! Love Grandma Debbie

Most bitingly sarcastic line in any popular song: "be the first parents on your block to have your boy come home in a box"!

And Country Joe is a military veteran.

Yup-Remember this one well. I'm a 1967 grad and they were drafting us pretty much right out of high school.

I was lucky to catch Country Joe at the Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter than Air Fair in 1968 in Sultan, WA. The first rock festival (Woodstock was in 1969). The song is a words over remake of "Muskrat Ramble", which Louis Armstrong and the Hot Fives made popular in 1926. The Vietnam War completely altered the song forever.

I knew every word then, and can still sing every damn word right now! EVERY self respecting hippie knew the words. If you see the crowd, everybody is singing along! ❤

"Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box" still gives me chills.

I love that the young people now are appreciating the protest music our the 1960's.

The voice of my generation. We need that again.

A growing part of the anti-war movement was Mothers for Peace, a group that was started by mothers who had lost their sons to the war.

We were seeing three hundred body bags coming home every day on TV.

Hell yes I remember the song "Fixing to Die Rag". I remember all the songs sung back then. And they still hold a place in my heart ❤

When I was that age listening to these songs I truly believed the world would be at peace by now. Us young people would be running things and peace and loving kindness would reign. It was a lovely dream. I still believe it could happen.

Heard this back in 1968-9 and never forgot the words. It still rings.

For context - remember that at this time in the US when a boy reached the age of 18 - he had a very good chance of being drafted and sent off to die for reasons that NEVER were real. Imagine - it's your senior year of HS and this is what you had to face instead of looking forward to getting on with your life. My personal story was waiting for my BF to learn his "lotery" number - it would determine if we were going to get married or if he was going to war. Good times - not!

I remember when this song came out. I grew up in San Francisco. The heart of all there was to do with anti-war. Thank you young man for bringing back those memories. Blessings to you and yours

That was the song I heard and then was drafted in 1969! Everyone I hung with while in the Vietnam theatre hated being there and dreamed of going back to the world!!

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. As a teen 70s hippie and a pacifist, I protested against the war. All war is horrifying, but witnessing the Vietnam war Vets go thru hell and come home to be treated so disrespectful, shunned by society, so abused, called baby killers, makes me more then awed at their heroism. Salute to all vets. Thanx so much, Peace

When I was drafted in 1968 I gave away nearly everything I owned, as I did not expect to come home.

Thomas A. Edison High School, in my hometown of Philadelphia, lost 64 guys in Vietnam, the most of any school in America. To this day, they celebrate all those men who lost their lives in Vietnam.

JMBOY, my husband was in country during this song. Thank God he made it back, so many didn't. He died 8 years ago but these songs bring back the good- old-bad-old times.

Being a teenager in Canada at the time of the Vietnam War I met a lot of draft dodgers. One fellow I met had bad PTSD after serving a tour over there. He came to Canada after that. That so called war was horrible. Not that all wars are not but all these young men were sacrificed so the rich could get richer.

I sang every word. Two of my brother's went to Nam and made it home (both f*cked up). Two boy's on our block didn't. RIP Charles A.(Chucky) Brooks (he had 3 sisters and 9 brothers), and Micheal J. (Mike) Seadorf. (Mike's first child, a boy, was born a few weeks before he was killed). Will never forget and never forgive, as long as there's a breath left in my body.

I'm a Viet Vet, got out in '75. I didn't put boots on the ground, though, no CIB, but did receive the National Defense Service Medal & Presidential Unit Citation, Expert Rifle M-14 & M-16A1. It was a different dimension from now.

There’s a whole generation of us old hippies that know every word of this song by heart. Those were our friends, neighbors, family members who fought that war about Nothing! It’s true that most politicians children don’t see boots on the ground war😡

You'll notice that the whole audience knew the song and was singing along. It was a very popular protest song of the time. You gotta remember that 50,000 young Americans died over there and most of the people at Woodstock probably knew one of the killed or wounded soldiers. I did. Just a side note, Woodstock was going on the day I got married.

It was such a turbulent time, really got the younger generation to speak out. And the poor soldiers that made it home were treated awful by citizens and had to deal with the guilt of surviving a needless war. It caused so many mental health issues. I am grateful that you, as todays young generation, understood the satire of this song. May you learn from previous generations mistakes and triumphs.

As teenagers in the 60’s we watched that war on tv every evening. Folks like this told the real reality. Hard to know some classmates that never came home except maybe in one of those boxes.❤🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

I joined the Air Force in 1983. Most of my Senior NCO's were 'Nam vets. They used to stop by the machine shop late on second shift and tell me stories of being down range. I saw a lot of good, strong and proud men shed tears. Sometimes I shed a few with them. Many years later my youngest son was headed down range to the 'Stan. "Gotta go dad, we got incoming!" Before you could shut down Skype the sound of missles exploding came through. One of the worst years of my life waiting and wondering. I make an effort to shake the hands of every veteran i see and welcome home our Vietnam Veterans. Cheers Terry

There is a lot of history behind the Vietnam war that most people don't know anything about. I am not talking about the war itself, I am talking about how the war came to be in the first place. It is a story of stupid and greedy decisions by powerful nations that took advantage of a people that just wanted to be free. I feel so sorry for the Vietnamese people for the suffering they have endured.

This made me so nostalgic. Not for the Vietnam War but for music that meant something.

I was 19 when I heard him sing that.. Been a few years since I've heard it..I'm 73 now and it brings back a flood of memories..

As a military wife years ago and the mother of sons , welcome home, thank you and much love.

He was wrong: There were 500,000 of us. And everybody in the area I was in, we all knew the words and we sang our hearts out. The song was full of irony and Country Joe made it a memory I’ll never get over. And I still remember the words. By the way, the real title of it is “Fixin’ to Die Rag”.

Probably the most influential song protesting the Viet Nam war ever, and there were many.

I'm 71 and lived the whole experience!!!

Here in my home town from 1969 till 1972, this was all our young people's anthem. Male and female, our brothers, our friends, boys we grew up with, were being taken from our class tooms because they didn't have high enough grades to be eliminated from the draft. Many didn't make it back alive. Many came back, but they were never the same mentality or emotionally. I sang along never missing a word.

I was lucky enough to have been too young to be drafted during Vietnam but a neighbor's family who lived just across the street from me were one of the unfortunate ones to have their boy come home in a box . 😞"WAR ! Good God , What Is It Good For ? Absolutely Nothing ! Say it Again ....."

This song and, '' Fortunate Son'' we're two of the best anthems of the Vietnam War. They told it like it really was. And still is.

Iconic song of the Vietnam era.

Music was an important part of the youth rebellion & antiwar activism of the 1960s-1970s.

This is the music of my teenage years leading into college at Kent State University. There was the draft....many young men had no choice than to go to Vietnam. We actually panhandled to get money to help friends escape to Canada. Many guys I went to school with had to go fight & came home in a box. Still so heartbreaking for me, but definitely part of what made me who I am today at 71 years young. I'm grateful that you are finding our music & reacting to it. Thanks.

Yes! At 70 yrs old I remember Woodstock & I know every word to this song & Country Joe & the fish!!! Brings back great memories!!!

I had not heard that song in ages. When he started singing, I remembered every word!❤

As relevant today as it was back in 1969. The difference back then is that we thought things could be changed.

I remember singing this with a bunch of guys in basic training (1971...drafted), and we,of course, were heard by one of the drill sergeants. Man, we did a lot of push-ups...........

All those young lives lost for nothing. Jimi Hendrix "Machine Gun" LIVE with Band of Gypsys (his best band ever) profoundly addressed this topic. His (screaming in pain) guitar solo says it all. I cry every time I hear it. Your commentary at the end is spot on 🎯 Love you brother ♥

I was 7 years old when Woodstock happened. It makes me so sad to see the lack of critical thinking today. Our education system has been so watered down that kids cannot talk about controversial subjects in school like we did in the 1970's. I remember this song well. I love your analysis. Yes "Uncle Sam has gotten HIMSELF in a jam." During the war years, many professors would not fail students because they did not want them to drop out and be drafted into the war.

I was just a kid during the Vietnam was. I had two beloved brothers who were ripe for the picking. I used to lay on the floor in front of the console TV watching the draft lottery crying my eyes out hoping & praying they didn’t get drafted. By a miracle of God they didn’t. I hold a special place in my heart and soul for the Vietnam veterans. The ones who were able to come home weren’t welcomed, and it was tragic.

Welcome to my generation. Most of use were scared to death of being drafted at 18 years + 6months. We couldn't even vote until we were 21. Lucky guys, like myself were able to join the reserves and skate it out, avoiding Vietnam. A casual friend was drafted and 6 months later he "came home in a box". The words were meaningful then and still true now. War is fought for economic gain at the blood cost of the people. All we need to do is change the name of the country and it will fit what's going on now. Thanks for playing this.

My brother was in Vietnam, we were told he was working in a commissary when he was fighting. He came home and traveled the world and was killed on a motor bike in Luxembourg. Not once did he speak of it except a few stories to my other brother, threw his medals and ribbons away. I miss him, others that are gone now.

This was one of the best anti-war songs ever. On record it began with the Fish cheer, Gimme an F I S H but when he did it at Woodstock, well you heard him change that to another four letter word.

The war ended in 1975, a year before my 18th birthday. Draft age. Man, the war machine grinded all of us to the core. The one notable consolation was the Nixon resignation. So long Dick!

While stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso in 1971 I played this song from my barracks room on the 3rd floor to 4-500 troops in formation outside. They all started cheering and singing along. I didn’t get caught since no one except my friends could tell where the music was coming from since the sound reverberated between the 3-story barracks buildings.

You can get anything you want at "Alice's Restaurant"... go find out what that means. Arlo Guthrie.

This was the music I listened to in High School. It scared the living hell out of the Nixon Administration. It also changed America for the better. Rock n Roll.

It’s written in my heart

Unforgettable song from the day.

Very astute analysis. I'm of that generation knew several that went to Vietnam, or met them after they came home. Country Joe is a Veteran himself, he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live, and he does, or at least did in the past, concerts to raise money for veterans. He's the real deal.

I grew up in the USAF in the 60s and 70s. My dad was stationed in Bangkok in 1969 and our family was lucky enough to go with him. When his tour was over and we were leaving to return to the States, we landed in Saigon to pick up and drop off troops. After the door of the "Freedom Bird" closed and we started to taxi, one of the young GI's started signing this song .By the time the plane lifted off - all of them were singing.

I was there, I saw it and heard it. No one heard anything like it. However, SANTANA started that festival off, no one was prepared for that band. We were all siting on our blankets getting stoned then Santana came on.., the whole mountain stood up and BOOGIED!!!

This brings back memories of my youth….I know of one mom who was not going to see her sons off to Vietnam. She put them in the back of her car and drove off, moved the family permanently to Canada.

Very thoughtful reaction. Really appreciated your astute thoughts on the song. My Dad hated when my sisters played the Woodstock soundtrack and this song came on. He was in Saigon during the Tet Offensive. These were the years we only had 3 TV networks and PBS. Every night at dinner we received the nightly news broadcasts that contained news from Vietnam. These were always full of the real life horrors of war. Bodies, in and out, of body bags. Our side. Their side. Military. Civilian. It was horrifying. Nowadays there are so many warnings on tv shows, movies, even the news, that you might find something you see disturbing. Back then, there were no warnings. We were disturbed.

My husband and I had our old car packed and ready to move to Canada. He was called up to be drafted in Oakland, CA…. the biggest draft in the country at that time!! He beat it!!!! Horrible war!!!!

The US was literally practicing involuntary servitude "for freedom."

It is a GREAT song ! God bLESS YOU JOE !

By 1969 most of us youngins were becoming aware of a couple bits of stark reality... Our friends and acquaintances from school and town were not all coming back from that place. And the U.S. government, which we (and our parents) had implicitly trusted to always give us the "straight dope"... was flat lying to our faces! We weren't winning some glorious bit of righteous combat as our dads had in the '40s... our friends were Losing a bitter and unnecessary meat grinder of a war we had no business Being in!!! Dinner discussions with the elders were becoming pretty heated ! And, to boot, the Civil Rights movement was in full swing so the soldiers of color were (rightfully, imho) asking... "Why the Hell am I over here in the jungle fighting people 'for democracy and our Am. Way of Life' that I've got no quarrel with when back home I'm STILL treated as a second class American citizen!!"

i joined in 68 to avoid the draft and going to Vietnam. i still ended up there in 70. my buddy i went to HS with, went to Woodstock in 69 and was drafted a couple months later. he was a radio operator. this was our anthem back then.

My husband did two combat tours in Vietnam. He was a Green Beret. He was haunted by his service in Vietnam until he died of complications from Agent Orange exposure in 2022.

War, fighters, victims, politics...nothings changed. ❤💔

I graduated high school in 1974...the boys in my class barely avoided the draft because the U.S. began withdrawing troops from Vietnam the year before.

What's left out here is that in those days there was a draft, and Uncle Sam could call up any number of people over 18 to serve. All were given numbers, and if yours came up you had to show up to be inducted. Oh, unless you had bone spurs in your heel (hahaha!).

Folks, give a listen to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, singing ‘Four Dead in Ohio’. Let’s not bring home any of our children in a box!! 🥺😖

Woohoo! Country Joe and one of the very best songs of the festival. I still sing it often and get as pi**ed off as back then.

The melody was lifted from Muskrat Ramble, a traditional jazz standard written by trombonist Kid Ory in the 1926. In 2001, 34 years after "Feelin' Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag" came out, the heirs of Ory's estate sued for copyright infringement. The court held that they'd waited too long to file a suit.

I know every word. My college speech assignment was to turn a song into a speech, and I used this song. 🕊️✝️♥️🇺🇸🎼

That song brings back memories. I was in high school. Me and my best friend both heard it for the first time together. It is so sarcastic, I loved it. The establishment did really make Joe pay for it

I was 15 yo when that song came out. Loooove it !! Know every word by heart. A reflection of the state we were in with Government corruption and the War Mongers. It appears that it was very Prophetic as well because it only got way worse since then. 😔😔😔 ✌✌✌

I was in the last age group to be able to be drafted. My number came up 103. They took anyone with a number of 100 and under. My father who was a WWII medic was not opposed to me leaving the country. He has seen what war can do to the human body, and didn’t want me involved in this in any way.

I was in 6th grade when I saw this performed in the movie theater from the movie "Woodstock". I grew up watching the nightly news about the Vietnam war, plus my dad worked for the air force during that time, and my oldest brother joined the air force in 1966. I'm glad that me and our middle brother got to miss this whole mess. I have the utmost respect for all Vietnam vets, and I had the privelege of working with many of them as a hospital surgical unit assistant in the 1970's and 80's. Country Joe's song encapsules the insanity of the era..

Your reaction is right on. I am a 74 year old Canadian woman who lived through that terrible, useless war. I met some of those young men (kids really) who were drafted in the states and made their way to Canada. I am sorry for the young people who fought, for their families, and for the innocent citizens of Viet Nam. It is very sad.