One Two Three, What Are We Fighting For?

One, Two, Three - What Are We Fighting For?

In 1968, Country Joe & The Fish performed their song ‘I Feel Like I’m Fixin To Die Rag’ at renowned music festival, Woodstock. The song is a very controversial as it is a ridicule of US governments attitudes and actions towards the Vietnam War that took place between 1964-1975. The song was a protest song, released at the height of the war, but was written in 1965. Country Joe MacDonald claimed the idea popped into his head and was finished writing the song in about 30 minutes.

The song makes an attempt of blaming the Vietnam War upon politicians and leaders. Using metonymy, the song uses the phrase “Uncle Sam” to represent the US government. The lyrics state, “Well, come on all of you, big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again. He's got himself in a terrible jam way down yonder in Vietnam”¹ The song illustrates that the war may seem like a great experience, fooling young boys and men to sign up to the war.

Country Joe blames the US involvement in Vietnam on different groups: the government, extreme military commanders, greedy arms manufacturers and capitalists, he even puts blame on parents who let their sons join the war. There is an overall dark feel to ‘Feel Like I’m Fixin to Die’ that wasn’t supported by everyone. Because of this it received very little airplay on radio or television, which is why Woodstock was the perfect place to show it off.

Part of the song focuses on the thoughts of a person trapped in the military system and forced to go war by something called the “draft” or “conscription.” Conscription was a method that the US used to force young people to join the war. If they did not comply with this, then they would have to go to jail. Some attempted to ‘dodge the draft’ by using religious, physical or mental reasons. However it was difficult to get out of the draft as there was so many fatalities due to the war, so they would take anyone they could in order to get a larger army. Because of this, the song uses dark sarcastic humour based on the stereotypes of military life, better known as ‘GI Humour.’ This was often used within protest music, and the Vietnam War was perfect opportunity for bands such as Country Joe & The Fish to get their messages across. The overall protest movement benefited a lot from the concept of protest music, especially those who were against the war in Vietnam and the draft, furthering the relations between politics and music. The majority of people who attended concerts such as Woodstock were student protesters, fighting for their voices to be heard, and opposing the way that the country was being ran and demanded change.

Although the song is humorous and seems fairly light hearted, the social issues that sometimes would be swept under the carpet, are actually being spoken about and challenged. Having protest music and songs which related to such serious issues, was a way of really getting a message across, and this is something that Country Joe & The Fish did with success.

1 Country Joe & The Fish – I Feel Like I’m Fixin To Die Rag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Y0ekr-3So