I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag

"The 'Fish' Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag"
1968 U.S. picture sleeve
Song by Country Joe and the Fish from the album I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die
Released	November 1967
Recorded	July 1967 – September 1967
Genre	Psychedelic rock ragtime
Length	3:44
Label	Vanguard
Writer(s)	Country Joe McDonald
Producer(s)	Samuel Charters

"I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" (also known as "The Fish Cheer") is a song by the American psychedelic rock band Country Joe and the Fish, written by Country Joe McDonald, and first released as the opening track on the extended play, Rag Baby Talking Issue No. 1, in October 1965 (see 1965 in music). Musically structured in traditional ragtime, "The Fish Cheer"'s dark humor and satire made it one of the most recognized protest songs against the Vietnam War. Accordingly, critics cite the composition as a bona fide psychedelic rock song, and a classic of the counterculture era.

"The Fish Cheer" saw a more commercial release on the group's second album, I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die, which was distributed in November 1967. The song has been the topic of controversary and fame for the band since its release. An altered version of the rag that was performed in live performances, known as "The Fuck Cheer", subjugated Country Joe and the Fish to a television ban in 1968, for the vulgarity, but was applauded by concert-goers. In addition, the song was a favorite among the hippie culture, and was featured in McDonald's set list at the in 1969. Decades later, McDonald had a lawsuit filed against him for allegedly infringing on the copyright of Kid Ory's tune, "Muskrat Ramble". McDonald denied these allegations and the suit was later dropped.

Although the song achieved national notoriety when it was included on Country Joe and the Fish's second album, I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die, it was first composed and distributed two years prior. In 1965, Country Joe McDonald founded and edited for a local counterculture magazine in Berkeley, California, which he called Rag Baby - a Bay Area adaptation of the folk magazine Broadside. McDonald published four editions of the magazine, and sought to incorporate musical influences to support Rag Baby's left-wing message. To accomandate the issue, McDonald was inspired to distribute a "talking issue" of the magazine, an extended play called Rag Baby Talking Issue No. 1. In June 1965, an early incarnation of Country Joe and the Fish recorded an acoustic version of "The Fish Cheer", the later debut album track, "Superbird", and two other songs by local folk musician, Peter Krug at Arhoolie Records Studios, under the guidance of record producer Chris Strachwitz. According to McDonald, the rag was written in under 30 minutes with a conscious purpose of reflecting on the escalation of the Vietnam conflict, while he composed another song, "Who Am I", which was also relating to the US's increasing armed involvement. About 100 copies of the EP were pressed on McDonald's independent label and, were sold at Sproul Plaza in UC Berkeley, during a Teach-in, and in underground stores that stocked Rag Baby.