''I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die'' is the second studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

by the influential

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

psychedelic rock band, Country Joe and the Fish, released in 1967. Recordings took place in Vanguard studios in 71 West 23rd Street,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The title track remains one of the most popular

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

protest songs from the 1960s and originally appeared on a 1965 7-inch EP titled ''Rag Baby: Songs of Opposition.'' On the album, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" appears following "The Fish Cheer", which at concerts became a Country Joe standard. At

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

, Joe had the crowd yell F-U-C-K instead of F-I-S-H. Another musical highlight is the track "Janis" written for McDonald's then-girlfriend Janis Joplin. It is the second song written for a female musician for their albums, the other being "Grace". Two singles were released in the wake of the album. These include "Janis"/"Janis (instrumental)" and "Who Am I"/"Thursday". The second album was released just seven months after the debut and is another prime example of the band's psychedelic experimentation. It again features organ-heavy psychedelia and Eastern melodic lines and more acoustic guitar than their debut production. During this time, the band continued to build on their growing fame by performing at local venues like the Fillmore Auditorium. Despite the familiarity of the opening track, the album itself sold less than its predecessor. The album, as a whole, fit well in the psychedelic scene of San Francisco. The band effectively used satirical humor to express their outspoken views toward the Vietnam War and other hot topics of the

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

. Although the rest of the tracks were not as popular, they still were accessible and showcased Country Joe McDonald as a lead vocalist. With the creativity of the band reaching a climax, the band began touring nationally and became positively regarded for their live light shows. The title song faced a legal challenge from the estate of New Orleans jazz trombone pioneer Edward "Kid" Ory, whose daughter Babette claimed that McDonald had appropriated the melody for his song from Ory's classic " Muskrat Ramble" as recorded by Louis Armstrong & his Hot Five in 1926. A 2005 judgment upheld McDonald's copyright on the song, claiming that Ory had waited too long to make the claim. The original album sleeve contained a poster for "The Fish Game", a huge 22 x 33-inch fold-out board game sheet for throwing a dice and moving five band-member cut-out paper pieces around on. Various goals are available for the game such as "scoring a joint". The 2013 digi pack double disc set includes both the Stereo and Mono version of the album, the latter available for the first time since 1967. Bonus cuts include an unreleased alternate mix of the title track (minus sound effects), an instrumental version of "Janis," both on the Mono disc, and a deluxe 40-page booklet stuffed with rare photos and memorabilia. It also comes complete with a replica of the Fish Game, as included in original LPs.

Track listing

All songs by Country Joe McDonald, except where noted. "Janis" is the first song on side two of the original LP. #" The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" – 3:44 #"Who Am I" – 4:05 #"Pat's Song" – 5:26 #"Rock Coast Blues" – 3:57 #"Magoo" – 4:44 #"Janis" – 2:36 #"Thought Dream" – 6:39 #"Thursday" (Cohen, Hirsh) – 3:20 #"Eastern Jam" (Barthol, Cohen, Hirsh, Melton) – 4:27 #"Colors for Susan" – 5:58 The 2013 digi pack double disc set includes two bonus cuts added to the mono disc. #

"Janis" (Instrumental) - 2:37 #"I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die" (Alternative Mix) - 3:02

Personnel

;Country Joe and the Fish * Country Joe McDonald –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

(tracks 1-8), acoustic guitar (tracks 2, 5, 6, 10), rhythm guitar (tracks 3, 7), organ (track 8) *

Barry Melton Barry "The Fish" Melton (born June 14, 1947) is the co-founder and original lead guitarist of Country Joe and the Fish and Dinosaurs. He appears on all the Country Joe and the Fish recordings and he also wrote some of the songs that the band re ...

–

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

(track 1),

(tracks 1, 5),

kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifie ...

(track 1), rhythm guitar (tracks 2, 4, 5),

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

(tracks 3, 4, 6-9) * David Cohen -

calliope In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; grc, Καλλιόπη, Kalliópē, beautiful-voiced) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muse ...

(tracks 1, 6),

(track 1),

(tracks 2, 5, 9, 10), organ (tracks 3, 7),

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

s (track 3), rhythm guitar (track 4), harpsichord (track 6), acoustic guitar (track 8) * Bruce Barthol – bass;

(track 1), barking (track 1), harmonica (track 6) * Gary "Chicken" Hirsh - drums; wine bottle (track 1), congas (track 9),

s (track 10)

References

{{Authority control I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Country Joe and the Fish albums Albums produced by Samuel Charters