S
ince
the release of their first two albums in 1967—
Electric
Music for the Mind and Body
along with
I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die
—many Country Joe and the Fish songs have meandered through
the memories and semi-consciousness of millions who came of age
a third of a century ago.
Now
reconstituted with four of the group’s original five members,
the new Country Joe Band has just begun to tour. When I saw them
perform, midway through April, the music was as tight as ever, with
poetic lyrics mostly brought to bear on two perennials: love and
death.
Their
new song “Cakewalk to Baghdad” is in sync with Country
Joe McDonald’s compositions that stretch back to the escalating
years of the Vietnam War. With the post-“victory” occupation
of Iraq in its 13th month bringing death to many people, his old
song “An Untitled Protest” remains unfailingly current:
Red
and swollen tears tumble from her eyes
While cold silver
birds who came to cruise the skies
Send death down
to bend and twist her tiny hands
And then proceed
to target “B” in keeping with their plans.
No
less than its previous incarnation, the Country Joe Band exemplifies
how rock music can transcend itself as an art form. This is no small
feat for any musician, including those who create songs that encourage
resistance to the status quo.
By
now, apparently, we’d be foolish to take the integrity of talented
artists for granted. Maybe, as a late 1960s advertisement proclaimed,
“the man can’t bust our music”—but the corporate
system can sure water it down a lot or turn music into outright
pabulum.
Television
showcases plenty of grim results when so many knees bend toward
corporatized altars.
These
days, cynicism about famous musicians with protest credentials is
running high. In March, Bob Dylan began to appear in a Victoria’s
Secret commercial. It may seem that “the times they are a prostitutin’.”
Media
outlets are filled with ads, commercial plugs, and vapid—or
corrosive—content, leaving the impression that gifted artists
sell out sooner or later. “Today’s musical superstars
seem more interested in hawking their clothing lines and name-brand
perfumes than in any meaningful form of political action,”
magazine editor Leslie Bennetts wrote in a
Los Angeles Times
essay.
Unlike
Dylan and others, quite a few musicians—renowned or scarcely
known—have successfully struggled to retain creative control
over their work. They continue to resist the corporate juggernauts
that routinely flatten talent into the pap of pop.
A
new development to celebrate is the rise of the Country Joe Band.
While standing the test of time, music from the ensemble group resonates
profoundly each day as young soldiers do their best to survive in
a faraway country:
And
pound their feet into the sand of shores they’ve never seen
Delegates from
the western land to join the death machine
And
we send cards and letters.
With
Country Joe McDonald’s and other musicians’ return to
public space at a time when many U.S. soldiers are being killed,
an old question is also new: What are we fighting for?
And
those who took so long to learn the subtle ways of death
Lie and bleed
in paddy mud with questions on their breath
And we send prayers
and praises.
Norman Solomon
is co-author of
Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t
Tell You
.
