Country Joe and the Fish was a rock music/folk music band known for musical… Read Full Bio ↴Country Joe and the Fish was a rock music/folk music band known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1965 to 1970.

The lead singer was "Country" Joe McDonald. The lead guitarist was Barry "The Fish" Melton. Co-founders McDonald and Melton added musicians as needed over the life of the band.

The band was an early example of Psychedelic music. The LP "Electric Music for the Mind and Body" was very influential on early FM Radio in 1967. Long sets of psychedelic tunes like "Section 43", "Bass Strings", "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine", "Janis" (for and about Janis Joplin) and "Grace" (all released on Vanguard Records) were often played back to back on KSAN and KMPX in San Francisco and progressive rock stations around the country. Country Joe and The Fish were regulars at Fillmore West and East and the Family Dog at the Avalon. They were billed with such groups as Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Led Zeppelin, and Iron Butterfly. They played at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. In 1971 the band appeared in a Western film starring Don Johnson as an outlaw gang called the Crackers. The film, entitled Zachariah, was written by the Firesign Theater and was billed as "The First Electric Western". They also appeared in the George Lucas film More American Graffiti.

Their biggest hit was the anti-war "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag", which debuted the same year of the band, but became best known after Country Joe's solo acoustic performance of it at Woodstock. Country Joe was involved with legal disputes with the family of Kid Ory due to the tune's similarity to Ory's Dixieland jazz standard "Muskrat Ramble". In August of 2003, the court case was decided in Joe's favor due to the long time between the debut of "Fixin' to Die" and the first legal claim against it by Ory's family. (Copyright on Country Joe's song was registered in 1968, and Babette Ory registered her father's 1926 song in 2001.)

Barry Melton was later a founding member of The Dinosaurs and has recently released new recordings of that band whose members included Peter Albin from Big Brother and The Holding Company and John Cipollina from Quicksilver Messenger Service and Copperhead.

Kiss My Ass
Country Joe & The Fish Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Well, I got out of school and I was feeling kinda down
I thought I'd join the Army just to take a look around
I went down to the recruiter man
And that's when my troubles began.

Well, I've been up, down and around
This country a couple of times,
But I had never knew until I got into the Army

That thinking for yourself was a crime.

Get over here, stand over there,
Let's see your identification.
Shut your mouth, son, get back in line,
We're sending you to South East Asia.

Well, they gave me some shoes that hurt my feet
They gave me some food not fit to eat,
They told me that I wasn't fighting alone,
They sent me to Saigon and they stayed home.

Well, I've been up, down and around
This country more than a couple of times,
But I never knew until I joined the Army
That thinking for yourself was a crime.

Get over here, stand over there
Let's see your identification.
Shut your mouth, son, get back in line,
We're sending you to South East Asia.
Oh yeah.

Da da da da da da,ba ba ba ba ba ba..

I said one, two, three, four,
We don't want your fuckin' war,
A,be,see,D,
Get someone else, hey don't get me,
Left, right, left, right,
The whole damn thing puts me uptight.

I've done my duty and I fought my fight
And I thought I knew I was doing right,
But it's all over, I'm free at last,
If they want any more, they can kiss my ass.

I've been up, down and around
The country more than a couple of times,
But I had never knew until I got into the Army
That thinking for yourself was a crime.

Get over here, stand over there,
Let's see your identification.

Shut your mouth, son, get back in line,
We're sending you to South East Asia, like hell.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Kiss My Ass" by Country Joe & The Fish talk about the bitter disillusionment of the singer, who is a soldier just back from the Vietnam War. He talks about how he joined the army just to take a look around and was sent to Southeast Asia to fight. He describes the boot camp and the difficult conditions that he faced in Vietnam, such as ill-fitting shoes and substandard food. The song captures the resentment of a soldier who feels that he was sent to fight without being given any choice. He points out how thinking for oneself is a crime and how he had never realized this before.

The lyrics convey the frustration and anger of the singer, who feels that he was misled and let down by the authorities who sent him to war. He angrily chants "one, two, three, four, we don't want your fuckin' war," and "get someone else, hey don't get me." The line "if they want any more, they can kiss my ass" is the final statement of defiance and the singer stating that he doesn't want to be involved with the war anymore.

Overall, the song is a powerful commentary on the Vietnam War and the disillusionment of many soldiers who were sent to fight. It reflects the feelings of many young Americans who were swept up in a war that they did not understand and was deeply unpopular at home.

Line by Line Meaning

Well, I got out of school and I was feeling kinda down
After finishing school, I was feeling a bit unenergetic.

I thought I'd join the Army just to take a look around
To explore a new opportunity, I decided to join the Army.

I went down to the recruiter man
Approached the Army recruiter.

And that's when my troubles began.
That's when my problems started.

Well, I've been up, down and around
I've traveled around this country many times.

This country a couple of times,
I've explored the country multiple times.

But I had never knew until I got into the Army
It wasn't until I joined the Army that I learned

That thinking for yourself was a crime.
that having independent thoughts was wrongly considered a criminal offense.

Get over here, stand over there,
Move to this position, then to that.

Let's see your identification.
Show me your ID.

Shut your mouth, son, get back in line,
Stop talking and move to the rear of the line.

We're sending you to South East Asia.
You're going to Southeast Asia.

Well, they gave me some shoes that hurt my feet
The Army gave me shoes that caused foot pain.

They gave me some food not fit to eat,
The food Army gave to eat was not eatable.

They told me that I wasn't fighting alone,
The Army told me that I wasn't the only fighter.

They sent me to Saigon and they stayed home.
The Army sent me to Saigon and stayed put at home.

Oh yeah.
Sarcastically expressed satisfaction.

Da da da da da da,ba ba ba ba ba ba..
Non-lexical, vocal sounds.

I said one, two, three, four
Counting aloud, starting at one and ending at four.

We don't want your fuckin' war,
We don't want to fight in the war.

A,be,see,D,
Alphabetical letters.

Get someone else, hey don't get me,
Don't choose me; select someone else.

Left, right, left, right,
The commands given to follow the marching patterns.

The whole damn thing puts me uptight.
The entire situation makes me nervous.

I've done my duty and I fought my fight
I've performed my obligations and put up a fight.

And I thought I knew I was doing right,
I believed I was doing the right thing.

But it's all over, I'm free at last,
Now it's all finished and I'm finally liberated.

If they want any more, they can kiss my ass.
If they require any further actions, they can deal with it themselves.

Like hell.
An expression that strongly disagrees.

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Most interesting comment from YouTube:

Mr. Miyagi

I got out of school and I was feeling kinda down
I thought I'd join the Army just to take a look around
I went on down to the recruiter man
And that's when all my troubles began
Well, I've been up, down and around
This country more than a couple of times
But I never knew until I got into the Army
That thinking for yourself was a crime
Get over here, stand over there
Let's see your identification
Shut your mouth, son, get back in line
We're sending you to South East Asia
Well, they gave me some shoes that hurt my feet
They gave me some food not fit to eat
They told me that I wasn't fighting alone
They sent me to Saigon and they stayed home
Well, I've been up, down and around
This country more than a couple of times
But I never knew until I got into the Army
That thinking for yourself was a crime
Get over here, stand over there
Let's see your identification
Shut your mouth, son, get back in line
We're sending you to South East Asia
All right
One, two, three, four
We don't want your fuckin' war
A, B, C, D
Get someone else, hey don't get me
Left, right, left, right
You know the whole damn thing puts me uptight
I done my duty and I fought my fight
And I thought I knew I was doing right
But that's all over, I'm free at last
An' if they want any more, they can kiss my ass
'Cause I've been up and down and around
This country more than a couple of times
But I never knew until I got into the Army
That thinking for yourself was a crime
Get over here, stand over there
Let's see your identification
Shut your mouth, son, get back in line
We're sending you to South East Asia — like hell