Kmflett's Blog

Country Joe McDonald who has died at 84 warrants the lead obituary in The Times on 10th March, a badge of honour indeed.

Times Obituaries of people on the left tend to have the occasional bit of snark so whether its correct that Country Joe was named after Stalin or that the name of his band the Fish was taken from a Mao quote I’ll note without taking as the whole truth.

Even so as the obituary notes while Country Joe was famous due to Woodstock he kept going on the left through the decades, not selling out his politics to fame or fortune. From the standpoint of 2026 his personal politics might perhaps be questioned but hindsight should not replace historical understanding.