I'm sorryWhen I was a kid and got my first record player the albums I first played were some of my mom's. She had an eclectic grouping of LP's and I remember two albums over all of them. One was a collection of Mozart piano pieces. I still to this day have a deep love for good solo piano peaces. It is the other one that has caused me to say I'm sorry.
The other was a three album set of the Woodstock event. I'm talking the best of the best. Everything from the Joan Biaz singing Joe Hill to Jimi Hendrix performing Purple haze. Even now as I shut my eyes I hear the voice of Janis Joplin. She was a musical god taken before her time.
I was over at my mom's house a few days ago and we broke out into the F song. We sang it as much as we could remember. It has been to long since I've listened to that brief glorious point in history. The problem is this time I found myself not just singing the words but finally, after 30 odd years, appreciating them more then ever, and for that I send out this apology to history.
The war was at it's height and protests were the norm. The concert was filled with anti-establishment songs one after another. Some were only so so, but that damned F song was become legend.
So here it is in it's clean version. But remember that on that stage that day they changed the lyrics. Instead of the F-I-S-H chant they had an F-U-C-K chant. That chant has always represented to me Woodstock in all of its rebellion
The Fish Cheer & I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
Gimme an F!
F!
Gimme an I!
I!
Gimme an S!
S!
Gimme an H!
H!
What's that spell ?
FISH!
What's that spell ?
FISH!
What's that spell ?
FISH!
Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds
The only good commie is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Huh!
Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don't hesitate,
Send 'em off before it's too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.
And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Looking back into history I have had a rather negative view of the anti-establishment. They could best be described as less then upstanding citizens for the most part. The motto of Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out does not show good character.
The thing is I listened to the words I was singing and for the first time understood them for more then what they were. Here we are, as a nation, involved in a war that is causing its own sort of internal problems.
So what are we fighting for. No one can seem to answer that. No two answers that you do get are the same, all depending on the latest poll. The problem is that to many people are saying "I don't give a damn" and just pushing ahead. We tried that once. It did not work.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
Now I look back at the music and energy of that generation and see something different. Deep down I think I might have just taken the step into full blown anti-establishment thinking.
To many people are saying they don't know why we are there, yet they don't do anything because they don't give a damn it seems.
So with this I say I'm sorry to that whole generation. At least you had the energy to try to stop it. You wrote songs, protested, and acted out in violence sometimes. You worked against a bad war. I see groups like protest warriors who enjoy going and mocking protestors. At first I enjoyed laughing with them. It looks differently from the otherside of the banners.
Does this generation give a damn? I hope they learn to before they end up like the lyrics suggested
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Sorry.