Country Joe still says no

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BANGKOK -- American singer Country Joe McDonald, whose satirical "Fixin' to Die" anthem condemned the U.S. war in Vietnam, said he will not go to Hanoi to receive a World Peace Music Award and warned that Washington cannot win the guerrilla wars in Afghanistan or Iraq.

"As a hippie protest songwriter, I could not exist in Vietnam today," said Mr. McDonald, lead singer of the psychedelic band Country Joe and the Fish.

"Communism tends to be totalitarian, and I am not supportive of that," Mr. McDonald said while performing in Britain recently.

"My parents were American Communists for some time, but they left the party because of a lack of democratic positions by the party."

The second annual World Peace Music Awards will honor Mr. McDonald along with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Vietnam's late Trinh Cong Son as "Life of Peace" singers on June 22.

"My understanding is that the government is not giving me the award at all. The country is just renting space to the World Peace Music Awards, whoever that might be, to put on a show," Mr. McDonald said.

"It was explained that it was a benefit show, but it was not clear who the benefit was for," he said.

"I found out that none of the other groups [or] acts being honored were going to be there," he said. "But, of course, it is an honor to be honored."

The snazzy chorus of Country Joe and the Fish's "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" reflected the mood of many Americans with its ricocheting rhyme: "One, two, three, what are we fighting for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Next stop is Vietnam."

"That is the song I am best known for," Mr. McDonald said.