... is described by Wikipedia as "one of the most recognized protest songs against the Vietnam War ... a classic of the counterculture era." It's also a great favourite of your Webmaster, who has fond memories of Country Joe performing it at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music in 1970. But it was never a hit in the normally accepted sense of the word; not in the UK certainly, and not in the USA either as far as I can ascertain.
Its popularity was due in no small part to the Fish Cheer, which preceded the song on record and in live performance. This involved Country Joe entreating the audience to "Give us an F" (to which the audience would respond, in the time–honoured fashion, by yelling "F" as loudly as they could), followed by an I, an S and an H. In the spirit of the times and of the rock genre, this was inevitably transposed into a very different four–letter word beginning with F.
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