Although the song achieved national notoriety when it was included on Country Joe and the Fish's second album, "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die", it was first composed and distributed two years prior. In 1965, Country Joe McDonald founded and edited for a local counterculture magazine in Berkeley, California, which he called "Rag Baby" – a Bay Area adaptation of the folk magazine "Broadside". McDonald published four editions of the magazine, and sought to incorporate musical influences to support "Rag Baby" left-wing message. To accommodate the issue, McDonald was inspired to distribute a "talking issue" of the magazine, an extended play called "Rag Baby Talking Issue No. 1". In June 1965, an early incarnation of Country Joe and the Fish recorded an acoustic version of "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag", the later debut album track, "Superbird", and two other songs by local folk musician, Peter Krug at Arhoolie Records Studios, under the guidance of record producer Chris Strachwitz. According to McDonald, the rag was written in under 30 minutes with a conscious purpose of reflecting on the escalation of the Vietnam War, while he composed another song, "Who Am I", which was also relating to the US's increasing armed involvement. About 100 copies of the EP were pressed on McDonald's independent label and, were sold at Sproul Plaza in UC Berkeley, during a Teach-in, and in underground stores that stocked "Rag Baby".