Country Joe McDonald – Jean Desprez (1971)

This is without doubt my favourite record of all time. This claim has met with some scepticism from some friends.

The reasons are this. I first heard the record when I was 10 in 1974. While my eldest sister was giving my youngest sister a bath, she sat me down with some headphones in the lounge and played this song which appears on the wonderful “War, War, War” album released in 1971. Before she played the track, she explained a few words I wouldn’t know “Teuton”, “Zouave”, etc. Then she left me to it. Just under 10 minutes of simple acoustic guitar with Country Joe McDonald singing the words from a poem about World War 1 written by Robert Service.

No matter how many times I hear this record, its depth never ceases to amaze. Rarely is there a dry eye in the house. Check it here.