I think it was the summer of 1967 that I came back from the Peace Corps in Ethiopia to attempt to convince my draft board that I be granted a 3rd year extension of my tour. I had no luck convincing my draft board on the merits of serving my country for a 3rd year in the Peace Corps but I lucked out because of chronic amoebic dysentary and managed to get back to Ethiopia on a medicak deferment.

One of the songs I brought back was Country Joe's "Fixing to Die Rag" which my friends back in Ethiopia really appreciated, along with "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Maybe you had to have been there, staring up at the ceiling of my conical bamboo house, the central post with its rafters extending out like umbrella struts, with the tape player playing back the latest hits for your friends from a faraway place called the United States.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble