vice-president Al Gore, Jr., whose father represented Tennessee in the U.S. senator who was of draft age in the late 1960s and had a name prominent enough to be widely recognized: former U.S. At a remove of two generations from the song’s original release, there was really only one son of a Vietnam-era U.S. Ooh, they only answer, “More, more, more.”Īlthough the lyrics gave no indication that John Fogerty had any specific person in mind when he wrote the song, some listeners continue to speculate about the identity of the “senator’s son” referred to therein - a young man who presumably avoided military service in Vietnam through his father’s influence. Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale.Īnd when you ask ’em, ‘How much should we give?” Some folks are born silver spoon in hand, Some folks are born made to wave the flag Īnd when the band plays “Hail to the Chief,” That B-side was “Fortunate Son,” John Fogerty’s angry anti-privilege, anti-hypocrisy condemnation of those who would wield their wealth and influence while paying lip service to freedom and patriotism - but only so far as their own interests were protected and served: Despite churning out a long string of brilliant, commercially successfully recordings in the late 1960s and early 1970s, not once did the group manage to hit the top of Billboard’s pop singles chart, instead landing an amazing five #2 singles (all in an eighteen-month span), as well as five other entries that peaked at the #3, #4, #6, #8, and #11 spots.Īt the end of 1969, Creedence pulled off the rare feat of sending both sides of a single to the upper reaches of the pop charts, as “Down on the Corner” climbed to the #3 position, while its B-side got all the way up to #14. He lost the publishing rights to all the songs he wrote for CCR in his contract with Fantasy Records.Creedence Clearwater Revival might be the greatest singles band never to reach the #1 spot on Billboard magazine’s pop charts.
Even though Fogerty wrote this, he doesn’t own its publishing rights. That was why CCR was able to perform it on The Ed Sullivan Show, because the producers failed to realize that it was actually a protest song. It was often misinterpreted as a patriotic anthem. “Fortunate Son” was featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops, Mafia 3, BioShock Infinite, and Grand Theft Auto V to name a few.
Fogerty teamed up with Grohl to record it for Fogerty’s 2013 album “Wrote a Song for Everyone.” They received criticisms, but Fogerty defended them. Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, and Zac Brown covered the song at the November 2014 Concert for Valor in Washington D.C. “I found that very upsetting, and that’s why I wrote ‘Fortunate Son.’ That was the whole intent of the song, the inspiration for the song… I find it confusing that the President has chosen to use my song for his political rallies when in fact, it seems like he is probably the Fortunate Son.” 6. “I was very upset about was that people of privilege – in other words, rich people or people that had position – could use that to avoid the draft,” he wrote. It angered Fogerty, and he took to Facebook to speak out about it. In September 2020, President Donald Trump used it at one of his rallies.
But to some of us who were watching closely, we just knew we were headed for trouble.” 5. “In 1969, the majority of the country thought morale was great among the troops, and like 80% of them were in favor of the war. “Julie Nixon was hanging around with David Eisenhower, and you just had the feeling that none of these people were going to be involved with the war,” Fogerty told Rolling Stone. It was inspired by those close to politicians. “If there’s some other song that was probably just a simple rock ‘n’ roll song, maybe I wouldn’t feel so strongly,” he admitted, “but ‘Fortunate Son’ has a real point to it.” 4. It was used for a Wrangler jeans commercial in 2000, but they only featured the first two lines. “The whole thing happened in about 20 minutes. “When I felt it was about ready to hatch, I went into my bedroom and just sat down to write,” he told American Songwriter.
“It’s the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them.” 2. “The song speaks more to the unfairness of class than war itself,” John Fogerty said. It’s a protest song against the Vietnam War and the establishment.
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