Fortunate Son
In September 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival came out with their first hit song “Fortunate Son”. As we all know, 1969 was the height of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War with roughly 549,000 American troops fighting in the war (Faragher 776). “Fortunate Son” came out during a time of enormous protests against the Vietnam War. The song quickly became an anti-war anthem for students, anti-establishment hippies and anyone else who wanted peace. The song clearly attacked the elite class in particular saying that the rich are always the ones starting the wars, but the poor people and middle class are the ones fighting the wars. The song called for people to rebel against both the government and the Vietnam War and helped war protestors express their political opinions in opposition to the war as it played over and over on radio stations that played rock & roll songs. “Fortunate Son” was written from personal experience by John Fogerty who served in the U.S. Army Reserves in Fort Knox, Fort Bragg, and Fort Lee until 1967 when he was discharged from the Army. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s hit song was very influential during the late 1960s and early 1970s because it spoke out strongly against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. I would make the claim that Fogerty’s song “Fortunate Son”, and other anti-war songs, helped bring about the end of the Vietnam War. Direct U.S. involvement in the war ended in August 1973, less than four years after this song was released.
Fogerty wrote the song “Fortunate Son” and was the lead singer and lead guitarist for CCR. He had been in the U.S. Army Reserves until being discharged in 1967. Before CCR was a band, their name was The Golliwogs which played from 1959 to 1966 without any notable hits. The other members of the band included John Fogerty’s older brother Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook. Once they renamed their band Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1967, they started to get some notoriety. “Fortunate Son” came out at the right time in September 1969. It was the height of the Vietnam War as well as anti-war protests, demonstrations and sit-ins across the United States. It was also the height of the drug culture and hippie movement. Many people 18-29 grew their hair long, took drugs, protested the war and developed a deep distrust for “the establishment” – defined basically as anyone over 30 years old including their parents and the government. John Fogerty was against the war and that is very well conveyed through the lyrics in his hit song. His goal in writing this song was to speed up the end of the Vietnam War.
Fogerty not only wanted to influence the anti-war movement, but also rebel against the government in general, the establishment and rich and powerful people in general. The song’s lyrics clearly attack the elites. A good example of Fogerty’s rebellion against the establishment in “Fortunate Son” can be found in the following lyrics: “Some folks are born silver spoon in hand, Lord, don't they help themselves, oh. But when the tax man comes to the door, Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes…” Being born with a silver spoon in hand is a sign of wealth because silver is a valuable metal. What he is saying is when it is time for wealthy people to pay taxes, they try to down play and disguise how rich they are so they don’t have to pay as much money. Fogerty is basically saying that the rich and powerful people get everything that they want without doing much work, while middle class and poor people like Fogerty are struggling. This is evidenced in the following refrain in the lyrics in “Fortunate Son”: “It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no Senator’s son, It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no.”
This is a common theme throughout history that Fogerty brings up about the struggle between the upper class and people in positions of power versus the middle class and poor people. Fogerty also puts the blame on rich and powerful people for starting the wars while the middle class and poor people are forced to go fight the wars. Here’s another example of Fogerty’s disgust with rich and powerful people in the lyrics in “Fortunate Son”: “Some folks are born made to wave the flag, Ooh, they’re red, white and blue, and when the band plays ‘Hail to the Chief’ Oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord.”
Many people protesting the Vietnam War were also opposed to the draft. Because the United States’ involvement in the war dragged on from 1961 to 1973 and so many soldiers were needed to fight in the war, the government imposed a draft in 1965. Young men between the ages of 18 and 30 were required to enlist. In 1969, a lottery was held based on the date soldiers were born to determine what order they would be drafted in. Those who were in college and those who had high draft numbers, based on their birthdate, were not drafted. Many felt the draft unfairly targeted minorities and those from working class families with blue collar jobs. Fogerty notes this in the following lyrics from “Fortunate Son”: “Yeah, some folks inherit star spangled eyes, Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord, And when you ask them, ‘How much should we give?’ Oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh.”
Fogerty is very effective at capturing what was really happening during the Vietnam War by reflecting a mirror on society and holding it up for everyone to see it through his lyrics. He kind of ripped off the scab of a huge wound and people reacted to it by feeling more empowered to protest the war and the establishment. This song added a lot of fuel to the fire of the anti-war movement. “Fortunate Son” reached number 14 on the Billboard charts by the end of 1969 and is number 99 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Works Cited
"Creedence Lyrics: Fortunate Son." Creedence Clearwater Revival Lyrics: Fortunate
Son. N.p., 2009. Web. 10 May 2014.
Faragher, John Mack. Out of Many: A History of the American People. Sixth ed. Vol. 2.
Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
"Fortunate Son." By Creedence Clearwater Revival Songfacts. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May
2014.
O’Leary, Fran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ScisGFllPY